Blank Face LP was supported by three singles, "Groovy Tony", "That Part" and "Overtime", and several music videos, including a trilogy of short films. Schoolboy Q also made appearences on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel Live! and embarked on the Groovy Tony Pit Stops concert tour in July 2016, followed by the Blank Face World Tour, which saw the rapper tour North America, Oceania and Europe with Joey Bada$$ between August to December 2016.
Blank Face LP received widespread acclaim from critics and debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 and number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, selling 74,000 units in its first week. In 2018, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "That Part" also reached number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and was certified double-platinum by the RIAA. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in 2017, the album received a nomination for Best Rap Album, while "That Part" was nominated for Best Rap Performance. In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 164 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Hip Hop Albums of All Time".
Background and recording
In March 2012, Schoolboy Q was signed to major record label Interscope Records as part of a distribution deal with Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) involving his group Black Hippy, featuring labelmate Kendrick Lamar, who signed a separate deal with Aftermath/Interscope.[1] In February 2014, he released his Interscope debut, Oxymoron, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart and spawned the top 40 hit single "Studio", featuring BJ the Chicago Kid.[2] SchoolBoy Q toured in support of the album for a year and a half, and it was eventually certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[2][3] In a July 2014 interview with Bilboard, Schoolboy Q revealed he was in the "beginning stages" of recording his follow-up to the album.[4] On September 9, 2014, he told HotNewHipHop that he had begun recording the album but was still unsure of its direction.[5][6]
SchoolBoy Q initially considered retiring from rap music after touring in support of Oxymoron to spend more time with his family and his daughter Joy; he regretted the long periods he spent away from them promoting the album.[2][7] "When I came back [from touring], [Joy] was doing different things, talking different", he told he told MTV News in 2016. "I'm at the crucial years of her life—she's only seven years old, so every time I'm gone for a certain amount of time, I come back, she's doing something new. I got kind of tired of missing that."[8] Neither TDE nor Interscope were rushing him to record a new album, and he did not plan on informing them of his retirement: "It was just a thing where it was just like I’m never gonna give 'em my album so they’ll get the point."[9] After almost a year away, he decided to end his retirement and resumed recording in the summer of 2015.[2][9] He set up a home recording studio to work on the album, allowing him to focus on being a father and reduce his press committments.[2][8] In an 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Schoolboy Q revealed that his initial recording sessions for Blank Face LP resulted in "depressed rap"; nothing from those sessions made it on to the album.[2] The album was largely finished by December 2015;[9] on April 28, 2016, Schoolboy Q announced that it had been completed, and turned in for mixing.[10]
The instrumental for "By Any Means" was an unused Kendrick Lamar beat that SchoolBoy Q found whilst looking through his computer.[9] SchoolBoy Q said that he had attemped to work with Lamar on "Overtime", but that he rejected it after an attempt at recording vocals. TDE founder Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith heard the song and wanted it to be included on the album, but Q did not want his singing part to be used and subsequently requested Miguel's presence on the track. He then recruited Justine Skye after asking then-TDE president Dave Free for suggestions. "I didn’t know much about Justine. I heard her voice I looked, she’s beautiful and she sings good. I need her on this record. There you go, you have the record."[9] Prior to the album's release, rumors circulated that Lamar had produced "Overtime", which SchoolBoy Q adressed during an interview with Hot 97; "I wasn’t there to see him produce it but I remember seeing Cardo produce it. I mean I think Kendrick got some background vocals. He’s done a lot of background vocals for me."[16]
Release and promotion
