Don't Hurt 'Em, ScHoolboy Q

A while back I labeled The Buff Nerds crew as possibly the hippest up-and-comers out of the West Coast. I stand by my original sentiment, but if/when the 'Nerds blow up, they're going to have to compete with the Black Hippies out of Los Angeles...undeniably the reigning Kings of the West, and still on the come-up themselves.Case in point: ScHoolboy Q's new video, which is the chillest thing I've seen or heard all summer.

Besides his sick music, another reason I love Q is his use of the "capital H" aesthetic. I don't know when rappers started to love capitalizing -- or not capitalizing -- certain letters in their names as part of their swag, but I think Kid Cudi -- or KiD CuDi -- is a big reason behind it. Now we've got RiFF RaFF with all lowercase vowels in his name and music video titles, as well as ScHoolboy with his "H's." I've been thinking of changing my electronic signature to b.dOylE...thoughts?

The Illustrious Rhymesayers of the Ivory Towers

Smart, hard-working people make great music. Sometimes as great as any wild-haired, drug-addled artist -- not to say the two are mutually exclusive. It was true with Columbia-educated Rodgers and Hammerstein, with Yale-educated Cole Porter, and it's damn true now.

Case number one: Kinetics and One Love. Recently Cornell-graduated. Writers of such recent Billboard hits as "Airplanes" and "Strange Clouds," and composers of my personal favorite Lana Del Rey remix:

Case Number Two: Hoodie Allen. A 2010 UPenn Graduate who...not gonna lie...I was pretty damn skeptical about. But the dude has pretty much conquered the Internet, and hell if he doesn't make some catchy tunes. I'm not quite certain of the boundaries between Internet supremacy and "mainstream" supremacy anymore, but I'll just go ahead and say that this guy is as close to mainstream success as any former dorm-room rat of our generation. 

Case Number Three: Mike Posner. 2010 Duke graduate. Huge overachiever. Creator of J. Biebz' "Boyfriend," and great music in general. Innovator.

"Hey, wanna hear me rap?"

In high school, I was friends with Avery Capizzi, a rapper whose claims of connections to hip-hop superstars occasionally earned him derision -- though he was bolstered by, at times, shockingly good music. Early in senior year, he began asking fellow Yorktown High School seniors to rap on his upcoming mixtape. Though many ridiculed the offer, a fair number took the opportunity to transfer our love of hip-hop to an actual product. The result -- the 703 Mixtape Vol. 1 -- was fairly professionally mixed, well-structured, and featured a smattering of awkwardly self-confident suburban teenagers spitting bars alongside a few DC rap middleweights. The response was primarily positive -- enough to spawn a sequel.

Personally, the concept of rapping excited me enough to continue in college. For friends, fraternity brothers and family, my rapping usually incited curiosity, occasionally ridicule, but eventually, accolades and encouragement. Ironically, that encouragement came right as I decided to quit. They don't love you till you're gone I guess.

It took me a while to reconcile my love -- and ability -- of rapping with the other facets of my life: school, interest in media/finance, normal friends who don't rap, etc. Considering I officially "quit," I guess you can say I never actually did figure out where to configure rap. However, as long as there are vocal-less instrumentals in this world, and small apartment parties, I will continue to approach comely females and impress them with a few well-chosen bars. How else will I keep the skill alive? Enjoy a sample below.