ScHoolboy Q, ’Oxymoron’ | NPR MUSIC FRONT ROW

Within Black Hippy, the Los Angeles-based crew consisting of Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul, ScHoolboy Q is the fun-loving middle child who taunts you with a straight face but can’t always help cracking a smile. He’s a wildcard who put out two highly-regarded independent albums and has become a reliable source for bracing guest spots. Sometimes he’s incisive, sometimes he’s callous. He’s always charismatic and perceptive and forthright. His music is richly melodic. He’s the guy who calls himself cold-blooded by saying, “My heart live where Santa stay,“ and put his daughter’s face on his album cover. On Feb. 23, the Sunday before he released his major label debut, Oxymoron, he took the stage at New York City’s Le Poisson Rouge to perform brand new songs from it as part of NPR Music’s First Listen Live series. The set was loose-limbed, spontaneous and unpretentious, including a singalong for surprise guest Ab-Soul. And even though the crowd had only a d