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.
Blank Face LP
July 8, 2016
- Art Dealer Chic (Los Angeles)
- D-Block (Yonkers)
- Encore (Burbank)
- Groovy Sound (Tarzana)
- No Excuses (Santa Monica)
- No Name (North Hollywood)
- Orange Room (Danville)
- Paramount (Hollywood)
72:27
- The Alchemist
- Cardo
- Cubeatz
- Dem Jointz
- DJ Dahi
- Frank Dukes
- J. Lbs
- Larrance Dopson
- Metro Boomin
- Nez & Rio
- Sounwave
- Southside
- Swizz Beatz
- Tae Beast
- Tony Russell
- Tyler, the Creator
- Willie B
- Yung Exclusive
The production was handled by various high-profile record producers, including Swizz Beatz, Metro Boomin and Southside, as well as frequent collaborators Nez & Rio, The Alchemist, DJ Dahi and members of TDE in-house production team, Digi+Phonics. Blank Face LP was preceded by a series of short films, which also served as respective corresponding music videos. To further promote the album Schoolboy Q embarked on a concert tour called the Groovy Tony Pit Stops. The album was supported by three singles: "Groovy Tony", "That Part" and "Overtime".
Blank Face LP received widespread acclaim from critics and debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200. It also debuted at number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album, while "That Part" received the nomination for Best Rap Performance.
Background[edit]
In March 2012, Schoolboy Q signed a recording contract with major record label, Interscope Records.[1] After releasing his Interscope debut, Oxymoron, Schoolboy Q began working on his second album for Interscope. On February 24, 2016, Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) founder, Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, announced that Schoolboy Q would soon be releasing the follow-up to Oxymoron.[2] On June 14, 2016, Schoolboy Q revealed his second major-label album would be titled Blank Face LP.[3]
Recording and production[edit]
TDE's in-house producer Tae Beast of Digi+Phonics, contributed the production on the album's first single, "Groovy Tony".[4] Willie B and Sounwave, both of whom also form Digi+Phonics, provided production on the album as well. GOOD Music founder Kanye West contributed a verse and handled the production on the second single, "That Part", alongside Cardo, Yung Exclusive and Cubeatz.[5] On April 28, 2016, Schoolboy Q announced that the album had been completed, and turned in for mixing.[6] On June 24, 2016, the album's production credits were revealed to include Nez & Rio, Swizz Beatz, The Alchemist, Tyler, the Creator and DJ Dahi, among others.[7]
As of June 2016, listening session for the album, Schoolboy Q revealed Interscope Records lobbied to have R&B singers Miguel and Justine Skye, featured on "Overtime", in hopes of recreating the success of his 2014 top 40 hit single, the BJ the Chicago Kid-assisted "Studio". Although Schoolboy Q was against the idea at first, he ultimately agreed with the label.[8] When the album's production credits were revealed, it was rumored that Kendrick Lamar landed production placement on the song "Overtime". In an interview with New York City radio station Hot 97, Schoolboy Q addressed the hearsay: "That's what everybody's saying. 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."[9]
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Schoolboy Q revealed that his initial recording sessions for Blank Face LP resulted in "depressed rap." He stated that nothing from those sessions made it on to the album.[10] On June 12, 2016, following the album's release, Schoolboy Q took to Twitter to answer certain questions from fans. One of which related to the absence of his frequent collaborator ASAP Rocky, with whom he has recorded several songs, such as "Brand New Guy", "Hands on the Wheel", "Electric Body" and "Califonication". Schoolboy Q revealed Rocky was originally on the album, however the song's producer, Pharrell Williams, had given the instrumental to another artist.[11] Schoolboy Q also revealed he freestyled all the lyrics to "John Muir".[11]
Retrospective[edit]
In a 2019 interview with Vulture, Schoolboy Q expressed his dissatisfaction with the content of Blank Face LP, stating: "Some shit just be too introspective. Some shit be too turnt up. 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. I regret that so much. Why did I do that?"[68]
Commercial performance[edit]
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.[69] It was the highest selling album in its debut week.[70][71] 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.[70] In its second week, the album dropped to number 10 on the Billboard 200, earning 28,000 album-equivalent units that week.[72] On June 8, 2018, the album was certified gold by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units in the United States.[73]
Notes
Sample credits