Logic – “College Park” review

This is the 9th full-length album from Maryland rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, author & Twitch streamer Logic. Emerging just over a decade ago off the strength of the first 3 installments of the Young Sinatra mixtape series. He potential would continually be shown on his first 2 albums Under Pressure & The Incredible True Story. However, it’s no secret that the quality of his music took a nosedive from Bobby Tarantino to Supermarket or the unlikeable bitterness of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. No Pressure however was a mature sequel to his full-length debut & I also thought the Doc D concept mixtape Planetory Destruction was decent too, but Bobby Tarantino III was pretty underwhelming. His final offering for Def Jam Recordings that dropped last summer Vinyl Days happened to be his most artistically definitive yet, already cementing my excitement for College Park.

“Cruisin’ Thru the Universe” starts off the album with some acoustics & a futuristic boom bap instrumental as Logic & RZA speak on riding through in their spaceships whereas “Wake Up” takes a more vibrant route with some kicks & snares detailing his journey. C Dot Castro tags along for the 2-part “Lightsabers” with a jazzy opener & a delicate switch-up calling out those who did this music shit for the money leading into the dusty “Clone Wars III” letting y’all know what this culture really about.

Moving on to “Redpill VI”, we have Bobby over some spacious boom bap production calling his flow non-binary & boasting that he never misses just before “Playwright” has a more drumless approach talking about balancing the life as a recording artist & a father. C Dot Castro returns alongside ADÉ, Big Lenbo & Fat Trel for the trap posse cut “Gaithersburg Freestyle” repping the titular city, but then “Insipio” has a more moodier tone to it talking about true wealth being measured in experience as opposed to gold.

Redman joins Logic on the Statik Selektah-produced “Self Medication” working in some kicks, snares & strings as the pair informing those who don’t know that now they do while “Shimmy” with Joey Bada$$ pays homage to the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard over an atmospheric beat with some piano chords resembling the ones used during “Shimmy Shimmy Ya”, which the song is of course named after & is interpolated during the hook. “Paradise II” is a jazzy/neo-soul crossover picking up where the original “Paradise” left off while “Come Down” is a triumphant trap hit expressing his desire to have it all.

Meanwhile on “Village Slum”, things returns to the boom bap with a melodic vocal loop discussing alcoholism while “Highlife” goes into more pop rap territory talking about how he feels whenever getting blowed on a daily basis. The song “38.9897 °N, 76.9378 °W” with Big Lenbo & C Dot Castro finds the trio paying homage to the place where it all began over a piano instrumental while the jazzy penultimate track “Ayo” with Bun B & Lil Keke samples “Knockin’ Down Doorz” by the late Pimp C as they talk about laying low. “Lightyear” though is an 8 & a half minute closer flipping one of my favorite Kendrick joints “Rigamortis” promising to never change.

Although I still think Vinyl Days stands as Logic’s finest body of work to date, I still think College Park is still worth the listen for anyone who wants to hear him take it back to his roots. Some lackluster feature performances here & there, but the production is on par with that of his Def Jam coda & the whole concept of taking us through a day of his life with his friends back in 2011 actually comes from a heartfelt place.

Score: 3.5/5

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Logic – “Vinyl Days” review

Logic is a 32 year old rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, author & Twitch streamer from Rockville, Maryland who came up just about a decade ago off the strength of the first 3 installments of the Young Sinatra mixtape series. His potential would continually be shown on his first 2 albums Under Pressure & The Incredible True Story but it’s no secret that since the release of Bobby Tarantino in 2016, the dude’s discography has become a definition of inconsistent. ΞVERYBODY, Bobby Tarantino II & Young Sinatra IV were all mid at best, but who can forget the embarrassing attempt at going indie rock on Supermarket or the unlikeable bitterness of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind? No Pressure however was a mature sequel to his full-length debut & I also thought the Doc D concept mixtape Planetory Destruction was decent too, but Bobby Tarantino III was pretty underwhelming. That being said, almost every single he dropped leading up to this 8th album of his albeit his last with Def Jam Recordings has been incredible & had me very excited going into it.

After the “Danger” intro, “Tetris” kicks off the album with a soulful boom bap note spitting some braggadocio whereas “In My Lifetime” with Action Bronson has a more energetic tone to it warning their competition to be concerned. “Decades” flips “Oh How You Hurt Me” by The Fabulous Performers talking about how money isn’t everything & after the J.J. Abrahams” skit, “BLACKWHITEBOY” comes through with a visceral shot at everyone who’s ever doubted him.

Meanwhile on “Quasi”, we have Logic asking Madlib to start rapping again with an instrumental that’s clearly influenced by The Beat Konducta just before “Bleed It” heavily samples the Beastie Boys looking back on his childhood. “LaDonda” has a bit of a J Dilla influence to the production with Logic looking back on his career up to this point & after the “Aaron Judge” skit, “Clouds” with Langston Bristol serves as a decent prelude to College Park with the beat-switching up during the last minute so Curren$y can steal the show.

