Dropping the mic since 2011, ScHoolboy Q is a definitive voice for 2010s rap. He has collaborated with heavy hitters such as Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West, and ScHoolboy Q has a style that stands out from the rest. His blend of rough gangster rap with humor and introspection gave Outside Lands 2024 one of its most intercut performances.
The energy of the crowd was infectious from the moment ScHoolboy Q stepped foot on stage. Eagerly, the audience roared to life and started to pump their hands in the air, jumping around from the instant the music started. Festival goers flooded Lands End Stage from every direction, adding to the already insanely dense crowd. The rapper’s stage presence and energy instantly grasped the attention of all who were nearby, and the performance was off and running.
ScHoolboy Q’s first couple of songs went by in a flurry of air horns, rapid tempo and bombastic temperament. After the initial barrage of excitement, the performer told the audience how excited he was to be back at Outside Lands for the first time in five years; this was met with enthusiasm from the massive crowd. Feeling the love, ScHoolboy Q launched into one of his most popular songs, “Man of the Year.”
Recognizing the iconic opening phrase, phones came out and hands were burning from clapping for the man of the year. Throughout the song, if hands ever went down, ScHoolboy Q brought them back tenfold.
Rapper ScHoolboy Q points up to the sky as he proceeds to tell the crowd "I hope Frisco still has some love for me, show me some love Frisco!" Photographed by Caleb Velasquez/BruinLife.
Crowd members lift up a fellow attendee up on a wheelchair as he tries to get a better angle of the performance, eventually catching ScHoolboy Q's attention and being given a shoutout. Photographed by Caleb Velasquez/BruinLife.
ScHoolboy Q gets ready to rap and go bar for bar as the crowd gets hyped. Photographed by Caleb Velasquez/BruinLife.
Backing off from the crowd-pleasing club song, the rapper followed up with “Blueslides.” The more introspective melody about self-failure brought a calm moment over the amped up audience. ScHoolboy Q then followed up his slow jam with “THank god 4 me,” which carried on a similar vibe to the last song before exploding into a hard-hitting second half that had the audience going wild.
Riding the wave created by “THank god 4 me,” “Numb Numb Juice” quickly followed with an eruption of air horns and hard-hitting bars. After two heavy hitters, the rapper brought a California cool vibe to the set with his next song, “JoHn Muir.”
Between “JoHn Muir” and the following next song, ScHoolboy Q asked where his day one fans were, to which a large section of the audience responded with verbal enthusiasm and raising their hands. With his original fans identified, the rapper queued up one of his songs from the early days of his career, “Hands On The Wheel.”
During the performance of one of his first singles, the artist led the audience through waving their hands to the beat as the audio cut out to leave the crowd alone to shout the vulgar lyrics.
The ninth song of the set was one of the most popular songs from his album, “Oxymoron.” “Collard Greens” brought the energy from a 10 to a 15 with its infectious rhythms and rhymes.
Once again, after bringing the energy up, he brought it back down in favor of more melodious music, juxtaposing songs with different vibes. He went into his song “Floating,” before taking it completely down into another song with cool vibes and introspective rhymes.
With one more number in his set, the rapper pulled out a song that can describe this entire Outside Lands 2024 weekend: “Hell of a Night.” The jumping, jamming and singing swept through the electrified crowd, and the song ended to furious applause. ScHoolboy Q told everyone how he couldn’t wait to see them next year, and everyone hopes they can see ScHoolboy Q next year as well.
Between the crowd-pleasing club songs and introspective lyrics, ScHoolboy Q gave Outside Lands 2024 a performance of the year.
