I fell in love with Logic during his Young Sinatra mixtape run. His incredible lyricism, impeccable flow and 90’s influence lead me to write an article naming him the Best Rapper Without An Album Out in 2014. When his debut dropped it was one of the best rap releases of the year. But since then, his projects just haven’t hit the same way. Whether it’s the fact that they’re overly conceptual, redundant in subject matter or packing too many radio singles, Young Sinatra seemed to be lost inside Logic’s evolution. Bobby Tarantino gave us flashes of greatness but many early Logic fans still dreamed of hearing him return to the boom-bap, real rap shit. Proving to be in tune with his fans, Logic returns with YSIV.
YSIV sees Logic returning to his roots in the best way possible. On the aptly titled ‘The Return’ the emcee spits, “Fuck a mumble let’s make America rap again, industry don’t give a fuck about rap or what’s happenin.'” And that’s more or less what Logic does across 14 tracks. From storytelling (‘The Glorious Five,’ ‘Street Dreams,’ ‘Last Call’) to pure onslaughts of bars (‘YSIV,’ ‘Everybody Dies’) to swagging out on ‘ICONIC’ YSIV is a reminder that great rap still matters. It’s a project for hip-hop heads that’s still accessible without being overly commercial. I mean he really did, “assemble the Clan like Voltron” on ‘Wu Tang Forever.’ If that’s not doing it for hip-hop, I’m not sure what is. YSIV is the Logic album we’ve been waiting for since Under Pressure, and I couldn’t be happier that it’s finally here.
