Blank Face LP
by ScHoolboy Q
User Score
8.4

Universal acclaim- based on 246 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 218 out of 246
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 246
  3. Negative: 8 out of 246
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  1. thebassline
    Aug 19, 2016
    6
    For about 5-minutes of every year, ScHoolboy Q is everybody's favourite rapper. Listening to his singles (e.g. "Collard Greens") or his features (e.g. "Let it Bang"), he sounds a remarkably captivating rapper, tumbling between words with a bluster unmatched by your regular trap goon. His flow is urgent whilst lyrical, ensuring some meaning is attached to his threats while ensuring you'llFor about 5-minutes of every year, ScHoolboy Q is everybody's favourite rapper. Listening to his singles (e.g. "Collard Greens") or his features (e.g. "Let it Bang"), he sounds a remarkably captivating rapper, tumbling between words with a bluster unmatched by your regular trap goon. His flow is urgent whilst lyrical, ensuring some meaning is attached to his threats while ensuring you'll be 'leaving with a hole in [your] skull.' Outside of those 5-minutes, though, Q tends to a remarkably boring and frustrated spitter, preferring to cop a lackadaisical delivery over the menace that can put him well ahead of Kendrick and the Black Hippy crew. Q himself has complained about his waning critical and commercial fortunes, often insisting in vain that he is, '... better than [Kendrick]... It's a layup.' It's hard not to agree when he's at optimal performance; that's so rare though that it's laughable to think he might be serious. So Blank Face operates on the premise that those brief moments of excellence Q nonchalantly veers into can be sustained across a 75-minute long player.

    Without going into specifics, Blank Face is by far the most consistently captivating ScHoolboy Q has ever been. Part of that can be attributed to Q's latent direction towards album-oriented sounds and themes, aiming to relay a generally amped-up paranoia brought on by street-level shellshock. Credit where it's due, Q's snarling and onomatopoeic phrasing of 'knocks' and 'bangs' become the norm, often opting for a savageness he infrequently indulges. When matched by equally brutish beats- sounds that err closer to the Southern horrorcore of 808 Mafia than, say, radio-friendly trap or critically appeasing backpacker rap- Q's better than he's ever been. It all balances out to solidify Blank Face as something singular in expression. Most of that is to say nothing of when it all devolves into limply worded posturing, of which Blank Face is guilty of at least half of the time. Ordinarily, Q's deficiencies are most clearly at fault; here, it's a smattering of poorly chosen guests that hinder Q's worked over vision. As opposed to Vince Staples or Anderson .Paak, who bolster Blank Face's obsession with narcotics and braggadocio, misplaced spots from E-40 and Kanye West serve the record poorly outside of marketing purposes. It's hard to see that being an issue though had Blank Face not sprawled unnecessarily beyond an hour's length. It's a reminder that ScHoolboy Q hasn't really got a hang of quality control quite yet. But then again, he's always been prone to this sort of nonsense; 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.    … Expand
  2. ojohn123
    Jul 11, 2016
    5
    I'm sure not many people are going to find this review helpful, but I have no drive to ever revisit this album. This is no dynamic contrast in the album that holds my interest. Part of what makes this genre so fantastic is its huge scale of dynamic and emotional ability, and Blank Face LP took little-to-no advantage of that. It wasn't bad by any means, but it was just incrediblyI'm sure not many people are going to find this review helpful, but I have no drive to ever revisit this album. This is no dynamic contrast in the album that holds my interest. Part of what makes this genre so fantastic is its huge scale of dynamic and emotional ability, and Blank Face LP took little-to-no advantage of that. It wasn't bad by any means, but it was just incredibly unremarkable. There doesn't seem to be a point to any of it, to the production, to the lyricism, nothing.… Expand
  3. Uncle_Oinker
    Sep 26, 2016
    6
    Blank Face is a disappointing LP from one of the better Mc's of the past 5 years. Q brings nothing new to the table. It's got a few great tracks, but doesn't warrant more than 2 or 3 listens. By the 4th listen you're tired of the weak features and grating "dark" production.

Awards & Rankings

46
#46 Most Discussed Album of 2016
79
#79 Most Shared Album of 2016

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Austin Chronicle
    Sep 30, 2016
    78
    Blank Face stalls near its end with pedestrian raps and an awkward R&B crossover bid, but when Q locks into the streetwise grooves of "Dope Dealer" and the lush psychedelia of "That Part," he hints at the masterpiece he came tantalizingly close to making.
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  2. RapReviews.com
    Aug 16, 2016
    75
    Influenced by many but perhaps literally fathered by none, ScHoolboy Q remains an intriguing enigma whose ambitions presently know less limits than Percy Miller.
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  3. No Ripcord
    Aug 10, 2016
    80
    Blank Face is occasionally too indulgent for his own good, as he also follows trap and net-soul trends in awkward fashion, but the amount of genuine, larger-than-life parables continue to expose an artist who still wrestles with his hard-knock past.
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