Album Review: Schoolboy Q – “Blank Face LP”

By: Emmett Robinson Smith –

It’s refreshing – and at times jarring – to listen to Schoolboy Q in the context of his peers. His vivid observations and nasty braggadocio make his realism and immediacy contrast the likes of Kendrick Lamar, who deals largely in metaphor, and Drake, who postures as the god of Canada’s biggest city of Toronto. Schoolboy’s latest project, Blank Face LP, is a project seemingly dedicated to keeping rap in the streets while also pushing the boundaries of what a west coast gangsta rap album can sound like.

Schoolboy’s sharp observational abilities allow him palpable chemistry with fellow LA resident Vince Staples, exemplified by “Ride Out,” one of the highlights on the new project. On it, Staples, whose hot streak is verging on legendary, spits a gripping torrent of hood imagery similar to his excellent debut album, last year’s Summertime ’06. But “Ride Out” is unmistakably Schoolboy’s, as he snarls lines like “Crippin’ on my minibike / Either hoop or sellin’ white / Brillo pad, the smoker’s pipe / My pistol cocked, you tryna fight? Say he wanna be a cuz, put his brains to the right.” This verbal barrage is Schoolboy at his best: Sharp, indignant, and sure-footed. In this sense, he works in a similar vein to Pusha T, another drug-dealer-turned-rapper who has maintained relevance by balancing style and substance, street rap and more commercially viable fare.

It’s easy for a few of the rappers featured on the album to sound as though they’re coming up short; usually because Schoolboy murders every track he’s on. His new-and-improved lyrical chops are perhaps exemplified by the uncharacteristically pensive “Black Thoughts”: “Your mind, it greys your heart / I wrote these rhymes days apart / Most of us caught before we can expand our thoughts / How your grandmother see your corpse?” Much of the album deals with the gang violence Schoolboy lived before his rap days, and the cycle of poverty and crime that propels it. Blank Face LP has him digging deeper into his street experiences despite his rise from them.

But Blank Face LP, though old-school in some aspects, is also the sound of a rapper growing in every way that matters. Most noticeable is that his taste for beats is both more sophisticated and more diverse, resulting in a fully-realized artistic product. Schoolboy is in command of his art like never before, mirroring labelmate Kendrick Lamar. Though To Pimp A Butterfly’s influence is palpable here, Lamar never makes a billed appearance (though he can be heard on the hook of “Black Thoughts,” among others). The decision to leave Lamar’s name off the album is a smart one; the album proves that Schoolboy is in his own lane to some extent.

Futuristic free jazz and funk similar to To Pimp a Butterfly and untitled unmastered frames much of the Blank Face LP. The album starts with a darting bass riff, crunchy guitar chords and gospel-infused vocal harmonies. Anderson Paak, probably the hottest rising star in music right now, contributes an engrossing spoken-word passage that returns later on the album, reinforcing the project’s unified nature. This song, “TorcH”, contrasts the dissonant clobber of mid-album banger “Dope Dealer”, produced by Atlanta trap heroes Metro Boomin and Southside. But the two producers strip down their trademark complex rhythmic patterns and multi-faceted percussion for a more straightforward approach here, which suits Schoolboy’s no-bullshit bars. “Dope Dealer” is one of the most immediately likeable songs on the album – that is, until E-40 comes in. Though E-40’s influence on West Coast rap is undeniable – as Schoolboy says in his Breakfast Club interview a few days ago – the verse doesn’t really fit with the hard-as-nails beat, especially as E-40 offers pithy punchlines in an attempt to bite Big Sean’s “Supa Dupa” flow.

Blank Face LP is without a doubt Schoolboy’s best album to date, and stands easily among some of the best hip-hop released this year. It has its lapses, but in an era where a vast swath of the North American population has their heads in the clouds pursuing Pokemon, it’s reassuring to hear Schoolboy Q, a man whose mind and art stays relentlessly-down-to-earth.