ScHoolboy Q - Blank Face LP (July 8, 2016)

Since 2011, Quincy “ScHoolboy Q” Hanley has released four full-length albums, all of which were met with varying degrees of critical acclaim. This seems downright quaint in this day and age, when rappers are more concerned with gaming streams and chasing the money by releasing as much product in as short a time period as possible, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will become irrelevant even faster than usual due to overexposure and a lack of quality control. This isn’t a concern of Quincy’s: he tends to take his time with crafting projects, and limits his own guest appearances on other people’s albums to folks he actually likes. He wants all of the money, obviously, but doesn’t want to do the chasing: he feels the money should pursue him. That’s my interpretation as to why his fourth album (and second for a major label), Blank Face LP, features seventeen tracks, but doesn’t have a deluxe edition or a Target-exclusive version with additional tracks: Q wanted to ensure that every listener had access to the same set of songs.

Blank Face LP follows Setbacks (an album I barely remember, if we’re being real), Habits & Contradictions (which is pretty great), and his Interscope debut Oxymoron (which contains some great tracks, but…). (Q had also released two mixtapes prior to Setbacks, but we'll talk about those ata later time, maybe?) His label home, TDE (Top Dawg Entertainment, a fact I think I neglected to include in yesterday’s write-up), also claims the artists SZA, Isaiah Rashad, SiR, Lance Skiiwalker, and the Black Hippy collective, made up of Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, and Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick has, obviously, left his labelmates behind in a significant fashion when it comes to record sales and critical acclaim (although SZA managed to keep up with him in 2017), but still calls TDE home, and still tries to help his friends where he can. Jay Rock (a dude I quite like, who would probably have a YG-esque career if he weren’t signed to this label) and Ab-Soul (*shrug*) are obvious benefactors of this Black Hippy partnership, gaining a following neither artist would have otherwise, but ScHoolboy Q, the man with a love for the capital “H”, has been able to successfully strike out on his own, and has done so well.

Blank Face LP is a natural follow-up to Oxymoron, in that Q continues his general theme of “gangsta rapper with self-awareness”. He brings in some big-name talent to help him on a handful of songs, at least on the rhyme side of things, but not the majority of his own label family, which is interesting. The production is primarily handles by the TDE in-house production team Digi+Phonics, although he did buy some beats off of the likes of The Alchemist and Swizz Beatz for Blank Face LP. Like K-Dot, ScHoolboy Q has also received multiple Grammy nominations for this project, although he didn’t win in any of his categories, which may be more beneficial than anything, since that leaves Quincy without the pressure of needing to follow up an award-winning project, so I don’t think he really minds.

1. TORCH (FEAT. ANDERSON .PAAK)

So the first song on Blank Face LP sucks. It’s an overlong sprawling affair that manages to both announce ScHoolboy Quincy back into the rap album game and negate his performance by focusing the camera on guest crooner Anderson .Paak. As I mentioned in the Tribe write-up, I still haven’t acquired the taste for the guy (although I kind of like how his “Come Down” sounds in a club setting), but it isn’t his fault “Torch” tanks. The blame lands squarely on the shoulders of Nez & Rio, who throw too many ideas into this slower-paced instrumental, so much so that it has to play out for nearly six minutes just to check off all the boxes, and come on, we all came to hear Q rap. He sounded okay during his limited contributions, sure, but never comfortable. Moving on…

2. LORD HAVE MERCY (FEAT. SWIZZ BEATZ)

ScHoolboy Q suddenly has a crisis of conscience, as he wonders whether he’s disqualified himself from the kingdom of Heaven (you know, if you believe in that stuff) simply because he’s committed a bunch of crimes. The subject matter doesn’t interest me: I’ve seen plenty of redemption arcs in different mediums, and besides, that isn’t even what our host is going for, given the rest of Blank Face LP. But what is notable is how subdued the Swizz Beatz instrumental is, utilizing almost none of his usual flourishes and fallbacks. Even his vocal contribution feels calmer and heavier. So that was interesting, if nothing else.

