Schoolboy Q, following the drop of his fourth studio album, Blank Face LP on Friday has released the conclusion of the video trilogy that began with ‘By Any Means’ and ‘Tookie knows II’. The third instalment, ‘Black THougHts’ is dark, even for Schoolboy. It begins with Schoolboy in court for armed robbery (depicted in ‘Tookie Knows II’), he imagines the two paths his life could go down from here, one in which he is incarcerated and another where he is living his life, free with his daughter, Joy. The two stories are interwoven and the prison world appears to seep into his happy life, a tall barbed wire fence mars his beautiful house and the school bus changes into a prison bus.

Schoolboy Q raps about his past, his life as a Crip and gangbanger, the pain and suffering he has endured, most of which occurred when he was aged between 16 and 23. In ‘Black THougHts’ Q makes an important statement about violence saying, “Let’s put the rags down and raise our kids/ Let’s put our guns down and blaze a spliff… All lives matter, both sides.”

‘Black THougHts’ although dark, has a slightly hopeful feel. Although the hardships Schoolboy has endured exist, his music shows his transformation and how far he has come from being the Cali Crip. ‘Black THougHts’ is a self-reflective film depicting the difficult journey that is Schoolboy Q’s life.

Watch all three parts of the trilogy above.

• Words: Ella McNicol