Blank Face LP
| Schoolboy Q
Blank Face LP
Blank Face LP is the fourth studio album by American rapper Schoolboy Q. It was released on July 8, 2016, through Top Dawg Entertainment and distributed by Interscope Records. The album serves as his second release under a major record label to music retailers, following 2014's Oxymoron. The album features guest appearances from several prominent artists, such as Kanye West, Jadakiss, E-40, Tha Dogg Pound, Miguel and Anderson Paak, among others. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
Blank Face LP is a collection of catchy, urgent gangsta rap songs that show the South Central native at his charismatic best, gallows humor and tough talk failing to obscure a humane core.
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HipHop DX
However, as a whole, Blank Face LP is a victory not only for ScHoolboy Q, but for a T.D.E. crew that had seemed to lose momentum outside of its star player.
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COS
Predictably, the most common criticism of the 75-minute Blank Face so far is that it’s overlong, but length can be a positive with an album like this. It’s hard and sinister like a gangster rap album, but it’s also sprawling and even psychedelic at times.
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The True Blue Note
WHile it may fall into occasional pitfalls and tropes tHat may be more noticeable on other albums, Blank Face is able to smootH tHem over with memorable track after track, keeping fans on tHe edge of tHeir seats from start to finish. Here’s to Hoping His next project can live up to tHe expectations set out on tHis one.
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Sputnik Music
Blank Face is still resolutely ScHoolboy Q in its misplaced bravado. In terms of pure thrills, though, it's difficult to argue against this being his best album yet.
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Entertainment
But, with an impressive range of sonic and lyrical styles and numerous highlights, Blank Face LP stands as one of 2016’s most engaging rap projects.
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Rolling Stone
The West Coast hip-hop star goes heavy on the dark stuff.
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Slant
the album becomes a virtually stoical incarnation of anonymous hate.
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Empty Lighthouse
It's just what the fans needed from ScHoolboy Q who thoroughly delivers.
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Yr Album's a Sucker
I don’t expect myself to be returning to this project in its entirety many more times throughout the year, but there’s no doubt that four or five of these songs will be some of my favorites of 2016.
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Nappyafro
Okay to close this gem out, I gotta say I’m very impressed with Q and his work. His outdid himself. All of the features are on point, the production is lush and consistent, and Q is spittin’ better than ever.
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DJ Booth
This album is absolutely packed with live instrumentals, beat switches, concepts that demand more than one listen and audio stacked more complexly than a Jenga tour. It's not the album I was expecting, it's the album I couldn't have possibly expected, and that's always a better thing. Now it's time to listen again...
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Odyssey
There are some misses on the album, but for the most part it is a well-constructed project with excellent production and strong messages.
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The High End Theory
‘Blank Face LP‘ is an interesting case for me. At times it basks in the creative genius of the both the rapper that drives it and the producers that molded it, yet at another it seems at war with itself over which direction it wants to take.
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Music 4 The Masses
This really is an irritating yet enjoyable listen. As a ScHoolboy Q fan you’ll listen to this and enjoy it for numerous reasons, many of which involve his daring attitude to persist with music which he seems good rather than what the mainstream public deem good and that in itself is admirable
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Revolt
Q delivers an uncompromising, strung out, street epic.
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The Line of Best Fit
This new project, even at 17 songs, feels lean and meticulously sequenced. It’s the kind of record where you put on one cut and wind up listening to the next three without even realizing.
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A Humming Heart
The production of the album is excellent all the way through, as you’d expect, and there is a nice mix of classic and gritty, modern sound.
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Contact Music
There's one or two tracks on here that do sound as if they've tailored for the radio, but on the whole this is a mature, focussed effort from Schoolboy, and he keeps it as gangsta as ever.
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LA Music Blog
Regardless of who he linked up with on this project, ScHoolboy Q stands alone as one of the primary influencers in today’s rap scene.
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Hypewriter
Blank Face is a heavy album – it’s a listen that feels densely layered, and far less accessible than it’s hit-stacked predecessor.