After the “Michael Rap” skit, “Therapy Music” was the only single that I didn’t like prior to the album’s release due to how similar Russ & Logic both sound. However, I do like the jazzy instrumental. After the “Tony Revolori” skit, “Rogue 1” works in some dusty drums & a whistling teapot kettle to talk about how he had to take a step back leading into “Breath Control” sampling “I Really Really Love You” by Father’s Children as he & Wiz Khalifa tell anyone who wants to set up to them not to try them.

After the “NEMS” skit, “Nardwuar” marks the return of Logic’s alter-ego Doc D accompanied by a fuzzy boom bap beat while “Kickstyle” is just a decent Ratt Pack reunion & I’m disappointed that Bobby doesn’t have a verse on here at all because Big Lenbo & IamJMARS’ are both just mid. After the “EarlyBird” skit, Royce da 5’9” tags along for the raw “10 Years” to celebrate their accomplishments in the previous decade while RZA comes into the picture for the basement-sounding “Porta 1” to spit some hardcore bars.

After the “NeedleDrop” skit, “Introducing Nezi” is basically Logic’s way of showing Nezi Momodu to a wider audience with a siren-laced instrumental while “Orville” with Blu & Exile and Like has a chipmunk soul flare to it letting y’all know how they get down. “Carnival” with AZ finds the 2 over some horns to creep up on them lyrically & after the “Lena’s Insight” skit, the title track goes into a more symphonic direction talking about getting it all.

The penultimate track “I Guess I Love It” with The Game brings back the jazz to admit that it’s funny how their feet been on the beach lookin’ at the sky & the stars above with “Sayonara” ending the album with a 10-minute open letter to Def Jam since Vinyl Days fulfills his contract with the label after being signed to them for the past decade.

Going into this, I had a strong feeling that this would be the best album of Logic’s career given how much I loved almost every single that he put out prior & that ended up being the case here. Granted there are WAY too many skits & some of the “mumble rap” lines are outdated as Hell but once you get past that, the actual music on here is actually his most artistically definitive yet.

Score: 4/5

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Logic – “Bobby Tarantino III” review

This is the 8th mixtape from Maryland rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, author & Twitch streamer Logic. Coming up just about a decade ago off the strength of the Young Sinatra mixtapes, he potential would continually be shown on his first 2 albums Under Pressure & The Incredible True Story. But it’s no secret that since the release of Bobby Tarantino in 2016, the dude’s discography has become a definition of inconsistent. ΞVERYBODY, Bobby Tarantino II & Young Sinatra IV were all mid at best, but who can forget the embarrassing attempt at going indie rock on Supermarket or the unlikeable bitterness of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind? Then he bounced back with No Pressure last summer, which was a mature sequel to his full-length debut. I also thought the Doc D concept mixtape Planetory Destruction was decent too, but now Logic is looking to close out the Bobby Tarantino trilogy with Bobby Tarantino III.

The intro is just him jumping on top of a boom bap instrumental admitting that his retirement didn’t last very long whereas “Vaccine” is a mediocre attempt at a vibrant trap anthem about going hard all year. “Get Up” takes a more melodic turn trying way too hard to get motivational, but then “My Way” is a HIDEOUS contemporary R&B/pop crossover despite the decent synth instrumental.

Meanwhile on “Call Me”, we get a moody sequel to “1-800-273-8255” just before the flute-tinged “Inside” opens up about his depression. “Flawless” is forced sex song that’s really anything & after the admirably self-aware “Stupid Skit”, he addresses to the new generation on the short yet smoky boom bap-tinged “Theme for the People” except this time he isn’t dissing them like he & Eminem did a couple years back with “Homicide”.

The song “God Might Judge” sounds a lot more sincere than “Get Up” down to the instrumental being inspired by College Dropout-era Kanye like he says at the start while the penultimate track “See You Space Cowboy…” is a bassy trap cut about putting his city on the map. Finally there’s “Untitled”, which works in some vocal harmonies hanging in the background for him talking about being blessed.

Although this is a step down from No Pressure, I’m not saying it’s as unlistenable as Supermarket & Confessions of a Dangerous Mind were either if that makes any sense. Like half of these sound like they actually come from the heart, but then the other just seems as if he’s trying too hard to appeal to a mainstream audience.

Score: 2.5/5

Doc D – “Planetory Destruction” review

Doc D is a new pitch-voiced alter ego of Maryland rapper, singer, songwriter, producer & author Logic. The character was announced a little over a week ago & to celebrate Bobby’s 31st birthday this weekend, we’re already being treated to it’s debut mixtape.

