“Break the Bank” is ScHoolboy Q’s spin on the West Coast listen-with-your-windows down banger. Keyboard notes tinkle and boom-bap abounds, but the extended wail over the beat sounds like something out of a horror movie and brings you into the shadow-filled trenches of Q’s universe. It’s like dead air in the summer: welcome until it becomes a bit oppressive.
ScHoolboy Q plays with cadence and delivery as well as label-mate Kendrick Lamar, if not more naturally. Get used to the comparisons — Q’s Oxymoron releases this week — and enjoy his unique brand of ghoulish gansta rap.