3. THAT PART (FEAT. KANYE WEST)

I will cop to not really liking “THat Part” when it was first released as Blank Face LP’s second single, especially Kanye West’s polarizing, shouted (and CyHi the Prynce-written) lyrics. I liked the musical portion (provided by Cardo, Yung Exclusive, and Cubeatz), though, so whenever it popped up on the radio, I never shut it off: repeated listened have worn me down, essentially, and now I find parts of ‘Ye’s contribution hilarious (“Beggers can’t be choosers, bitch, this ain’t Chipotle” among them) and the end downright puzzling (parts of Yeezy’s final verse, after all that shit about “I feel like Jordan” where he starts mumbling his words, sound very clearly like someone else is performing, most likely CyHi, until ‘Ye picks it back up by shouting out Top Dawg, and West isn’t known for being a master mimic whenever someone else writes his rhymes, unlike, say, a Puff Daddy or a Dr. Dre, so I thought that was weird). The structure of the track is off-kilter, inspired by ‘Ye’s direction from what I understand, but Quincy pulls out a cocksure performance in the paint, and what seemed mechanical at first comes across as methodical in the end. (Q liked “THat Part” so much that he remixed it with his Black Hippy brethren, but, sadly, removed Kanye from that version, which seems wasteful, as he’s the guy that makes the song what it is.)

4. GROOVY TONY / EDDIE KANE (FEAT. JADAKISS)

“Groovy Tony” was the project’s first single, and its bleakness is such a perfect soundscape for Quincy that listeners were left hoping the rest of Blank Face LP would sound this way. Or maybe that was just me: I like this kind of shit. (SPOILER ALERT: It doesn’t, by the way.) Q’s performance is boasts-n-bullshit all the way, with vague threats that still sound creative (“turn a n---a into a spirit” comes to mind). The single version of “Groovy Tony” was a solo affair, but Q pulled the rug out from underneath us for the album, where is final verse is replaced with a brand-new contribution from Jadakiss, of all people, who fucking kills it with a cold-hearted performance that sounds as though producers Tae Beast and Dem Jointz offered the beat to him first. The “Eddie Kane” half of the audio track never grabbed me, though: I would always skip to the next song after Kiss stopped spitting. Quincy sounds okay on “Eddie Kane”, but it is an entirely different track, and the music fails to keep up appearances. But “Pretty Tony” you can bang in your speakers until they collapse, it’s that fucking great.

5. KNO YA WRONG (FEAT. LANCE SKIIWALKER)

This is pretty bad overall, but Quincy takes some interesting chances that just don’t pan out. Producer The Alchemist, who last provided some fucking heat for our host on Oxymoron’s “Break the Bank”, apparently decided to give Quincy some shit he found underneath his fridge, as this beat (co-produced with J. LBS) is terrible. “Kno Ya Wrong” is another two-fer, although both distinct songs keep the same title, with the first half dedicated to Quincy chastising those who ignored him while he was broke, with the back end taken up by Q and guest crooner Lance Skiiwalker talking about money and how much they’d like to stick their respective dicks through some dollar bills. Or something. Anywho…

6. RIDE OUT (FEAT. VINCE STAPLES)

This Sounwave beat is so thick, you could cut slabs of it off of the track and grill it in your backyard. Quincy and blogger favorite Vince Staples helpfully provide discourse on growing up in gang culture over a bass-heavy instrumental custom-built to be played when you’re driving around, whether it’s to work, aimlessly around a suburban area, or in circles through a tiny Trader Joe’s parking lot. Quincy’s flow is more malleable than most people give him credit for, and he rides out over the music like a pro, while Staples turns in yet another performance that, while not scene-stealing (Quincy isn’t Earl Sweatshirt, after all), is still fairly solid. Not bad.

7. WHATEVA U WANT (FEAT. CANDICE PILLAY)

Pretty goofy for a ScHoolboy Q track, but I still kind of liked it. Tae Beast’s instrumental is as playful as the subject matter (our host offers his romantic partner whatever she wants – it’s right there in the title, folks), and could actually be spun in a club setting without anyone so much as batting an eye. Guest star Candice Pillay’s vocals throughout complement the music and sound pleasant enough… until the very end, when the music drops out to reveal the “twist” ending (she doesn’t want material possessions! She just wants love! Awwwww!), her acapella contribution is off-key and difficult to listen to. Until then, though, “Whateva U Want” was a lark.

