Schoolboy Q wants the dark, sprawling, bloated Blank Face LP to be his masterpiece. The Top Dawg Entertainment star raps, growls, and sneers over sultry horns, sparkling piano, and descending basslines on his 17-song, 72-minute opus, taking cues from label mate Kendrick Lamar’s genre-bending To Pimp a Butterfly. Anderson Paak’s soulful vocals add sinister braggadocio to album opener “Torch,” and the incendiary “Ride Out” pits Q against a bloodthirsty Vince Staples. 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. (6:30pm, Samsung stage)

***.5

This article appears in September 30 • 2016.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US