Logic: I think most people who have a problem or issue with me, have a problem or issue
with themselves.
I think that's really what it is.
Like I'm positive dude, I came up from where I came from, through struggling and adversity,
and made it, the underdog.
The person who wasn't supposed to be here.
Food stamps, welfare, people are so used to, "Yeah, yeah, rappers.
Yeah, yeah, welfare.
He came up, whatever."
But it's like, Nah dog.
I used to wake up with roaches on my face, and eating powdered milk and shit.
that's real.
Rob Markman: What's up everybody?
Welcome back to For the Record.
I'm your host Rob Markman.
You might not recognize the set.
It's not our normal set but trust me, this is For the Record and this is a special episode.
Rob Markman: Came all the way to the west coast to visit my man.
He just dropped his new album Young Sinatra IV.
It's banging, boom bap, real hip-hop, everything that y’all asked for in the comments, is
here today.
Rob Markman: Logic
Logic: What's up man?
Rob Markman: Bobby.
Logic: How's it going?
Rob Markman: Chillin' man.
Thank you for having us.
Welcome to For the Record, man.
Logic: Thank you.
That was a pretty ill-ass intro right there.
Rob Markman: Was it?
Logic: Yeah, that was dope.
Rob Markman: I just free styled that.
I just that's my Bobby Tarantino freestyle going on.
Logic: My guy.
Rob Markman: Congratulations on Young Sinatra IV.
Logic: Thank you.
Rob Markman: Dope project, like really, really, I think it's just a win for hip-hop.
For just beats and rhymes.
A lot of times we get caught up in all the other things that hip-hop affords us and brings
us, and forget that it's yo', it's just beats and rhymes.
Logic: Yeah, man.
Rob Markman: And being as dope as you can be.
Logic: I agree, just having fun, just you know ... showing and proving on the record,
totally.
Rob Markman: So, I kind of wanted to get into this thing, because there are a lot of day
one fans who understand all what Young Sinatra's about.
And a lot of new fans who are like, "Oh wow, I didn't know Logic had this side to him.
This boom bap side."
So I want to go back to 2010.
Logic: Throwback.
Rob Markman: Alright?
I want to go back to the Young, Broke, and Infamous tape.
Logic: Damn.
Rob Markman: Because that was really the birth of Young Sinatra.
Young Sinatra the song.
You rapped over Lord Finesse's Hip 2 Da Game.
Which was also the freestyle that Mac did for Kool Aid and Frozen Pizza.
And you did this Young Sinatra song.
I want to go back to that.
Logic: Yeah.
Rob Markman: And who was Young Sinatra, the birth of Young Sinatra?
Where did that come from?
Logic: Man, it just came from singing cats like Wiz Khalifa had Taylor Gang, and Mac
Miller have Most Dope.
And like all these people had these things, and these kind of alter egos, and just vibes.
And I wanted that.
I wanted something like that.
Logic: And then I had just got the idea.
I always loved Sinatra and just the Rat Pack and everything they did and represented back
then in their time.
I was like how cool would it be if I kind of brought that to what I was doing?
And after I did those raps, I just on the Kool Aid and Frozen Pizza, or the Hip 2 Da
Game beat, it just came to me.
And I was like, "Yo.
I'm just gonna call this Young Sinatra."
Then it was kind of there, like this'll be cool, and then I realized it could be something bigger.
And I was like what if I titled the whole next project?
Logic: I originally was going not put that on Young, Broke, and Infamous, and I was going
to put it on the Young Sinatra mixtape instead, but I just thought it was so ill, that I was
like no, because I don't even know.
That project doesn't even exist yet, let's just put my best stuff forward that I have
right now.
And I put it there, and man, that was it.
That was the beginning.
Rob Markman: You know, I want to just talk about Mac for a second, because he recently
passed away.
A huge inspiration to many, a personal friend of mine, and an artist that I love.
Rob Markman: Man, I thought it was so dope for you on Young Sinatra IV to give him a
shout and to talk about how much he had influenced you and acknowledge that.
Logic: Yeah.
Rob Markman: And, again, for a lot of new fans, you had always acknowledged that, like
you acknowledged that on All I Do.
You know and talked about Mac, and you would give shout outs.
You're a guy who was never afraid to talk about the people who inspired you.
Logic: Never.
You can't be, you know what I'm saying?
It's just wild, not to jump into it too early, but it's just a prime example whenever you
hear stuff or influence in my music.
Like, I love and am inspired, and it's more okay, do some shit that's kind of like Nas
did 20 years ago.
But it's not okay to be inspired by Jaden, who's like one of the dopest of the younger
generation.
Like why?
Because I'm an older generation, and it's so ... like man, forget all that.
That's why I reached out to him and was like, "Yo.
I think what you did was ill.
I'm going to my own version of that."
Rob Markman: Of “Icon”
Logic: Yeah, but and give you the credit, and the love, and your producers and give
them publishing and do it the right way, you know what I mean?
And yeah, but I've always worn everything on my sleeve, and every time I've seen anybody,
it's always love.
And they've always shown me love and appreciation right back for giving them their credit.
You got so many emcees and so many people who will take flows and styles, and this and
that, and try to cover it up like it's all their own and they, "Nah, nobody inspires
me, nobody this."
Logic: To me that's bullshit and whether they're Kendrick or Drake or Cole or whoever, like,
yeah man, they're amazing, I love them, I appreciate them.
If I hear a flow, I'm like man, that's cool, I would do that flow like this though.
I would talk about this, or I would talk about that.
So I've always definitely with Mac and anybody else, I'll always show love.