After the intro, the title track with Big Lenbo sees the 2 talking about how they ain’t playing this year over a dust boom bap beat whereas the next song “Better Text Back” talks about having nuclear codes over an tranquil instrumental. The track “Green Juices” flexes his lyrical prowess over a hypnotic beat & after the first “Cosmos 105.7” skit, the “Double Sample” interlude heavily revolves around a sample of the classic Gil-Scott Heron joint “We Almost Lost Detroit”.

The song “Backstory” talks about doing this rap shit differently over an instrumental that I can’t help Joey Bada$$ rapping on top of on 1999 & after the second “Cosmos 105.7” skit, the track “Back to the Basement” with Silas, Tony Tone, Big Lenbo & Castro finds the quintent rapping about returning to their roots over a boom bap beat with a weepy loop. The song “Outer Space Gang” with J Mars & Like sees the 3 talking shit over a luxurious instrumental while the track “Butt Ass Naked” with Marc Rebillet & Black_Chocolate finds the trio talking about sex over a funky beat.

The song “Ready Player Gun” with Buddy & Like sees the 3 talking about smoking weed over a dreamy instrumental & after the third “Cosmos 105.7” skit, the track “20,000,000 Woolongs” is a solo Punch joint a introducing the listener to a bounty hunter over a jazzy beat. The penultimate song “Bounty Law” with Del the Funky Homosapien & Ghostface Killah finds the trio talking about being villains over an old school instrumental & after the final “Cosmos 105.7” skit, the closer “Death of Destruction” is a spoken word bit where the DJ tells the listener that the album is over.

From start to finish, it’s a decent tape. The features don’t really do much for me other then Del & Ghostface, but the sci-fi themed story is told well & the production on here is some of Logic’s best yet.

Score: 3/5

Logic – “No Pressure” review

Logic is a 30 year old rapper, singer, songwriter, producer & author from Rockville, Maryland who showed quite a bit of potential in the early 2010s with his Young Sinatra mixtape series. His first 2 full-lengths Under Pressure & The Incredible True Story were both solid as well but beginning with the Bobby Tarantino tape in 2016, his discography has been VERY rocky. Mostly because his lyrical topics got trite & he drowned deeper in his influences to the point where it’s distracting. Case in point: His 3rd album ΞVERYBODY in 2017 was pretty much a Dollar Store version of Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly & then Bobby Tarantino II almost a year after sounded like a poor man’s Travis Scott album. However, I thought Young Sinatra IV was decent at best & MAYBE he would bounce back going forward. But somehow someway, Logic was able to drop 2 of the worst albums of last year in the span of 6 weeks with Supermarket & Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Of course the backlash both those records justifiably received resulted in him going AWOL & since then, he’s started his own family with a second-wife & conceiving a child together. To focus on that, he’s giving us a sequel to Under Pressure as a parting gift from the music industry.

The album kicks off with the title track, where Logic gets reflective over some old school production. The next song “Hit My Line” talks about hoping God fixes all the bad stuff in the world today over a boom bap beat from longtime collaborator 6ix with some joyous keyboard melodies while the track “GP4” is a lame bastardization of OutKast’s “Elevators (Me & You)”. The song “Celebration” is an ode to his time in the music industry over a soulful No I.D. instrumental & while I like the beat switch on “Aquarius III”, the lyrics are an odd mash-up of “OCD” & “I’m Gone”.

The song “Soul Food II” is a dope revamp of the original “Soul Food” down to the beat while the track “Perfect” talks his shit over a vibrant instrumental. The song “man i is” talks about being happy with the person he’s become over a sample of Erykah Badu’s “Didn’t Cha Know?”. The song “DadBod” of course speaks on his newfound fatherhood over a delicate instrumental while the track “5 Hooks” charismatically boasts over a dynamic instrumental from Toro y Moi.

The song “Dark Place” talks about his anxiety & depression over a moody beat while the track “A2Z” is a modern take on Blackalicious’ “Alphabet Aerobics” backed by a punchy beat with some haunting keyboards. The song “Heard ‘Em Say” is a motivational anthem that actually goes over & before the spoken word outro “Obediently Yours”, the track “Amen” talks about how grateful he is for everything over a gospel-like boom bap beat.

In the past, a lot of rappers have said they’re gonna retire from making music & almost none of them actually do. But if this truly is the last Logic album, then I’m not mad at all. Easily his best since The Incredible True Story in my opinion. It’s well produced & Logic actually sounds focused this time around. Thank you, Bobby!

