ROB MARKMAN: Were in 8 Bit and Up in NYC.
I just felt like it was the perfect place for us to come and catch up and kick it.
LOGIC: You wanna get one round real quick?
I must have been like, four or five years old.
Those are some of my earliest memories, playing video games.
ROB: Damn, bro.
This is ridiculous.
LOGIC: I was working at a job that I hated at a supermarket or I was working at Wingstop,
and I would walk a mile and a half, almost two miles to work everyday, it was horrible.
So I used to video games as a way to escape and as a way to enhance my life rather than
try to run away from it.
ROB: You rapped about it a lot.
We’ve talked about it a lot.
You had a pretty rough and turbulent kind of upbringing but I feel like you kind of
buried yourself a lot in sci-fi and video games and music.
Gaming is such an important part of your life, you have a gaming channel.
LOGIC: Don’t get me wrong, you know I’ll definitely talk about music from time to time,
but this is about fuckin’ video games.
ROB: You reference it in your music..
How did it video games actually play a role for you?
LOGIC: Especially back in 2009 when I was really trying to do it, I was living in my
sister's basement and that’s when I first discovered Uncharted, which is one of my favorite
video games.
Different video games that allowed me to immerse myself.
Like when the first Call of Duty: Modern Warfare came out.
So I used video games as a way to escape and as a way to be strong or be a superhero or
be this, because I didn't feel like I was at the time
ROB: And at this time when you were working at the supermarket and in Wingstop and living with your sister
Where are you at musically? At what stage is Logic?
LOGIC: I was, I was like, I think I was just past being psychological,
which like my original rap name. And this is when I first met Big Lenbo.
ROB: How does it affect your creativity?
You just dropped this ‘Bobby Tarantino’ mixtape -- I know for the album, ‘The Incredible
True Story,’ akira & anime was a big influence.
I want to know with ‘Bobby Tarantino’ as your recording, what games are you playing?
LOGIC: I was definitely playing this game called “The Witcher” which is insane.
It’s this crazy--cause I’m not really into medieval stuff, I’m into more sci-fi
stuff-- but this is so good.
It’s just a huge open world game and it’s really amazing.
But “Uncharted.”
I was playing “Uncharted Four”
The people at Naughty Dog, which created this video game, actually let me come by and have
a tour of their studio.
I got to play before it came out in their theater in the office while the programmers
were working on it.
It was the craziest experience and it was really amazing and very special.
ROB: When you and I spoke a couple years ago, this is “Under Pressure.”
The ‘Under Pressure’ album is out and I feel like what you’re saying to me now
is that on ‘Under Pressure,’ you wouldn’t have said “I just beat ‘Uncharted four.’”
LOGIC: No, I wouldn’t have done that because I wanted to fit in.
ROB: You wanted to fit in with hip-hop?
LOGIC: Yeah, in a sense.
I think that would have been uncool or people would have been like, “What the fuck is
he talking about?”
I feel like such a different artist from back then because back then I felt like i had to
prove myself and I had to like… you know “Hip-hop is going to respect me and they
are going to love me.”
And now it’s kind of like man, who gives a fuck if hip-hop loves me or not as long
as my fans love me and the culture of good people and musicians respect me, that’s
all it is.
And that’s why I walk in here with a Rick and Morty shirt and fucking plaid t shirt
and glasses.
I look like Harry Potter.
And I didn’t get a haircut today.
That’s why I love that I can just be like, “I just beat ‘Uncharted four.’”
Or I play video games.
I think it diversifies me and it opens me up to a much broader fanbase.
A much broader scale of people who enjoy the everyday, regular guy.
ROB: We were walking around and I find this.
LOGIC: Yes, I know what this is.
This is arguably my favorite game of all time.
ROB: You have a track called “Super Mario World”
LOGIC: I do have a track called “Super Mario World”
ROB: Is Luigi in it?
LOGIC: Mario is in it.
Don’t nobody fuck with Luigi, he’s just a player 2 ass motherfucker.
ROB: I feel like Luigi jumps higher.
LOGIC: Fuck Luigi.
No, I’m just kidding.
I’m joking.
“Super Mario World,” the only reason I call it that is because of the sound.
Originally the beat was kind of different and it sounded a little different and we came
up with that [beat], it sounded video gamish.
Originally I was going to call it “Jurassic Park.”
