Photo by Paul A. Hebert/Invision/AP
Schoolboy Q performs on stage during the Made In America Festival at Grand Park on Saturday, August 30, 2014, in Los Angeles, Calif.
After his breakout album "Oxymoron," Schoolboy Q decided to take a break. Released in 2014, singles like "Studio" and "Collard Greens" established him as a rising star in the rap world. But he wasn't happy.
"I thought rap was just, you make this album, you do the shows here and there, and then that's it," he told Rolling Stone. But it was more complicated than that. "My mind was set on leaving rap."
Schoolboy Q - whose real name is Quince Hanley - found his life transformed, and he didn't like it. As he told Rolling Stone, he didn't like dealing with the press, the pressure, the security guards, and taking "1,000 pictures before you even enter the place that you're trying to enjoy yourself at."
He just wanted to be at home with his daughter, Joy.
"My daughter lives with me, so me being not able to raise her is weird," he told Rolling Stone.
"Every time I come back from tour, she's doing different things. She's learning how to spell s--- that she couldn't spell. I missed her pre-school graduation, her kindergarten graduation. I missed taking my daughter to school for the first time. The first day of school - I love that type of s---. I made money; at this point, it's not about money. It's more so about me being happy and doing what I want to do, fulfilling my daughter's dreams and helping her get to a certain point in life."
He didn't tell anyone he considered quitting, he just took a break.
Instead of working to crank out a new album while he was reaching his peak, he took his time. "No label was rushing me or nothing like that; they pretty much let me do what I want to do when I want to do it," Q told Rolling Stone. "I was just never gonna give 'em an album."
Two-and-a-half years after "Oxymoron," Q has a new album, "Blank Face LP." He felt it was time to make music again.
The pressure of it was getting to me," he told Rolling Stone. "[But] I signed up for this shit. I can't be crying like a little bitch. Just get over it … do what you gotta do."