Schoolboy Q

His father remained in the Army while Hanley and his mother moved to Texas for a couple years, before settling in South Central Los Angeles, on 51st Street, neighboring Figueroa and Hoover Street.

Hanley played American football from the age of six until he was 21, and played receiver, cornerback, tailback, and returner.

He attended John Muir Middle School.

After graduating Crenshaw High School, Hanley went on to attend Glendale Community College, Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles Southwest College and West Los Angeles College.

Growing up on Hoover Street, Hanley joined the 52 Hoover Gangster Crips: "I was gang-banging at 12. I was a Hoover Crip. My homies were doing it and I wanted to do it. I can't really explain that. I didn't get into it with another hood or anything like that. I was just following the leader."

Before turning to music, Hanley became a drug dealer selling Oxycontin, and for a short time crack cocaine and marijuana.

Quincy Matthew Hanley (born October 26, 1986), better known by his stage name Schoolboy Q (stylized as ScHoolboy Q), is an American rapper from South Los Angeles, California.

Quincy Matthew Hanley was born October 26, 1986, on a United States Army air base in Wiesbaden, West Germany.

His parents divorced before he was born, and his mother gave him a surname different from those of either of his parents, choosing one at random.

In 2006, he began to work with Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), a Carson-based independent record label, recording at their studio House of Pain and collaborating with their artists.

His first time at TDE's studio, Hanley worked with his soon to be Black Hippy cohorts Jay Rock and Ab-Soul.

This eventually led to Hanley signing a recording contract with TDE.

In 2007, he was arrested for home invasion and sent to jail for six months, half of which he finished on house arrest.

Hanley has said he wrote his first verse when he was 16, but was not serious about music until he was 21.

Music became his way of expressing himself.

Hanley released his debut mixtape, ScHoolboy Turned Hustla (2008) and its sequel, Gangsta & Soul the following year.

On July 29, 2008, Hanley released his first mixtape titled Schoolboy Turned Hustla, with G.E.D. Inc., the same imprint that helped launch the career of fellow West Coast rapper Tyga, with whom Schoolboy Q worked with early in their respective careers.

After the release of Schoolboy Turned Hustla, he signed a deal with Top Dawg Entertainment in 2009, where he later formed Black Hippy, with fellow label-mates and frequent collaborators, Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul.

In 2009, Hanley was involved in a short-lived rivalry with fellow West Coast rapper 40 Glocc.

Hanley released a diss track titled "Ezell (40 Glocc Killa)", where he questions 40 Glocc's gang-banging.

Hanley later stated in a video interview as to why they were "beefing": "He made some false statements about my boy, Tyga, that's my little brother. He did a lot of fake stuff with Wayne, a lot of lies, rumors and childish shit that I really didn't like, and I really felt disrespected by this clown saying all this shit so I just had to like air it out".

He went on to say "It's over with, I did what I did, I said what I said and I won't diss him no more, because it's obvious he ain't on my level...so why categorize myself with a loser?".

Hanley released Gangsta & Soul, his second mixtape on May 14, 2009, which included the aforementioned diss track.

The mixtape was his first official project with Top Dawg Entertainment, which presented the mixtape alongside G.E.D. Inc.

Although Hanley did not release a project, 2010 had him touring and in the studio working with the rest of Black Hippy and on his then-upcoming project Setbacks.

Through the Carson-based record label Top Dawg Entertainment, Hanley independently released his debut album, Setbacks (2011) and its follow up, Habits & Contradictions (2012) to positive reception; both performed moderately on the Billboard 200 chart as digital exclusives.

On January 11, 2011, TDE released Setbacks, his first independent album, exclusively through iTunes, to critical acclaim.

The album reached number 100 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling close to 1,000 digital copies in its first abbreviated week.

Two weeks after the album's release, Hanley took to Twitter and gave the album away for free.

By the time Schoolboy Q's first album Setbacks was released in early 2011, he'd quit gangbanging altogether.

Setbacks propelled Hanley into the spotlight and allowed him to earn a large internet following.

Hanley headlined his first show on March 11, 2011, at the Key Club in West Hollywood, California.

He then signed with Interscope Records to release his third album and major-label debut, Oxymoron (2014).

The album peaked atop the US Billboard 200, received critical acclaim, and was preceded by the singles "Collard Greens" (featuring Kendrick Lamar), "Man of the Year", "Studio" (featuring BJ the Chicago Kid) and "Hell of a Night".

The former three songs entered the US Billboard Hot 100; "Studio" peaked within the top 40 and received triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

He reached further success on the chart as a guest performer, appearing on the 2014 single "2 On" by singer Tinashe and the 2013 single "White Walls" by hip hop duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

His fourth and fifth albums, Blank Face LP (2016) and Crash Talk (2019) received continued positive reception and peaked within the top three of the Billboard 200.

His sixth studio album, Blue Lips, was released in 2024.

He was a member of the California-based hip hop group Black Hippy, alongside frequent collaborators Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and Kendrick Lamar.

Hanley has received five Grammy Award nominations.