Today in Hip-Hop — October 26: ScHoolboy Q Turns 40, and Bootsy Collins Hits 75

October 26, 1986. Quincy Matthew Hanley is born on a U.S. Army air base in Wiesbaden, West Germany. Today the man the culture knows as ScHoolboy Q turns 40. Here’s the jewel: Hanley isn’t his father’s name or his mother’s. His parents were both in the military and split before he was born, and his mom picked a surname at random. So the most South Central voice of the TDE era started out with a name nobody handed down to him, and he went on to make one of his own.

From Hoover Street to No. 1

He grew up on 51st Street between Figueroa and Hoover and played football from age six to 21. He didn’t get serious about rap until he was 21, which is late by most standards. Then he walked into Top Dawg’s studio in Carson and met Jay Rock and Ab-Soul. Add Kendrick Lamar and you’ve got Black Hippy, the closest thing the 2010s had to a West Coast Wu-Tang. Setbacks (2011) came out as an iTunes exclusive, and two weeks later he gave it away for free. Habits & Contradictions put out “NigHtmare on Figg St.” and named the block out loud.

Then came the major-label run. Oxymoron (2014) debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and “Collard Greens” with Kendrick went 4x Platinum. Blank Face LP got darker and stranger, and we broke that one down when it turned 10 back in July. CrasH Talk was delayed after Mac Miller’s death, which Q later credited for getting sober. Blue Lips (2024) got the best reviews of his career. These days he plays golf five or six times a week and has teased a seventh album, Thank Que. Forty looks good on him.

Ask Q who his favorite rapper is and you get the same answer every time: Nas. We made a Nas Illmatic tee for the album that set the bar for every rapper who came up after it, Groovy Q included. Wear it for the birthday.

Same Date, 1951: Bootsy Collins, the Funk Under the West

Thirty-five years before Q, William “Bootsy” Collins was born in Cincinnati. He turns 75 today, and hip-hop owes him rent. At 18 he and his brother Catfish became the original J.B.’s behind James Brown. In 11 months they cut “Sex Machine,” “Super Bad,” “Soul Power” and “The Grunt,” which became breakbeat bedrock. Then came P-Funk, the Rubber Band and the star-shaped Space Bass. The deepest receipt is in the liner notes: Bootsy co-produced Zapp’s 1980 debut and played guitar on it. That album opens with “More Bounce to the Ounce,” which EPMD flipped for “You Gots to Chill” and Ice Cube flipped for “Friday.” The West Coast bounce in Q’s records goes straight back to that talk box.

Also Today in Hip-Hop

• 2004: Wu-Tang Clan’s Legend of the Wu-Tang (22 years). The BMG Heritage greatest-hits set added rarities alongside the classics: “In tha Beginning… There Was Rap,” “Soul in the Hole,” and alternate mixes of “Method Man” and “Protect Ya Neck.” For the source material, start with the 36 Chambers tee.
• 1999: Master P’s Only God Can Judge Me (27 years). This was the No Limit general’s follow-up to MP da Last Don, and he executive-produced it himself. The credit worth knowing: Jermaine Dupri produced “Da Ballers,” the album’s second single. So Atlanta’s So So Def boss built a beat for the tank.
• 1980 receipt: Zapp’s “More Bounce to the Ounce.” It was produced by Roger Troutman and Bootsy. It also inspired Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love,” so one record fed two separate sampling lineages.

Stay creative — The Custom Creative Team

Jon Jones