ScHoolboy Q might be a synesthetic -- he sees sounds in color. Kendrick Lamar's GKMC is purple and yellow, he's said. His own albums have been black and grey, as reflected in their cover art.
The cover of his new album Blank Face LP is his first that depicts color -- a lone masked man standing among trees in an orange and purple mist. And though Q is as cold-blooded as ever on this album, the soundscape is not so bleak -- it is broader than that of Oxymoron, and the more colorful elements are often supplied by samples, from Donald Byrd's soulful brand of gospel-infused jazz fusion to the aqueous unspooling electric piano of English prog rock band Soft Machine.
Click through the gallery to listen to the samples of Blank Face LP.
"Lord Have Mercy" | Produced by Swizz Beatz
Sample: Donald Byrd - "Cristo Redentor"
"Groovy Tony" | Produced by Tae Beast
Drum break: Christine McVie - "And That's Saying A Lot"
"Kno Ya Wrong" | Produced by Alchemist
Sample: Kool & The Gang's "Summer Madness" (A classic sample.)
"Dope Dealer" | Produced by Southside & Metro Boomin
Sample: Three 6 Mafia - "Playa Hataz"
"JoHn Muir" | Produced by Sounwave
Sample: Adrian Younge & The Delfonics - "Silently"
"Black THougHts" | Produced by Willie B
Sample: Soft Machine - "Drop"
Drum break: Funkadelic - "Good Old Music"