8. BY ANY MEANS (FEAT. KENDRICK LAMAR)

Labelmate and fellow Black Hippy Kendrick Lamar pops up on “By Any Means”, but his contribution is similar to Kanye West’s on A Tribe Called Quest’s “The Killing Fields”: two words during the hook, repeated ad nauseum. “By Any Means” may evoke some of Malcolm X’s famous speech, but ultimately it’s a song about Quincy doing what he has to do to get his. The Cardo and Yung Exclusive instrumental is okay, nothing special, but Q sounded pretty good over it, switching flows on a dime (at one point even adopting a cadence that reminded me of on Oxymoron’s “Fuck LA”, and that is a compliment) with bars that aren’t very memorable, but you’ll like them enough while the song plays.

9. DOPE DEALER (FEAT. E-40)

Upon Blank Face LP’s release, I found myself drawn to the Metro Boomin/Southside-produced “Dope Dealer”. I still enjoy this shit quite a bit, but I realized just now that I don’t give much of a shit about our host: no, guest star E-40 steals this shit with a hilarious verse that is funny because of his delivery, which cannot be duplicated, as the man is a national treasure. The beat has the most energy of the tracks on here thus far, and the hook is catchy, even if the song itself ultimately says nothing. Quincy isn’t reinventing the wheel on here, but I liked this.

10. JOHN MUIR

The third track on Blank Face LP titled after a person (if you count “Groovy Tony”), “John Muir”, named after Q’s middle school in Los Angeles (itself named after the “father of the National Parks”), is an origin story of sorts for our host, detailing how he entered the game at the age of thirteen and hasn’t looked back since. Sounwave’s instrumental keeps things moving at a brisk-ish pace, until the hook chimes in, when hints of melody come down from the rafters to suggest that Quincy’s tale will have a happy ending. I enjoyed Q’s (apparently freestyled) performance quite a bit: the music, not so much. Ah well.

11. BIG BODY (FEAT. THA DOGG POUND)

My first outright disappointment on Blank Face LP. Yeah, there are songs I’ve written about above that suck horribly, but “Big Body” was one I made the mistake of looking forward to because of the presence of Tha Dogg Pound. There was once a time when hip hop heads considered Daz Dillinger and Kurupt to be the West Coast answer to the Mobb Deep question, or vice versa, thanks to the obvious parallels drawn in their roles (Kurupt and Prodigy’s respective career drop-offs were massive: only Cellblock P was able to start clawing his way out of the hole before his untimely passing). But you wouldn’t know that by listening to “Big Body”: Daz and Kurupt are forced to share a single verse toward the end, with Snoop’s cousin dominating (Kurupt’s there, don’t get me wrong, but he doesn’t register all that much), and they’re both terrible. Sigh. Remove the guests from the equation, and also the horrible intro to the track, and ScHoolboy Q could have had a bouncy diversion all to himself, as this shit is inoffensive otherwise, aside from all of the lyrics that will offend people, obviously. Tyler, the Creator’s instrumental sounds like his own take on Daz’s style of G-Funk, and it’s actually pretty fucking great, so at least the beat works.

12. NEVA CHANGE (FEAT. SZA)

I quite enjoyed DJ Dahl and Dopson’s instrumental. It starts off rather slowly, but once the drums kick in, not only does it elevate the proceedings, it forces you to look back at every moment without said drums in a different light. Sadly, it’s chained to “Neva Change”, a generic ScHoolboy Q boasts-n-bullshit session that also squanders a cameo from blogger favorite SZA.

13. STR8 BALLIN’ (FEAT. JESSE RANKINS)

Kind of hated this one. The beat, provided by Nez & Rio, aims for a sweeping studio-backed epic but couldn’t even be a micro-budgeted indie when it grows up, and Q’s performance is simply blah over it. The true offender of “Str8 Ballin’”, however, is guest crooner Jesse Rankins, who somehow manages to shit on the legacies of both 2Pac (who at least received a writing credit, given that “Str8 Ballin’” is one of his songs that was poached for this) and the theme song to The Jeffersons, and no, that last bit isn’t a joke on my part. I’ve also just noticed that I’ve shot down both Nez & Rio productions from Blank Face LP so far: a quick search of the liner notes tells me that one more is forthcoming, and I have officially dashed any and all expectations for it to be anything resembling “decent”.

