Video: ScHoolboy Q & Angie Martinez Talk Lean, Go Against Their Grain

On The Angie Review on Hot 97, a special little interview took place. Angie questioned Quincey about his history and problems with drug use with dogged determination and depth. This interview stands out, for one, because of determined nature of Angie’s drive to not only press Q more than most interviewers would dare, but because of Angie’s clear desire for the interview to carry a cautionary and helpful message about the effects of lean. While it’s not necessarily good journalism to be hoping with such emphasis for one kind of answer from your interview subject, it was powerful to see someone in hip-hop caring–in the present, as opposed to in retrospect,–about both the health of her listeners and of an artist. Almost like a concerned friend, she calls Q out repeatedly on the clear, negative effects that drugs are having on his life, cornering him into admitting that, yes, it is an addiction.

ScHoolboy played his role in this video’s uniqueness as well. It’s hard to think of any rapper who’s ever admitted with such openness that they (think they are) just plain bad at that moment in time. While this Waka Flocka interview comes to mind, it’s safe to say that Q is far more respected and much more is expected of him than of the Brick Squad MC. It was hilarious, strange, and almost sad to hear Q completely denounce his abilities of the moment, to so nonchalantly accept the trade of lean over rap. His utmost candidness and honesty is definitely to be respected, though, and his illustration of the real, non-extreme forms that addiction can take–Q is neither free from addiction, nor is he a junkie–is both fascinating and important to understanding the issue without putting it in dismissively exaggerated terms.