Josiah Hughes of Exclaim! called it a 'hard-hitting hip-hop throwback' that puts 'the rapper's high-energy delivery on display.' Maya Kalev writing for Fact praised the song's production. Q is less concerned with fashioning a radio hook here than nailing the internal rhymes of the second verse, but he accomplishes his goal and then some.' It's a wildly drunk-sounding song, but it's all sober thinking.' Jason Lipshutz of Billboard said, 'ScHoolboy Q's lock-step rhyme schemes and ping-ponging intensity - every time you think he's about to fly off the handle, he dials his energy back down and powers up for another peak. The song starts as an ode to the promises of wealth.

Produced by The Alchemist, who hasn't had a better, higher-profile showing this decade, it's all inchworm piano runs and vinyl crackle, taking the 'If you ain’t talking money.' cliché to new heights.

Michael Madden of Consequence of Sound named it one of the album's best tracks saying, 'The most ambitious moment on Oxymoron, is the six-minute “Break the Bank”. Lizzie Plaugic of CMJ referred to the song as one of the album's essential tracks. David Jeffries of AllMusic called it an accessible highlight of the album. 'Break the Bank' was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. The music was sampled from 'Something is Happening' the fifth track on Man's 1976 album The Welsh Connection. The production was described as, a 'jarring blend of droning piano and old-school, truck-rattling bass' by Consequence of Sound. He also counts the spoils of his most recent 'rap heist'. The hook which includes the line, 'so now we 'bout to break the bank, money be on my mind,' sets the tone for the song as Schoolboy Q raps about how he's earned his living. The song is a six-minute eerie, rattling song, produced by The Alchemist. This was one of the first records recorded for Oxymoron.

The song was recorded in 2012 around the release of Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, m.A.A.d city, being one of the older records featured on the album he raps: 'Tell Kendrick move from the throne, I came for it,' referencing Lamar's recent rise to superstardom.

It was also made available with the pre-order of the album on iTunes. On January 21, 2014, Schoolboy Q released the 'Break the Bank', as the third official single from his major-label debut album Oxymoron.

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