On January 26, 2016, SchoolBoy Q posted a teaser video for "Groovy Tony" on Instagram.[17] On February 24, 2016, Tiffith announced that Schoolboy Q would release the follow-up to Oxymoron before the summer.[18] After some delays, he confirmed on June 2, 2016, that it would be released on July 8.[19] On June 14, he unveiled the album's title as Blank Face LP, while also unveiling what was thought to be the album's cover art.[20] The album was originally titled Ghost Face, after Ghostface Killah, but Schoolboy Q later changed it to Blank Face as he thought it was "too corny to name it right after a rapper".[9] The initial artwork made use of the notorious Crying Jordan meme, with his face blurred out.[21][22] On June 16, Schoolboy Q released what was thought to be the cover art for the deluxe edition of the album, which features 2016 US presidential candidate Donald Trump, with his face blurred out as well.[23][24] However, a few days later, in an interview with TMZ, Schoolboy Q revealed that he was "trolling" his fans and later unveiled the official album cover.[25][26] On June 18, 2016, Schoolboy Q released a trailer for Blank Face LP, which previewed a new song.[27][28][29] On June 21, he released the second trailer as promotion for the short film, which was co-directed by Kendrick Lamar and the Lil Homies (a.k.a. Lamar and Dave Free).[30][31] On June 23, Schoolboy Q revealed the track listing for Blank Face LP.[32] The following day, the album's production credits were revealed.[33]
"Groovy Tony" was released as the lead single from Blank Face LP on April 5, 2016, alongside a music video directed by Jack Begert and the Little Homies.[34] On May 13, 2016, Interscope began promoting "That Part" via urban and rhythmic radio formats in North America, as the album's second single.[35] The single debuted at number 40 on the US Billboard Hot 100;[36] according to Tiffith, it sold 26,000 copies in its first week.[19] The song was certified double platinum by the RIAA in 2018.[37] Its music video, directed by Colin Tilley, was released on June 2, 2016.[38][39] Between June 25 and July 11, 2016,[40][41] a trilogy of three short films/music videos, directed by Begert and Free, were released for "By Any Means", "Tookie Knows II" and "Black Thoughts".[42][43] According to Pitchfork's Jazz Monroe, the trilogy centered on "tense interactions with the cops before and after a pawn shop robbery".[43] On the day of the album's release, the video trilogy was screened at the Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles over a 24-hour period,[44] and a remix of "That Part", featuring new verses from Schoolboy Q's Black Hippy cohorts Lamar, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul, was released.[45] Following this, a music video for "John Muir", directed by APlusFilmz was released on July 21, 2016.[46] "Overtime" was serviced to urban and rhythmic radio in North America, on September 12, 2016, as the album's third and final single;[47] a music video for the song was released the same day.[48]
On June 29, 2016, Schoolboy Q held a listening session for Blank Face LP in New York City, which was hosted by Hot 97 radio personality, Peter Rosenberg.[49][50][51] During the session, Q confirmed that he would not be releasing a deluxe edition of the album.[51] Various blogs reporting on the session said that Schoolboy Q had said that Interscope Records lobbied to have Miguel and Skye on "Overtime" in the hopes of recreating the success of "Studio", which he ultimately agreed to.[9][52][53] Q said that his comments about "Overtime" had been misunderstood;[2] in an interview with Real 92.3, Q clarified that TDE had suggested the song's inclusion instead of Interscope and criticized blogs for getting the information wrong, though he conceded that he "should’ve worded it way better". He also said he had apologized to Miguel.[9] On June 30, he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he performed a live rendition of "Groovy Tony" and "That Part".[54][55] Schoolboy Q embarked on a twelve-show concert tour of North America, Groovy Tony Pit Stops, in support of Blank Face LP.[56] The tour began in San Francisco on July 9, and concluded on July 17, in Houston.[57] He then performed at the Panorama Music Festival in New York between July 22 to 24, 2016.[58] From August 30 to December 15, 2016, SchoolBoy Q embarked on the Blank Face World Tour of North America, Oceania and Europe, taking Joey Bada$$ as support.[58] Midway through the tour, he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! with E-40, performing "Dope Dealer" on September 14, 2016.[59]
Commercial performance
Blank Face LP debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, with 74,000 album-equivalent units with 52,000 copies coming from pure album sales in its first week.[60] It was the highest selling album in its debut week.[61][62]Blank Face LP is Schoolboy Q's second top five album on the Billboard 200, and follows his number one debuting Oxymoron effort in 2014 which sold 139,000 copies in its first week.[61] In its second week, the album dropped to number 10 on the Billboard 200, earning 28,000 album-equivalent units that week.[63] On June 8, 2018, the album was certified gold by the RIAA for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units in the United States.[64]
Blank Face LP was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 81, based on 18 reviews.[66] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.4 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[65]