14. BLACK THOUGHTS

Seems like there was a very obvious cameo that should have happened on here, but it never materializes. Huh. ScHoolboy Q addresses the nation with his State of the Community address, and the cognitive dissonance required for him to justify his lifestyle without ever admitting that he is responsible for some of the problems cropping up around him must have been exhausting for him: his bars aren’t quite as focused, he stops to think often, and even admits partly through the second verse that he wrote some of the bars “days apart”, thereby eliminating any hope for coherence. This Willie B production sounding as cohesive as it does is quite the feat. Quincy may not have done this intentionally, but “Black Thoughts” is an interesting profile of a man at odds with himself and his beliefs. I do wish it made for a better song, though.

15. BLANK FACE (FEAT. ANDERSON .PAAK)

It’s my own damn fault: after hearing “Groovy Tony” (and Candice Pillory’s backing vocals incorporated into its beat repeating the words “blank face”), I half-expected, half-hoped the title track from Blank Face LP would land on the more sinister, darker side of the gangsta rap spectrum. Instead, what we get is a bizarre acoustic guitar-aided tribute to ScHoolboy Q’s struggles, with more Anderson .Paak (more of him than Quincy if we’re being real) vocals to make me question my life, the universe, and everything. This was boring as fuck. I need someone to give me some Anderson .Paak recommendations that aren’t Malibu, so that I can figure out what it is I’m missing. (And yes, I have made this request before, thanks for noticing: if you’d already responded to me on Twitter or in the comment section for my review of Dr. Dre’s Compton: A Soundtrack, please be so kind as to leave your answers again.)

16. OVERTIME (FEAT. MIGUEL & JUSTINE SKYE)

I get it: ScHoolboy Q is signed to a major label, so the goal is to move as many units as possible, and one way to do so is to include featured artists that appeal to different demographics. Quincy may like Miguel as an artist, but we all know the real reason he appears on “Overtime”. Although he does manage to work in the phrase, “I wanna fuck right now”, repeatedly: subtlety in R&B is officially dead. Miguel definitely has sex with his own shit playing in the background, right? “Overtime” is pretty bland for a song about boning: Q seems bored by the whole affair, and the other guest crooner, Justine Skye, is flat. The only person having any fun on here is Miguel, but that isn’t enough to recommend this to anyone.

17. TOOKIE KNOWS II (FEAT. TF & TRAFFIC)

Blank Face LP ends with a sequel to an interlude from Habits & Contradictions. Over a low-key Nez & Rio instrumental that does, in fact, fare much better than their other two contributions to the project, Quincy, Traffic, and TF all describe planning and executing a heist in very abstract terms, as though they were all afraid that the FBI would somehow decode the lyrics and solve a decades-old mystery. The bars are delivered straight-faced, meshing with the beat, which is also just trying to keep its head down. This was a decent way to end the album. Our host claims “Tookie Knows II” to be his favorite song on here, in case you two were at home keeping score.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Blank Face LP is ultimately a disappointing exercise in excess, as ScHoolboy Q once again packs an album full of every thought that came to mind during the recording process. The problem is that this isn’t his debut: we already know where he stands on a lot of these topics (most of them in the gangbanging orbit), so the onus is on our host to come up with new ways to talk about shit, and on Blank Face LP, he doesn’t succeed. While there are a handful of very entertaining tracks, this album doesn’t live up to the promise that his last two efforts, Oxymoron and especially Habits & Contradictions, made to the consumer. Quincy is as engaging as ever behind the mic, and some of the musical choices behind the scenes were very intriguing. However, those two concepts don’t always converge onto the same audio track, which renders a vast majority of Blank Face LP not very entertaining. It is what it is, but the songs listed below are worth tracking down, at least.

BUY OR BURN? A stream is sufficient here, as the project squanders the promise of “Groovy Tony” and, to a lesser extent, “THat Part”. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

BEST TRACKS: “Groovy Tony” (but not “Eddie Kane”); “Dope Dealer”; “Tookie Knows II”

-Max

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