Logic: Hip-Hop's Dangerous Mind
Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, the man commonly known as Logic (and Bobby Tarantino or even Young Sinatra to the members of the RATT Pack) has been making waves in the Hip-Hop game since his first official project, Young, Broke and Infamous in 2010. Almost ten years later, he is one of the most popular rappers in the game today. After successful projects such as the very popular Everybody and the critically acclaimed YSIV, and features with other great artists such as Wale, Eminem and even Will Smith, where does Logic rank in the game today?
To explain his placement in the game, one must first off analyze why people don't like him. The "1-800 guy" has become polarizing for many reasons. The obvious shot taken at him is for the fact that he is quite open about the fact that he is biracial; born of a black father and white mother in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Hall speaks about his difficult upbringing on almost every project. As well, some of his biggest detractors perceive him as corny for his subject matter which deal with content such as mental health, suicide and poverty, all while adding a lot of word play. Finally, one of the critiques that has plagued Logic has been his "inability" to truly find his own sound - switching from boom-bap, to trap and then to old school flows, he isn't distinctive.
The problem is, most of those elements are quite dumb to comment on.
To rail on the fact that Logic talks about being biracial is the same as attacking Jay Z for talking about his daughter Blue, Drake about his mother and J Cole about all of society's ills. It's not a bad thing. For a lot of rappers, they have crutch topics that they can always take lyrics from and be able to express themselves through, therefore I do not attack him for that. In that same vein, topics in Hip-Hop are so vast due to the general openness of the genre, that to be able to talk about any subject should be accepted by now. Whatever a rapper decides to talk about in a record depends on them; no matter how corny lines are, most rappers have cliché and horrible lines that could be quoted for generations that could be talked about. To end the criticism, there isn't a single rapper who hasn't evolved, the difference with Logic is that he's evolved in different genres with different monikers so that people can listen to what they want.
But where is Logic in the game?
That's the question anyone can ask themselves after listening to his latest release, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. There is a definite ferociousness and hunger on this album that can be felt on tracks such as "Homicide", "Keanu Reeves" and "Don't Be Afraid to Be Different". While the corny aspect of his lines can be discussed, the technique that he exhibits far exceeds a lot of the best rappers, being able to rap at speeds that are comparable with those of the Tech N9ne's, Joyner Lucas's and Eminem's, which is impressive. To add to the technique, he adds the commercial success that comes from an album such as Everybody with tracks such as the title track, "Black Spiderman" and "1-800-273-8255".
It's important to note that the top 5 in Hip-Hop has been static for the last two to three years, with Drake, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Chance the Rapper and Big Sean holding those positions on a consistent basis. However, Big Sean's lack of noise in almost a year in a half ruins his status, and it seems that Logic is ready to take it. Maybe, Logic's confession is to take the throne.