The Singles Jukebox

Ending a low-scoring day with shouting Kanye…

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[5.17]

Alfred Soto: With Oxymoron boasting two of my favorite examples of party slobber of the last few years (“Man of the Year”), I expected more than canned hedonism. Note to Kanye: don’t shout. No one believes you. And, you, Schoolboy, don’t imitate Future over imitation Metro Boomin beats: I started rapping the first line from “Thought It Was a Drought” over so many of yours. 
[4]

Will Rivitz: Given the exciting hip-hop production tricks and flow experimentation Q and Ye have been up to, “That Part” is a little boring. It’s nice enough — gloomy trap marinating in a pool of codeine — but everyone and their mother is making this kind of music this year, and both artists are more creative than this. Bonus points for Yeezy channeling his inner Lil B with his first two bars, but not many.
[6]

Ryo Miyauchi: Q’s songs have been more about how slanted he can stretch his voice while flexing hard as he can: with that drawl, all he does is prooofit. If this was just him, maybe I can forgive him for lacking that part to take home as a souvenir. But then there’s Kanye throwing whatever on the wall: a Chipotle reference, “the female OJ,” his intense gasps. While not everything are necessarily good ideas, a good portion of it is loud enough to stick — just like his tweets. Q, meanwhile, not so much.
[5]

Jonathan Bradley: Is Schoolboy Q trendwatching? He moan-sings his hook on “That Part” like Drake — or maybe Desiigner — does. It’s a jarring accent on a song that otherwise adheres well to the anxious aggression that Black Hippy has made its brand: Q’s flow veers through the shaded spots in the beat like a driver careening down an orange-lit boulevard past midnight. Kanye West can be relied upon to craft his own work with care, but his guest spots are more hit-and-miss. He contributes here a rough draft of a verse most notable for a line that finds a new way for a rapper to namedrop O.J. Simpson.
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Natasha Genet Avery: The production gestures towards the sinister-yet-grand world of “Blessings” but “That Part”‘s four-note riff just ends up sounding deflated. I can’t quite place what makes this so soporific, but I think the fact that a throwaway line like Kanye’s “beggars can’t be choosers/bitch this ain’t Chipotle” gets repeated is the best evidence of “That Part”‘s meager offerings.
[4]

Jibril Yassin: Schoolboy Q turning his back on pop was the best thing that could ever happen because tracks like “That Part” show just why he’s so good at what he does in an uncompromising environment. Meanwhile, Kanye manages to turn in both his best and worst verse of 2016. Ham-fisted melodies aside, he makes it work based solely on charisma alone.
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