by Brandon Lee
Honestly, I wouldn’t have known about Logic if it wasn’t for my best friend Victor who introduced me to his music in 2014, the year after he made it on XXL’s Annual Top 10 Freshman List.
There’s just something about Logic’s music that stands out to me. I’m not sure exactly what it is. Part of it could be his “old school” style but I think what really appeals to me (and if you listen carefully to his music, you’ll hear it also) is that he’s a nerd at heart.
His real name is Sir Robert Bryson Hall II.
Logic’s home life growing up sucked. Born to a black dad and a white mom, Logic wasn’t your typical “white rapper” growing up in the suburbs. His dad did crack and wasn’t really around and his brothers sold crack including selling crack to their own father. His mother was a prostitute, she tried to strangle him and often called him a “n—ger” as a child even though he was the only one of his parents’ kids who looked white.
He became interested in rap and hip hop after seeing the movie Kill Bill, Volume 1 and the film was scored by RZA who was a member of the Wu-Tang Clan.
When Logic first came on the music scene, he went by the name Psychological because as he said “it was about the mind and I knew that’s what I wanted my music to consist of; something that really challenges the mind,”
Logic’s first “album” Psychological – Logic: The Mixtape was released in 2009 as a digital download and it caught the attention of Ludacris, Pitbull, Method Man, Redman so much so that they asked him to be the opening act for their various shows all across Maryland.
Frank Sinatra, Nas, the Roots, Big I and A Tribe called Quest were among Logic’s musical influences.
Logic refers to himself as “Young Sinatra” because growing up, he watched a lot of Frank Sinatra movies. Logic liked the debonair style of Sinatra – how he was a boss and was met with respect whenever he stepped into the room and Logic wanted to incorporate this “polite class” into his brand. Logic had 3 mixtapes named after Frank Sinatra: Young Sinatra (September 2011), Young Sinatra: Undeniable (April 2012) and Young Sinatra: Welcome to Forever (May 2013). Logic’s fan base is known as the “RattPack” and he calls his female fans “Bobby Soxers,” just like Frank Sinatra did.
My first Logic song was Mind of Logic.
To me, if I were to ask to describe Logic and his music, I would say that a line from his freestyle from the 2013 XXL Freshman class says it best: “I’m self-driven…new school style but the 90’s is where my lyrics living…”
Logic’s recent song Everybody is among one of my favorites and a must listen. Aside from the fact that it’s old-school Logic, the song talks about his struggles with his biracial identity and dealing with racism – “white people told me as a child, as a little boy, playin with his toys, I should be ashamed to be black and some black people look ashamed when I rap, like my great granddaddy didn’t take a whip to the back, not accepted by the black or the white.”
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