First Listen Live: ScHoolboy Q, 'Oxymoron'

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 day or two to hear Oxymoron before the show, songs from it hit hard and low. They were received with open arms by a raucous audience that gave as good as it got. --FRANNIE KELLEY

SET LIST
Banger (Moshpit) - 0:40
There He Go - 3:53
Nightmare on Figg Street - 7:20
Gangsta - 11:39
Druggys Wit Hoes Again Feat. Ab-Soul 16:10
Blind Threats - 20:20
Collard Greens -25:04
Hands on The Wheel -27:15
What They Want -29:40
Yay Yay- 35:06
Blessed - 37:43
Break The Bank - 42:50
Hoover Street - 46:15
Studio - 52:07
The Purge - 55:24
Man Of The Year - 62:20

CREDITS
Producers: Mito Habe-Evans, Frannie Kelley; Videographers: Alex di Suvero, Olivia Merrion, Christopher Parks; Audio Engineers: Kevin Wait and Garth Macaleavey; Hosts: Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Frannie Kelley; Event Coordinator: Saidah Blount; Production Assistant: Olivia Merrion; Special Thanks: Le Poisson Rouge; Executive Producer: Anya Grundmann