Much like the title of his major label debut album suggests, ScHoolboy Q is an oxymoron. On the one hand, he is known for spitting some of the most unflinchingly real gangster tales in Hip-Hop, today. To hear him rap about his childhood and life as a young man is like a window into the unforgiving streets of South Central LA. On the other, in person, Q is one of the most congenial and affable MCs in the game, quick to crack on anybody, punctuated with his contagious laugh. That side was on full display by the man born Qunicey Hanley, in an engaging interview with Hot 97’s Nessa.

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There to discuss his forthcoming Blank Face LP (7/8), Q was in rare form and great spirits. However, the interview starts off with a surprisingly candid reveal. Nessa says she was surprised Q was releasing another album, and he acknowledges stepping away in order to focus on caring for his daughter. “My passion [for Rap] has always been here,” he says. “So, me wanting to leave for family reasons…At the end of the day this is where my passion is. My passion’s with my family too, but I just gotta move a little different now. I just can’t move as much as I used to move.” Q continues saying “I’ll probably just drop albums every 2 years.”

Later in the discussion, when Nessa comments on how happy Q seems when discussing his daughter, he replies “My daughter always gonna bring…That’s why I named her Joy.” He also credits Joy with turning his life around. “When I first heard my girl was pregnant, it was amazing to me, and I decided to have her as soon as I got out of jail. I’m like ‘yo, when I get out of here, I’m having a baby. I ain’t going back to jail. If I have a kid, it’s no way I’m doing something stupid to go back to jail. I might just be broke as fuck…but I ain’t gon’ miss out on this.'”

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In addition to talking about his daughter, Q discusses a number of other topics, including how he and fellow TDE members Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and Kendrick Lamar are still close but unable to spend much time together due to their demanding schedules; why there might not be a Black Hippy album; his inability to talk to Jay Z when they first met; why he didn’t ask Kanye West for his feature verse on “THat Part;” wanting to work with Ghostface Killah; why men should not send emojis to one another; the new album; and much, much more.