Logic
Album: YSIV
Label: Visionary Music Group/Def Jam
Release Date: September 28, 2018
Still Logical
Written by Silas Valentino
Logic released the Young Sinatra mixtape, the debut entry into his Young Sinatra project, in 2011 when he was 21 years old, broke, floating between basement couches and known more by his birthname Sir Robert Bryson Hall II than his stage name. The mixtape was a lowercase-b breakthrough; it was the first time he linked up with producer 6ix, a crucial collaborator and now his in-house producer, and their union catapulted each other into the rap game.
A year later they released Young Sinatra: Undeniable and its success enrolled Logic into XXL’s “Top 10 Freshmen List.” Def Jam Recordings called and signed him in April 2013. The following month saw the release of Young Sinatra: Welcome to Forever, which has been downloaded for free via the online distribution platform DatPiff nearly 2 million times. Then came his debut album Under Pressure, then his cross-over hit single “1-800-273-8255” and now he’s been dubbed “the voice of his generation” by Ellen DeGeneres.
Logic’s Sinatra series reaches its conclusion with YSIV, or: Young Sinatra Four. The girthy album tops 76 minutes and encapsulates the last seven years of the Maryland rapper’s rise. The critiques on his critics come with barbed wordplay while the praises for his fan clan (nicknamed “The Rattpack”) are numerous and genuine.
However, Logic has reached a career crossroads. He’s no longer a freshman, not much of a pop icon and too popular of an artist to be for those trendy, in the know hip-hop heads. He’s plateaued. And it’s up to you to infer if that stagnation means he’s on a misty mountain top of acclaim or if he’s still lining up dominos for his next goal in an ever-perpetuating cycle of success begetting success.
YSIV begins with the gracious ode “Thank You” where Logic reveals that “In many ways it still feel like I ain’t made it yet/For every goal I attain, I set like ten more.” It’s a short window into his paradoxical psyche where his drive keeps him going but won’t allow him to stop and smell the millions.
He seems lonely on “Thank You” rapping over a smooth boom-bap beat (recalling Japanese producer Nujabes who he gives a short shout out to) but Logic knows the number to call when he feels like a zero in a world of ones. The last four minutes of “Thank You” include dozens of snippets from fans all over the world – including Colorado, Palestine, Kenya and even a U.S. Navy man out in Japan – which creates a chorus of voices promoting Logic’s philosophy of “Peace, love, and positivity, baby.” It’d be nauseating if it weren’t so positively encouraging.
He has love for his fans, love for his family, love for Rick and Morty but no love for one particular, popular trend in today’s rap music.
“Fuck a mumble let’s make America rap again” he says on “The Return” and later, on the full Wu Tang Clan-assisted highlight “Wu Tang Forever”, he goes for the jugular: “You cannot defeat my Wu-Tang style, I leave ‘em all dismembered/Fuck a mumble rap, that shit won’t never be remembered/Not even a contender, no, pretender, best surrender.”
There’s no place for Mumble Rap in Logic’s purview and he’s using his platform to sling daggers. It’s an easy target (everybody minus your try-hard cousin or teenage nephew rep Soundcloud rappers) but it’s a surprising twist into negging from an artist who bleeds for positivity. It’s like discovering that Jesus Christ disses on The Kardashians.
YSIV concludes with a new standard for Backpack Rappers: the last call song. Kanye West did it first, then J. Cole and now Logic steps up to recount his story. Logic’s “Last Call” is a self-aware odyssey projected on his rearview window where he narrates the slips ‘n’ rises he had on his journey into success.
It’s a victory lap and its position as the album closer suggests that Logic is stuck in a Twilight Zone episode. No ribbon of success is ever enough to quench his motivation; his drive is all he’s got, and the road is never ending.