Top Dawg Entertainment has just packed on extra hype for Schoolboy Q’s upcoming LP, Blank Face, releasing a cryptic Hollywood-style trailer for the Compton MC’s forthcoming release. The video shows Q and his homies throwing dice in South Central LA, before being chased and arrested by the police. What follows is a confronting narrative which seems to speak to Q’s past as a notorious gangbanger as well as the social disparity of the African-American community.

The scattered shots of robberies gone wrong, racial divide, and unashamed police brutality shows heavy influence from classic flicks such as Boyz In Da Hood and Menace II Society. An unreleased track also plays over the clips. The slow, brooding bassline of this yet unnamed number goes hand-in-hand with single releases ‘That Part’, and the excellent ‘Groovy Tony’ which showcase a more confronting and abrasive side to this often-erratic MC. Viewers even get a glimpse of Blank Face LP’s actual artwork in the final seconds which is, unsurprisingly, sans a crying Michael Jordan meme. Thank God.

Having recently experienced setbacks with lacklustre sale figures for his latest single, ‘That Part’, this latest trailer is sure to boost some anticipation for what should be a more socially dissecting and self-aware record than his past efforts. It’s just another piece in the puzzle that has been the extensive and often-bumpy lead-up to Schoolboy Q’s first release since 2014’s Oxymoron.

Blank Face LP drops everywhere on July 8 via Top Dawg Entertainment.

• Words: Vincent Dwyer