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Schoolboy Q At Club Nokia: Show Review

Ashley Velez |
April 7, 2014 | 10:43 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

ScHoolboy Q lit the stage at Club Nokia for a double-concert on Sunday night. (Ashley Velez/Neon Tommy)
ScHoolboy Q lit the stage at Club Nokia for a double-concert on Sunday night. (Ashley Velez/Neon Tommy)
ScHoolboy Q has been going hard since the release of his third album, “Oxymoron,” and is showing no signs of slowing down.

On Sunday night, Q showed his hometown just how dedicated he is to his fans when he performed two back-to-back shows at Club Nokia after being hospitalized for exhaustion that morning. Although visibly fatigued, Q put on one hell of a show. The second concert began at 11:00 p.m. and was full of surprises until it ended at 2:30 a.m.

ScHoolboy Q had some time to rest in between shows, as his much anticipated opening acts took the stage. First up was a female rapper from Los Angeles named Rene Brown. The talented artist ripped the stage and gained a ton of new fans by the end of her set.

She passed the mic to The Bay’s own Audio Push, who performed hits from their mixtape “Come As You Are.” Oktane and Pricetag brought out their producer Hit-Boy to perform “These N****s” before closing their set with “Shine.”

Long Beach native Vince Staples took the stage next. The hilarious rapper did his best at hyping the crowd up but was disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm in the audience. Screams came from the crowd when T.D.E.’s Isaiah Rashad took to the stage to perform songs like “Ronnie Drake” and “Webbie Flow (U Like)” from his "Cilvia Demo."  The crowd went crazy when Isaiah Rashad’s adorable little brothers joined the stage along with T.D.E.’s Jay Rock to perform the “Shot You Down Remix.” 

T.D.E. label mates Isaiah Rashad and Jay Rock performed the "Shot You Down (Remix)" alongside Rashad's two younger brothers. (Ashley Velez/Neon Tommy)
T.D.E. label mates Isaiah Rashad and Jay Rock performed the "Shot You Down (Remix)" alongside Rashad's two younger brothers. (Ashley Velez/Neon Tommy)

The red curtains closed and the audience got their bucket hats ready. It was finally time for ScHoolboy Q and he did not disappoint. The crowd smelled like teen spirit and the air grew thick and hazy. The curtains finally opened to a blown up blue bucket hat that had T.D.E., Figueroa, and Oxymoron printed all over it.

ALSO READ: ScHoolboy Q: 'Oxymoron' Album Review

Q was dressed in a light pink Kangol bucket hat, a black tee, jeans and Jordan VI’s. He opened with his song “Fuck LA” and happily announced that every show on the tour so far has been sold out. 

Q took the crowd back to “Habits & Contradictions” when he performed “Hands On The Wheel” and “How We Feeling.” Ab-Soul graced the stage for “Druggy’s Wit Hoes Again” and the crowd went bananas. The label mates vibed off of each others energy and gave the audience an exclusive performance of the unreleased track “Druggys Wit Hoes Pt. 3.” Q pulled out even more surprises when Compton’s YG hit the stage to perform “Who Do You Love?” and “I Just Wanna Party”. 

ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul performed an unreleased track "Druggys Wit Hoes Pt. 3" at the Oxymoron Tour. (Ashley Velez/Neon Tommy)
ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul performed an unreleased track "Druggys Wit Hoes Pt. 3" at the Oxymoron Tour. (Ashley Velez/Neon Tommy)

It was clear that Q was exhausted but he went on to perform over ten more songs, including “Collard Greens”, “Break THe Bank” and “Yay Yay.” The smooth vocalist BJ The Chicago Kid joined Q on stage to perform the crowd favorite, “Studio.”  

All of Q’s Top Dawg Entertainment label mates joined him on stage with the exception of SZA and Kendrick Lamar. Aside from T.D.E., California artists dominated the show. As if it wasn't clear before, the West Coast is dominating hip-hop and the Oxymoron Tour is giving these artists the perfect platform to come together. 

The crowd's energy was up and down which really frustrated ScHoolboy Q. He was hype to perform in his hometown but the audience did not reciprocate that energy. Most of the crowd appeared to either not know his songs or were too tired to engage with Q.

One thing was certain; if you don’t plan on turning up at the Oxymoron Tour, Q will put you on blast. He made sure to let his fans know that they were being super lame. Still, Q ended the show with lively performance of “Man Of The Year” that made the crowd bounce and beg for more. He came back out and closed with “Oxymoron” and slowly left the stage. 

Overall, The Oxymoron Tour was memorable and a true display of West Coast talent. ScHoolboy Q earned his stripes despite how worn out he may have felt after the intense double-header show. Q is winning right now and he's well on his way to becoming the “Man Of The Year.”

Read more of NT's show reviews here.

You can reach Staff Reporter Ashley Velez here. Follow her on Twitter here



 

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