It is not surprise that this is my favorite album that Q has made so far. It combines all of my favorite aspects of Q’s arsenal into one cohesive project. It has the super-hard thugged out Q, the somber introspective Q, and the fun braggadocious Q too. When you combine all of those you get an album that is damn near perfect. I say damn near because there’s only two low points on this album. One is E-40’s verse on Dope Dealer, good lord that verse is so unnecessary. The song starts off so fire with Q rapping about the lifestyle of a drug dealer and how ruthless but cool he is. Then, E-40 comes in talking about how good of a rapper he is and how he likes to eat Domino’s! Like, sir…what? Totally unnecessary. The other “low point”, and it’s in quotes for a reason, is Black THougHts. This isn’t bad by any means, it’s just definitely not my favorite on here. I often find myself skipping this track for a couple reasons: There’s an intro (I hate those) and Kendrick’s “Lord of the Rings” voice on the hook. Other than that, this album is amazing.

This is the sction where I talk about how much I love this album. It starts right off the bat too. TorcH sees Q and Anderson .Paak de-glamorizing the street lifestyle and detailing the reality of growing up in it. Over this chilling beat that makes you hang on to every-fucking-word they say. I don’t know what inspired Anderson to go so hard on this track but shit he went off. Mans literally starts hollering at the end. This fire continues straight into Lord Have Mercy. Q raps about how he was heavy in the streets, but he realized that rapping would be better for not only his but his daughter’s life in the long run. It’s wild how much you can convey in just a minute and forty-four seconds, but of course Q pulls it off flawlessly. THat Part is tricky because not only is it one of the best songs ever made, but it did birth one of the most annoying phrases on all-time. Trust me, being in high school when this shit dropped was fucking terrible, I heard that mf phrase everyday. And then it started mutating, first it was “That Part!”, then “Dat Pah!”, then finally “Dehtpodd!” Good lord, it felt like my headphones were never loud enough to block it out either. Other than that, song is great. It has one of the untouchable 2015-2017 Kanye verses too, that’s another article though. Str8 Ballin features Q rapping over these bombastic horns that loop and then the bass and the claps hit and you just start levitating because the beat is just that fucking good already. Then, Q has the nerve, the gall to put not one but two absolutely incredible verses ON TOP OF THAT! FUCK! This song is so hard it’s actually wild. The title track Blank Face sees Q and Anderson .Paak coming back to remind everyone that the street life is definitely not all it’s hyped up to be. Q would much rather just be there for his daughter all day instead of risking his life. Both him and Anderson would give it all up just to be with their kids and loved ones. They do all of this over this infectious bassline and rising string section. It’s beautiful.

This album is so fucking good man. Like, I love Q and he can damn near do no wrong, but this album is fucking great. His most organized and solid project to date in my opinion.

Listen to Blank Face LP

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