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Kids Wear Crowns
Because I can rant endlessly about this album, I’ll just conclude by reiterating that Q is for real. He can definitely be tossed into the best rapper conversation and it’s now unfair to call a rapper with such a distinct style a Kendrick Lamar knockoff.
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Vulture
Schoolboy Q’s Blank Face Is a Gangster Rap Classic.
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Tiny Mixtapes
Blank Face is a testament to the fact that the world isn’t all rotten, but if it was, all the more reason to ride out.
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Dozens of Donuts
It's spotty, but Blank Face works in parts, even if its end game is a little disappointing.
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Edmonton Journal
Like a stack of 100s, these hip-hop tracks are full of rich and exhilarating layers, which reveal themselves over time.
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Skiddle
West Coast rap has a rich history of story telling - a history which Schoolboy Q adds to on this album - and as it concludes, you get the feeling Q’s observing his past life from a distance, new perspective in mind, squinting to make out the faces of people he once knew.
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Focus HipHop
It’s still a great album. I definitely don’t think it’s album of the year like a lot of people have been saying, but it’s still dope.
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Content Dope
Blank Face is definitely Q’s best album to date, thanks to it being his most personal and politically/socially charged (this isn’t to say that he didn’t delve into such subject matter before, it’s really a matter of seeing your favourite artist mature in regards to these topics).
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The Young Folks
The tremendous amount of effort sprayed all over the album makes up for an album that treads in similar content for a few tracks here and there. It’s not a real dealbreaker and the album lives up to the hype implemented by “That Part.” Either way, the album lives up to expectation if not more.
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The VLM
Pre-existing fans will really get into this project and those who have overlooked him may appreciate this release more than his others due to what it achieves musically. ScHoolboy still has more to offer, but this album adds to the collection of excellent hip-hop being released in the last few years.
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The Student Playlist
Blank Face is a record which can thrill every fan of rap in its ambition to combine genres and is a brilliant reminder of just why the man from California garnered such hype in the first place.
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Treble
The trade-off here is that listeners get more of a considered statement than anything else Q has released.
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Exclaim
Like almost every album, there are a few moments where you can afford to put your headphones down for a moment — "Overtime," "WHateva U Want" — but overall, Blank Face LP has enough meat to warrant several satisfying helpings.
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Pop Matters
The most exciting thing about Blank Face LP isn’t that it’s a conceptual mural comprised of colorful songs, banging instrumentals, and earworm choruses, but that Q is heading full-throttle into probably the best part of his career with this album.
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Inverse
Blank Face is the follow-up to Q’s 2014 album, Oxymoron. In the 17 song LP, Q delivers one of his most gangster and politically motivated albums to date.
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The Musical Hype
All said and done, ScHoolboy Q delivered on Blank Face LP. To reiterate, it takes a couple of listens for everything to “sink in,” but there’s plenty of greatness to take in. There are few flaws throughout the album, though “Overtime” is a question mark. Regardless, one of the year’s most intriguing efforts.
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Spectrum Pulse
That said, strong production and great guest performances - for the most part - can redeem a lot, so I'm going to give this record a strong 7/10 and definitely a recommendation, but with a tighter focus, I'm convinced Schoolboy Q could make that killer record that could surpass Habits & Contradictions and really connect as a classic. He's shown the potential - now all he has to do is do it.
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Exepose
Overall, this has to be the best project ScHoolboy Q has released to date. It will be very difficult for anyone, let alone the artists from TDE, to substantially better this project in 2016; in my mind, this has to be a candidate for top 5 albums of the year so far, perhaps even top 3.
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Spin
Blank Face LP doesn’t need to gel by commercial standards to showcase an honest troubled mind who raps his ass off.
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Slum Music
This Album deserves a Solid 8.0/10 for its change of paste, great lyrics, excellent production, and great sound. Schoolboy Q Shows Again why he is the underdog Of TDE.
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Huffpost
Overall, my frustration comes from the fact that this could have been a perfect album, since so many of the songs are so good, but due to a few boring songs, Blank Face LP will go down as a innovative and extremely enjoyable release but a mixed bag.
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The Hundreds
With Blank Face LP though, Schoolboy came and, more importantly, delivered.
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