“Fuck the blogs”, ScHoolboy starts his fourth album, which is probably fair.

The followup to 2014’s Oxymoron, Blank Face LP is ScHoolboy’s best album yet. The first TDE release since Kenrick’s To Pimp A Butterfly and Untitled Unmastered irrevocably changed the rap game, ScHoolboy proves that he’s progressed just as much as his labelmate.

The first major difference between Blank Face and ScHoolboy’s other work is the musicality. Q has always been in tune with the California gangsta rap sound: along with YG, Jay Rock, and Vince Staples, he’s one of the main modern artists keeping it alive. In the same way that musicality (mostly through jazz) threw TPAB into a completely different league, Blank Face‘s inclusion of subtle alternative instrumentation, from symphonics to electric guitars, elevates Q’s sound to a new level.

Another significant change with the new album is the guest features. As ScHoolboy’s confirmed in recent interviews, the Black Hippy collective that saw Q, Kendrick, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock featuring constantly on each other’s work has dwindled recently to the point that the Black Hippy album that TDE boss Punch loves to tease is looking less and less realistically. While Kendrick has been shying away from his labelmates since 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d. city, everyone except Ab-Soul was featured on Oxymoron. On Blank Face, the only TDE members to appear as a feature are SZA and new recruit Lance Skiiwalker (Kendrick still makes a couple of uncredited contributions, such as the chorus on “Black THougHts” and some background vocals on “Overtime” and “By Any Means”). Several of Q’s usual features seem to have been substituted for a more diverse group of performers: Kanye instead of Kendrick, Jadakiss for Jay Rock, Justine Skye for Jhené Aiko, and Miguel for BJ the Chicago Kid. This move from his classic sound is a subtle one, but it’s all a part of Q’s progression.

It needs to be mentioned, however, that Black Hippy have come together for Q: on the night of his album release, ScHoolboy also dropped the excellent Black Hippy remix for “THat Part”

The range of artists and producers made Blank Face an incredibly diverse and varied album, despite the fact that it retained a singular sound and cohesive theme. Tyler, the Creator, who appeared alongside Raekwon on the menacing Oxymoron cut “The Purge”, did his best Neptunes impression on his production of the Dogg Pound-assisted album highlight “Big Body”. Vince Staples appears on the deadly Sounwave cut “Ride Out”, E-40 and Metro Boomin connect on “Dope Dealer”, and Candice Pillay (who’s previously collaborated with both Kendrick and Jay Rock on “Pay For It”) appears on “WHateva U Want”. Anderson .Paak, who’s newfound superstar status finds him on most significant albums nowadays, appears on both album opener “TorcH” and the excellent title track. Swizz Beatz, Cardo, DJ Dahi, and Frank Dukes all made excellent contributions to the album, alongside TDE regulars Sounwave, Tae Beast, and Willie B.

One of the coolest contributions come from Dem Jointz, who’s received recent acclaim for his work with Dr. Dre and Janet Jackson. Jointz produced “Eddie Kane”, the second half to a track that begins with first single “Groovy Q” (which also features a new verse from Jadakiss on the album). “Eddie Kane”, a reference to musical/drama film The Five Heartbeats, transitions perfectly from the end of “Groovy Q” into a beat that’s simply heavenly. Dem Jointz contributes not just production, but he also sings on the track: his soulful, Five Hearbeats referencing hook of “nights like this I wish… cocaine drops would… faaaaallll” is one of the albums many excellent highlights.

Q’s writing has always been extraordinary. His street life narratives are terrifyingly realistic, his wordplay is always excellent, and his penchant for humour works seamlessly with his notoriously dark themes. The album flows from funky (“Kno Ya Wrong”, “Big Body”) to paranoid (“Ride Out”, “Str8 Ballin”) as ScHoolboy goes from celebrating the hustle to being terrified of the consequences. ScHoolboy’s daughter has always been an integral part of his music (see her many contributions to Oxymoron), and he recently revealed that he almost left the rap game altogether to spend more time with her. Love for his daughter mixed with the fear of leaving her plays just as much into Blank Face as it has into Q’s previous work. Blank Face is equal parts personal and relatable, as all of Q’s struggles play across his music.

ScHoolboy’s always had an eye for the visuals on his albums, but the videos that accompanied Blank Face were next level. Not only were the music videos for singles “Groovy Tony” and “THat Part” excellent, but the album came with an accompanying short film in three parts (“By Any Means”, “Tookie Knows II”, and “Black THoughts”) that starts with Q and his friends throwing dice on the street, to robbing a pawn shop, to an emotional climax of Q leaving his daughter behind as he heads to prison. The visuals are extraordinary, the writing is excellent, and Q and his friends give fantastic performances in a short film that’s as funny as it is heartbreaking.

ScHoolboy Q has had an incredible career, spanning four albums across the past five years that have all been incredible works of art. Blank Face manages to integrate the best parts of all of them, combining Q’s classic sound with his progression as an artist. Blank Face is already number two on the charts, and you can catch ScHoolboy on his upcoming tour.