The intro, "Grandpa's Space Ship", is a Rick and Morty skit. This isn't his first time associating himself with the show. In the episode "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender", Logic starred as himself at a concert at the end of the episode. It seemed really strange the first time I saw the episode, but it really makes sense with the off-kilter sense of humour of Rick and Morty. Logic utilizes this again in this intro. It's a bit long, and the praise that they give Logic seems rather narcissistic, but it's an effective and unique intro. Even better, it portrays some needed self-awareness about the separation between hip-hop banger mixtape Logic and "woke rap" album Logic.
The production on "Overnight" sounds suspiciously like "Cute" by DRAM, but the flow is different enough to be distinct. Just a bit of an observation I've got to make. It's rather basic; the lyrics aren't at all interesting, about how girls want him, his drugs, how hard his life has been, and so on. The usual rap set of lyrics. There's a rather strange part in the second half where he starts talking about how he doesn't "f*ck with nobody", but a few minutes ago he was just talking about how he respected everyone. This song's definitely nothing special.
"Contra" is generic in the best way. It utilizes that distorted bass that is so popular now. I'm of the opinion that's popular for a reason; it usually sounds really good with the right artist, and Logic is definitely a great choice. The contrast between the lighter singing voice he uses throughout the song and his angrier, deeper rapping voice makes for a great vibe. "Contra" is just a great song to turn up to. It doesn't try to be anything more, and that's respectable enough.
"Boomtrap Protocol" sounds quite fresh. The production uses vocal samples and jazz instruments along with the usual droning synths of hip-hop to bring a surprisingly unique sound. But.... there's a huge problem. The hook sounds almost exactly like the hook of 2 Chainz and Travis Scott's "4 AM", which is also a better song in every way. Now, I'm not saying at all that this is a total ripoff, but the similarities are too obvious not to notice.
"Yuck" is a good song marred in by oversampling. First, the lawyer skit at the start was funny the first time, but it gets old quickly. There's a phone call from Elton John at the end that just ruins the flow of the song. I get why Logic included it, but personal phone calls like that just don't work in trap songs like this.
"Indica Badu" is... a weed song. That's it. Every line is about weed, it has that hazy California style instrumental and hook that's in just about every song about weed, it has Wiz Khalifa on it, and it's 4:20. It's... it's not bad at all, but I always tend to skip it. Just not my type of music. I do have to admit that Logic screaming "I smoke weed!" at the end is rather hilarious and almost makes the entire song look like satire.
"Midnight" starts sounding like a Lil Uzi Vert song in every single way. The very synth-heavy production, the almost lazy flow, even the rather immature lyrics. Note how I said "starts sounding"; the song shifts in every single way midway through, enough that it might as well be two different songs. It goes from a standard hype hip hop track to a trap song. I can't really find any relevant connection between the first and second halves. The second half of the song is far better than the first.
"Warm it Up" brings the return of Logic's alter ego, Young Sinatra. It's quite the throwback song in both flow and instrumental. I feel like "Young Sinatra"'s flow is a lot better than "Logic"'s. This song really does have a far different vibe than the rest of the tracks on the mixtape; it's more hype, more violent, and you can really feel the difference between Logic and Young Sinatra.
"Wizard of Oz" is my favorite track on the album. It gives me a lot of deja vu; I had a very similar situation with "Ten Million" on Macklemore's Gemini. Both artists make a song that sounds exactly like a Travis Scott song would sound, and Travis's style is just so amazing that I can't help but love it. The instrumental uses some great keyboards and creative utilization of muffling. It builds up to a long, half-sung autotuned hook. Seem familiar? It even uses the same "yeah yeah!" that Travis uses. Regardless, it's a great song, although too short.
"State of Emergency" features 2 Chainz, who undoubtedly carries the song. But, at the same time, his voice is so different from Logic's that it makes the song sound so different to every other song on the album; it's just out of place now. In the same vein, "Wassup" features Big Sean. The production is generic and Big Sean carries the song again. His flow is just far better than Logic's on this track, even though he's on it far less."Everyday" is so weird. It's produced by Marshmello, and though he does have some bops (like "FRIENDS"), he adds little to this song. The synths sound extremely hollow and cheap, and other than that, the song just sounds like an early 2010's DJ Khaled type of hype song.
These past three songs really showcase the true problem with Logic. He's a good rapper, but nothing special. He's not unique, his lyrics are either campy or average, and though he does shine sometimes, the majority of his work sounds like filler to me.
"44 More" is his last redemption. Again, Logic borrows a bit too much from other artists. The instrumental starts sounding almost exactly the same as DRAM's "Gilligan", so much that I hear the 36 Mafia tag in my head every time I listen to the Logic track. Luckily, the beat continues to change throughout the whole song along with Logic's flow. Regardless, Logic really kills this track; undoubtedly his best flow on the album. Nothing new lyric-wise (other than the diss to Katy Perry and Harry Styles), but he's definitely trying some new styles on this track that sound really good.
This is probably one of my worse reviews; I found it quite hard to actually say what I'm trying to say about this album, and I apologize. I haven't reviewed an album in a long time because no new albums interested me enough. The albums I intended to review, by Charlie Puth and Kimbra, both got pushed back.
Overall, Logic delivers a slightly above-average album that lacks flair. He tries so hard and I totally respect him; I have no doubt that he's a great person, but he just isn't for me.
Final Verdict: 55/100
Favorite Tracks: Wizard of Oz, 44 More, Contra
Least Favorite Tracks: Overnight, Indica Badu, Everyday
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