If you listen to one of the ad libs I’m like, “Jurassic Park” and I got my Jurassic
Park hat on.
I just love Jurassic Park.
So Juicy J was on the original.
ROB: Noooo!
LOGIC: it’s one of my favorite verses by Juicy J but it was so opposite of the song.
When me and Juicy originally did a song together, it was just some fun swag shit so it made
sense.
But i’ve been sitting on this verse for almost a year.
I’ve been sitting on this Juicy J verse.
I took this verse and we kind of sped it up and we put it on “Super Mario World” but
it's so ratchet--he’s like talking about like fucking Scarlett Johansson and shit--so
I was like I don’t know if this is going to work on this song.
So I was like oh, okay.
With “Super Mario World” I literally recorded it so I could perform it.
Like the hook is “Oh my goodness Oh my goodness Oh my god.”
It’s that simple and some people be like, “That’s stupid.”
But when you're there…I knew I was going on this tour.
I knew I was making this mixtape and I wanted it to be so simplistic and easy to sing along
to, that even if you didn’t know you would know it.
ROB: There is one song.
“Wrist” with Pusha T. How did you get Pusha T on the track?
How did this happen?
LOGIC: I was at Hot 97, I think it was Ebro, it was the morning. and I walk out and there is Pusha
T and he’s like “Yo, what’s up?”
And I’m like “What?
You know who I am?”
And he was like “yeah man.
I fuck with you heavy.”
I came up listening to The Clipse dawg, this is so wild.
And he was like “Yeah man, we got to do a joint.”
And I was like “What?”
And he was like “Yeah, let’s get a picture.”
I was like Pusha T wants to take a picture with me?”
And I told him that I had a record that I would love to do and I told him it was very
conceptual and but it was about crack cocaine.
I kind of told him, explained how rapping from a fictional colombian druglord late in
his life after realizing what his line of work has done to the rest of the world including
where he’s from and how that cocaine trickles into the america projects which is then purified
and cooked and turned into crack and distributed amongst mainly, unfortunately, the black community
and the effects that can have but then also being told from the perspective of a young
man, who’s selling it and making money and turning a profit.
I wanted to do a coke record that was conceptual.
So that’s why it’s called “Wrist.”
ROB: I wanna see if you realize this, “44 Bars,” is part of the biggest sports story
of the year.
LOGIC: Really?
ROB: Kevin Durant goes to Golden State Warriors.
LOGIC: Oh yeah, Durant.
ROB: He says that while he was making his decision he was riding his bike around, listening
to “44 Bars.”
LOGIC: That’s pretty cool.
You know the crazy part?
We never even met in person yet-- he reached out to me in 2011 cause were from the same
area.
I was just like, “Here’s a nice guy that likes my music.”
It wasn’t about, “Oh he’s a crazy basketball player.”
Even now, considered one of the best in the world.
ROB: You know, he sat down with Genius and told us that ‘The Incredible True Story’
was his favorite album of the year.
LOGIC: He said that?!
No way!
KEVIN DURANT: I just wanted to connect with him, you know, we came from the same area,
I didn’t know.
And I’ve just been following him ever since.
And he’s just killin’ it right now.
LOGIC: Damn, thanks dog!
ROB: It makes me think of your verse and it sounds like you were going through something
with the first verse you start
It made me feel like you were actually going through some life changing things.
LOGIC: “44 Bars” and “Deeper than Money” are the closest to album Logic, if you will,
because it’s full of substance, a story, a conviction and that’s just me kind of
talking that shit but at the same time being honest.
I’m not the type of person who’s going to go on Twitter and go whatever hashtag whatever,
cool cool so people think...no, you know what I’m going to do, I’m going to talk about
these subjects on my album, you know what I mean?
And it’s the things that make us different that make us special but they things that
make us different shouldn’t separate us and that’s all I’m saying on this until
my album drops.
ROB: For being in a place this cool,
LOGIC: I know.
ROB: We’ve done a lot of sitting down and talking.
LOGIC: That’s true.
ROB: Yo man, you owe me a rematch of street fighter.
LOGIC: You’re gonna get smashed, let’s do this.
Can we just talk about how epic this fucking store is?
That there’s like real customers in here and this is like a legit place of business?
I love it!
ROB: We found this place for you, man.
LOGIC: Thanks, dog.