I’ve always thought that Logic had an incredible amount of talent in some aspects of his music. His technical ability is high, and his beats and production have always been top notch. But unfortunately, he has consistently been held back by his lyrics, and that is only emphasized in his newest release of Everybody. With this, his penultimate album, he is trying to become more conceptual, explore topics and areas that he thinks others have left ignored. It is an album about love and acceptance, about pride in oneself and in one’s people, about the way in which we all belong in this big world, and about the wrongs that we commit and how we shouldn’t.

It is a well-worn concept, even if Logic thinks he is the first one to broach this ground, and the way in which it is communicated brings nothing new to the table. A man dies and talks to God (played here by Neil DeGrasse Tyson), and the songs play in between these soliloquies to hammer these messages home. I’d say that they spoon-fed these messages to you, but that would be generous.

They just come out and say exactly what they mean and exactly what they want you to think, whether that be about Logic’s struggle growing up as a half-black, half-white kid with a racist mother, or two stoned guys talking about how Spiderman should be black, with heavy handed monologues in between about how every act of violence in this world is one we commit against ourselves, because we are literally the exact same person.

Sometimes it felt like most of this album was someone talking instead of rapping, of being preached to by the many characters that are included instead of letting the music breathe and deliver the meaning itself. It bogs down the tracks, and we waste some really fantastic beats over repetitive monologues. Most of this could have been avoided simply by putting these conversations onto their own tracks instead of within a track with music, as then you could skip these narrative parts after one or two listens. At this point, there is nothing else to decipher. The meaning is out there, and it becomes more of a chore to slog through these parts to find the music.

Hearing Logic come to terms with his anxiety is cool the first time, and can be interesting the second. But after ten or fifteen listens, it’s a slog. There’s also the part where he has an entire song advocating against suicide, but Juicy J also tells fake rappers to “kill yo mothafucking self nigga.” The message is at odds with itself, even as it tries to be high and mighty.

The features list is pretty varied, with longtime collaborator Big Lenbo alongside new combinations like Killer Mike, and even Neil DeGrasse Tyson joining in as God, which at first sounds like a joke, but has zero self-awareness to it, and comes across almost condescending in practice. It makes me question what he even adds to this album besides being Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and as much as I searched, I couldn’t find the answer.

This is all really disappointing, because when everything else fades away, the music sounds really good. He brings his normal technical expertise to the tracks and they sound damned good, but it is clouded by simplistic, repetitive and boring lyrics that feel more like Logic proselytizing than telling us something in any meaningful way.

At the end, Kai and Thomas are about to put in Logic’s final record and we hear J. Cole rapping one of the best verses on the album. Far from the days of “making a single before your album is like making a trailer for a movie you’ve yet to shoot.” Logic has made me anticipate the next album while simultaneously forgetting about this one, washing away much of what he said in favor of the simple but relentless flow of Cole. Hopefully this is a good sign for what comes next, with a return to the form of Under Pressure, because if this album is indicative of what he will put out as his final album, then I have to say that I’m not interested.

2.5/5

Tracklist:
1. Hallelujah
2. Everybody
3. Confess (Feat. Killer Mike)
4. Killing Spree (Feat. Ansel Elgort)
5. Take it Back
6. America (Feat. Black Thought, Chuck D, Big Lenbo, and No ID)
7. Ink Blot (Feat. Juicy J)
8. Mos Definitely
9. Waiting Room
10. 1-800-273-8255 (Feat. Alessia Cara and Khalid)
11. Anziety (Feat. Lucy Rose)
12. Black SpiderMan (Feat. Damian Lemar Hudson)
13. AfricAryan (Feat. Neil DeGrasse Tyson and J. Cole)


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Tags: Hip-Hop, Logic, Concept Albums, Everybody