David Jeffries of AllMusic said, "This sprawling, cumbersome, and often psychedelic effort feels like a glorious clearing house for the diverse and deep rapper, offering giant, cinematic, and challenging efforts."[67] Michael Madden of Consequence said, "It's hard and sinister like a gangster rap album, but it's also sprawling and even psychedelic at times. Nothing else sounds like it, and that's a joy to behold."[68] Eric Renner Brown of Entertainment Weekly said, "At 72 minutes, Blank Face does sometimes sag under its own ambition. ... 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."[69] Writing for Exclaim! A. Harmony praised the album's "heterogeneous collection of styles".[70] Jonah Bromwich of Pitchfork said, "Blank Face turns away from the ambitious fusion of To Pimp a Butterfly, instead doubling down on a smoked-out atmosphere that points the listener's focus toward rapping. That puts the onus on Q to hold attention for the duration of the record's hour-plus running time, and he does so."[73] Keith Harris of Rolling Stone, praised the production and guest appearances, writing: "Digi+Phonics, Black Hippy's go-to production crew, handle most of the beats, which are plush with sumptuous, weed-hazy pleasures but steeped in a dank, justifiable paranoia. Nearly every element of the sound – the mean breakbeat from an old Christine McVie tune that Tae Beast loops beneath lead single "Groovy Tony", R&B visionary Anderson .Paak sweetening the mood without lightening it, guest rhymes from Kanye and Jadakiss and Vince Staples – adds an ominous undertone."[11]
Kris Ex of Spin said, "It's not easy to homogenize the opposing forces at play, but everything here feels like a genuine rumble through a mind scarred and inebriated by the reality of gang life and chasing the American dream while the room spins."[74] Chris Gibbons of XXL, concluded with: "Blank Face LP isn't Schoolboy Q's first great album, but it's the first one where he lives up to his utmost potential. He can be smooth, he can be hard as nails, but whatever he is, the MC does it with greatness. Q can talk about his violent, drug-dealing past and almost celebrate it in one moment and decry the ever-present dangers of hood life in the next. Blank Face is the album an artist like Schoolboy Q was born to make."[75] In a mixed review, Sam C. Mac of Slant Magazine said, "Blank Face LP is ultimately an unfocused album, one caught between reportage and repugnant opportunism."[76] In another mixed review, Jessica Ankomah of Now said, "Q might appear masked on the album cover, but his explicit tales of hardship, prosperity and loss hide nothing."[77]
Retrospective reviews
Reflecting on the album a year after its release in 2017, Corbin Reiff of Uproxx called Blank Face LP SchoolBoy Q's best and "an indisputable classic", as well as the second-greatest TDE release behind To Pimp a Butterfly.[78] In 2019, Highsnobiety ranked the album third on their list of the "25 Most Underrated Rap Releases of the 2010s".[79]BrooklynVegan ranked the album at number 37 on their list of the "100 Best Rap and R&B Albums of the 2010s".[80] In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 164 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Hip Hop Albums of All Time", with writer Christopher R. Weingarten calling it a "contemporary gangsta rap classic".[81] Similarly, Robert Blair of HotNewHipHop hailed the album as" ScHoolboy’s ultimate gangsta rap symphony, and could easily stand alongside the best albums the sub-genre has ever produced", placing it first in a 2022 ranking of his studio albums.[82] In 2024, Sam Moore of HipHopDX ranked the album as the fifth best TDE album, stating that it "remains a scorching, ominous and often psychedelic masterpiece.[83]
In a 2019 interview with Vulture, Schoolboy Q expressed his dissatisfaction with the content of Blank Face LP, feeling that the album was too dark and introspective; "I want balance in my music. I'm not a guy that's just about to give you one sound. That's so boring and lame to me. That's my biggest regret with Blank Face. Besides a couple songs, I just made the whole album pretty dark." He also believed the album did not perform as well as Oxymoron because it was a "one-listen album".[84] However, in March 2024, he ranked the album as his second-best, behind his recently released Blue Lips (2024). He said although he "didn’t like it at first [because] ppl kinda told me da whole way this ain’t it[sic]", he believed it was "one of the most creative gangsta rap albums ever" and said that its gold certification "felt better den [Oxymoron]'s Platinum[sic]."[85] In July 2024, he selected "Groovy Tony", "Know Ya Wrong", "By Any Means", "John Muir" and "Tookie Knows II" as his favorite tracks from the album.[86]
"John Muir" contains a sample of "Silently", as performed by The Delfonics and Adrian Younge, and written by William Hart, Dave Henderson, Tom Simon and Adrian Younge.
"Black Thoughts" contains a sample of "Drop", as performed by Soft Machine and written by Mike Ratledge; as well as a sample of "Good Old Music", as performed by Funkadelic and written by George Clinton.
Personnel
Credits for Blank Face LP adapted from AllMusic.[96]
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