Whether you like it or not, Logic is in the top tier category of rappers. He has been just as consistent as any other MC in the game, doing a great job of dropping commercial hits, kill-a-rapper hits and everything in-between. With Young Sinatra IV, he looks to continue his rise to the top, but he wants to do it by dabbling in a generation of rap that can surely get him even more clout if he succeeds in it.

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TOP 5

 

5. WU TANG FOREVER

So here’s the deal: This song is eight minutes long and features all 87 members of the Wu-Tang Clan, so realistically, it will be impossible for me to cover all of it in this review. I will say this, though: The bars that you get from literally every guy featured on this song gets an A+ from me, the overall feel of the track is on some classic 90’s s**t that I love, and Logic fits in rather nicely with all the other 98 people that have a rap verse. I strongly advise you to listen to this joint if you can.

Wu-Tang has officially given Logic that 90’s stamp of approval he’s been coveting all these years.

 

 

4. EVERYBODY DIES

The beat attached to this song was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Logic is one of those dudes in the game that is on a mission to prove his worth to rap fans everywhere. In “Everybody Dies,” he lets out some pent up frustration from all the convincing he has had to do to all the rap critics these last couple of years on it. Not only does he aggressively take aim at his competition on his verses, but he also hurls out some pretty impressive punchlines centered around making it to the top of rap’s Mount Rushmore and never wanting to get off.

Logic spits like he has a few more seconds to live, so he’s trying to get out all of his thoughts to his villain as the zapper gets closer and closer to his body.

 

 

3. THE GLORIOUS FIVE

I may be a little biased when it comes to putting “The Glorious Five” in my top 5, but I f**k with it hard because I was a major Kanye West fan back in the day, and this s**t reminds me of some classic Kanye! Everything from this song’s soulful beat to its infectious hook is classic Louis Vuitton don to me. Where the song deviates is in it’s lyrical content, as Logic touches on things like his relationship with his verbally abusive father, humility, and his checkered childhood on his verses. I absolutely love the song’s feel good vibes, and the flows that Logic utilizes are beyond breath-taking.

 

 

2. THE RETURN

Logic dropped a lot of commercial s**t in 2018, and that is OK, because he’s a pretty decent “Insert Here” rapper when he wants to be. On “The Return,” he said to himself, “F**k all that pop tart s**t,” because he dropped perhaps his second toughest record this year with this one (“44 More” was his toughest). On it, listeners are treated to yet another Kanye-like instrumental that certainly has a lot going on. Logic absolutely tears the instrumental a new one, aggressively dropping rhymes about living life secluded, fighting through adversity and living out his dreams. Yep, that is exactly how I and the unsunken Kanye would’ve attacked the instrumental, too!

I am curious to know if Logic blacked out when he laid down his verses to this song.

 

 

1. YSIV

“YSIV,” a song that is named after the title of this album, is a flip on Nas and AZ’s “Life Is A Bitch” from back in the day. Thankfully, Logic holds his own on the track, showcasing his uncanny ability to send out lyrical body blows and fiddle with some of the most complicated flows known to man.

I love how our hero holds absolutely nothing back lyrically for the full duration of this song, practically touching on everything from his uninformed critics, to his approach to laying down tracks, to the love he’s been getting from his peers in the music industry. By about halfway of his second verse, you’ll be satisfied with what you heard; unfortunately, he keeps going, which means someone is going to have to snatch the mic from that n***a so we can get to song number ten already! (Sheesh)

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SONG BY SONG BREAKDOWN

1. THANK YOU (4/5)

2. EVERYBODY DIES (4.5/5)

3. THE RETURN (5/5)

4. THE GLORIOUS FIVE (4.5/5)

5. ONE DAY (4.5/5)

6. WU-TANG FOREVER (4.5/5)

7. 100 MILES & RUNNING (4/5)

8. ORDINARY DAY (3/5)

9. YSIV (5/5)

10. STREET DREAMS II (5/5)

11. THE ADVENTURES OF STONEY BOB (4/5)

12. LEGACY (3.5/5)

13. ICONIC (4/5)

14. LAST CALL (4/5)

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OVERALL RATING

(B)

 

It’s clear that Logic wants to be considered one of rap’s elite players in the game, mainly because he mentions it on about 93% of the songs he makes these days. With that being said, you know that he knows that the whole boom bap style of rapping he is utilizing on this project is what would get him respect in the game, so why not roll out an album full of it to further prove his worth to the new generation of fans he has, right? Brilliant! You know why it’s brilliant? Because I feel like Logic has all the tools to hold his own on that type of music, and he knows that if he masters this sound, he can convince us all that he’s just as good as any one of your favorite rappers in the past that excelled in that era using that sound. This guys a genius!

Another brilliant thing Logic did with this album was not allow the music to suffer as much when he was chasing his boom bap dreams. Throughout Young Sinatra IV, he plugged in some infectious hooks, a few pop records for the masses that think he might’ve went overkill with the kill-a-rapper talk, and features that sorta added different dimensions to whatever track they were on. These elements can be viewed as distractions, but in my opinion, they were well-needed distractions.

I have a confession to make: I think Logic raps harder than any other rapper I’ve heard in my life. Seriously, can you think of a rapper that blacks out more than Logic on the mic? I would say Kendrick, but he only does it every once in a while. At times on this album, I feel like he overpowered beats, shoved powerful lyrics down our throats, and made babies cry with how tough and rugged he was spitting. For an album like this, it works, but if you ever decide to make a collaboration album with this n***a, good luck getting any semblance of shine.

You know what I admire about Logic? He is a student of the game, and at this point of his career, he doesn’t mind admitting it to the masses. When I first started listening to him, I heard some Cole in his artistry, some Kendrick, some Big Sean, etc, but these days, I hear a guy that’s a lot more comfortable in his rap skin, and doesn’t mind borrowing elements from his idols to take that next step of maturation as an artist. If more people used this approach, I think hip hop would be in an a lot healthier state than it is in now.

I would love to know what your top 5 songs are on this album! Feel free to let me know in the comments section!