Score: 3.5/5

Logic – “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” review

This is the 6th full-length album from Maryland rapper, singer, songwriter, producer & now bestselling author: Logic. Who is fresh off his debut novel Supermarket a couple months ago with a completely unlistenable indie pop album with the same name accompanying it. Now that being said, my opinion on Logic & his music haven’t always been negative. He showed a lot of potential in the early half of this decade with his Young Sinatra mixtapes as well as his first 2 studio albums Under Pressure & The Incredible True Story but since 2016, he has shown himself to be HIGHLY inconsistent. Mostly because his topics have gotten corny & that he’s drowning deeper in his influences to the point where it’s distracting, whether that be his 2017 album ΞVERYBODY sounding like a Dollar Store version of Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly or his Bobby Tarantino 2 mixtape sounding like a poor man’s Travis Scott album. Nonetheless, my morbid curiously got the best of me for this new record over here & I decided to give it a shot.

Despite claiming to be in his own lane on the title track that kicks the album off, it literally sounds like a J. Cole song down the flow & the symphonic beat that 6 brings to the table. Then we have “Homicide”. Easily the best single of the 3 that were released prior to the album, but still average. The intro about Logic coming out of his dad’s balls is annoying, his lyrics dissing trap music is hypocritical because we all know Logic’s been rapping over this style of production for the past few years now. Also, his speedy flow is a blatant rip-off of Tech N9ne’s & the beat is kinda bland. But luckily, Eminem‘s closing verse is enough to make the cut decent & I love how they sampled Chris D’Elia’s viral impersonation of Marshall for the outro. The track “Wannabe” is a barely finished look at people who seek attention online with a decent beat for the clubs while the song “clickbait” talks about the comments he receives over generic trap beat, a horrific delivery & a cringey line about he’d suck dick. The track “Mama (Show Love)” with YBN Cordae sees the 2 telling their mothers to look at them now over a dark, druggy beat while the song “Out of Sight” does have a decently spacious beat, the lyrics are vapid to me. The track “Pardon My Ego” gets insipidly narcissistic over a Middle Eastern-influenced beat while “Commando” with G-Eazy is less of a song & more of a contest to see who can be more basic.

The track “Icy” with Gucci Mane sees the 2 charismatically talking about how clean they are over a smooth beat while the song “Still Ballin’” with Wiz Khalifa serves a pretty decent sequel to a highlight off of Young Sinatra: Welcome to Forever. The track “Cocaine” hilariously talks about selling drugs over a piano & some heavy bass while the song “Limitless” is another redundant materialistic brag. The track “Keanu Reeves” whines about the criticisms that Logic’s justifiably gotten over the past few years while the song “Don’t Be Afraid to Be Different” is a sappy motivational anthem despite the infectious instrumental & Will Smith’s verse at the start is easily the most awkward feature I’ve heard all year. The penultimate track “Bobby” is an egotistical ode to Logic himself with an old school instrumental & then the album finishes with “Lost in Translation”, which is actually a heartwrenching high-note to end on both lyrically & sonically.

Yeah I don’t know what else to say beyond that, this is yet another mediocre release in Logic’s ever-growing catalogue. The production is mostly just passable & the concept about social media does sound interesting but unfortunately, it seems like he loses focus of that narrative along the way in place of songs with laughable topics. I really don’t know where he goes from here & that’s sad for me to say as someone who’s appreciative of his early work.

Score: 1/5

Logic – “Supermarket” review

Logic is a 29 year old rapper who came up at the beginning of the decade with his Young Sinatra series of mixtapes. His first 2 studio albums Under Pressure & The Incredible True Story showed more promise of his potential, but pretty much everything after that saw him taking a total nosedive. However with a new novel out now, he saw fit to release a new album accompanying it.

The “Bohemian Trapsody” has a pretty acoustic instrumental, but it sounds half-written. The next song “Can I Kick It?” is a buttery bastardization of the iconic Tribe Called Quest song with the same name while the song “Time Machine” is a cringey piano ballad about saving this chick (presumably his ex-wife Jess Andrea). The song “Pretty Young Girl” is a decent acoustic tribute to one of Logic’s Day 1 while the title track insists that he’s not a stalker, but yet he’s obsessing over this chick to the point where he goes to her job just to see her & fantasizes over her constantly. The song “Baby totally ruins Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend” while the track “By the Bridge” is pretty much Logic whining about why this woman doesn’t love him over another acoustic instrumental.

The song “Best Friend” is an acoustic love ballad that goes over pretty decently while the track “Lemon Drop” talks about setting this woman free over some funky guitar licking. The song “I’m Probably Gonna Rock Your World” is a hilariously sappy sex tune with a dreamy instrumental from Mac DeMarco of all people while the track “Vacation from Myself” talks about not needing sophistication over a mellow instrumental. The song “DeLorean” is another love ballad filled with Back to the Future & then the closer “I Love You Forever” is pretty much a boring diatribe to Jess.

I don’t know what else to say about this, it’s easily the worst thing he’s ever done. I can appreciate Logic for stepping out of his comfort zone & the production is cool for the most part, but the instrumentals tend to wear thin by the end. On top of that: his singing is awful & the lyrics are cornier than anything he’s been putting out since ΞVERYBODY.

Score: 0.5/5