I'll never not show love and I think me being able to talk about that and be so open, it's
gotten me to this point.
Logic: It's why the RZAs fuck with me and the Wu-Tangs, and the Big Daddy Kanes, and
so many of these incredible artists that I've blessed enough to cross paths with.
Rob Markman: That's dope.
And I didn't put two and two together with Jaden ... so you really just had this pool
of artists that inspired you so, is it for you that Jaden is no different than a Wale.
You pay homage to both.
Logic: Yeah, I mean … there’s definitely a difference.
Rob Markman: There’s a difference.
Respectfully Wale has a lot of years in the game
Logic: Yeah, just because Jaden's a young dude, he has all my respect in the world unless
he fucked up or like made some whack shit.
But he's too dope.
He's too ill.
And I just give that credit and that love and that respect where it's due.
Logic: So, just like I could hear a new 4:44 Jay Z, I heard that shit.
I called no idea, I'm beyond inspired and I was like this is so dope, thank you.
Now it's another thing that inspired a lot of the boom bap on this album too, is just
the Jay album made me be like, "Aww damn."
But with Jaden, that's why I was like this is so ill, and I think it's super dope.
And it's funny how that happened because my producer made a beat like that.
Like he had heard it, and I was like, "Yo ... this is kind of like the Icon joint.
Logic: Yeah, so I was like alright, this is super ill.
I'm going to write over this and obviously it switches up halfway, and totally different,
but I was like ... the drums.
The drums are what's pretty much the same.
We always ... me and 6ix have always used open high hats and stuff.
So it wasn't anything different from shit that we have done, but the drums were just
so ill.
I loved it.
And then we were going to change them later.
It was like being inspired by a beat ... I can't tell you how many instrumentals I've
rapped over.
Current, older, God Lives Through by A Tribe Called Quest, this, that, whatever.
And then I'll take those raps and just put them on a modern beat or a trap beat, or a
this, or a that.
That's why it's so funny because fans don't know.
It's like half of Bobby Tarantino, for all they know could have been written over the
most boom bap 90's shit, but because it sounds like it's trap shit, it's just super wild.
Logic: Anyway, we went back and we were going to then change the drums and make it more
unique, if you will, or just something just completely different.
But it was so dope, that I was like it takes the energy away to change the drums.
So why not just hit Jaden and just be like, "Yo, I'd like to use this, I'd like to give
your producers love, credit, and money pub for this.
And I want you to jump on it.
And he did, and I thought it was pretty cool.
Rob Markman: That is dope.
So you say that because it kind of takes me to ... that's a lot of how you probably approached
a mix tapes early on.
Logic: That's why I did that.
That's why I did it.
That's why Last Call is sounds the way it does.
That's why ...
Logic: Yeah, there's homage to not only J Cole's Can I Live in Street Dreams, but also
obviously Big L Casualties of a Dice Game, and The Heist, and so many things like that.
Logic: But it's a difference, though, it's still ... I think the reason I have all this
respect that I do from my peers and my predecessors is because no matter how inspired it's still
my flows, my rhymes, my life.
Rob Markman: Oh yeah, the artistry is still there.
Logic: A hundred percent.
Yeah ...
Logic: But I could listen Cole in certain instances ... like for example, even KOD is
like ... to me KOD is so ill because he took the vibe sonically of a lot of the young generation,
and the hip but he put the bars on it.
Rob Markman: Right ...
Logic: So it's like that's someone who is inspired, especially by the people he's, not
talking necessarily in a negative way, but kind of schooling the younger generation.
By using a sound that is quite similar to what we've all been used to with the trap,
and the this, and the that.
It's still taking inspiration and turning it into something totally and completely different.
And that's what I love.
That's what I love is that ... and ‘Ye, he's the God of that, like he would always
just his samples and his cadences and where he gets stuff from.
That's kind of where I learned that accept, to just be open and get people their credit,
and be like yeah, I love this person and that one.
Rob Markman: You dropped Young Sinatra, the mixtape after Young, Broke, and Infamous.
And you do Young Sinatra II, on that mixtape.
You used the DJ premier Group Home, the Supa Star beat.
Logic: Damn!
You guys are throwing me back now.
Rob Markman: Naw, it's dope.
I want to get it to, because we had the first Young Sinatra, right, kind of inspired by
wanting to have your own crew.
Logic: Yeah.
Rob Markman: And then you head to the mix tape and you do Young Sinatra II.
Now it's becoming a thing.
Now you're setting up tradition because not only ... I'm going to break this out for you
...
Logic: Okay.
Rob Markman: Not only the beat is a little bit different,
Logic: Yeah.
Rob Markman: But Nas, Illmatic
Logic: Snap!
Rob Markman: The famous AZ Life's a Bitch verse.
Logic: Yes.
Rob Markman: Scratching to the vocals
Logic: It's scratched up.
Some Nardwuar shit right there.
This is kind of gangsta [inaudible 00:09:58]
Rob Markman: I'm inspired by Nard Ward.
I do the same thing with my interviews, I sample.
Rob Markman: But talk about that.
As you start putting together Young Sinatra II, and that's the reissue of Illmatic.
Logic: Yeah, yeah.
Rob Markman: Talk about once you got into Young Sinatra II, that you start using similar,
familiar elements but building on that story.
Logic: The first, I'm trying to remember, did I do Life's a Bitch on the first one or
no?
Rob Markman: Yeah, you had it
Logic: I did, and then I brought it back again, yeah.
Logic: That to me, I just thought the shit sounded ill.
I just thought it was so dope, Life's a Bitch and this is when the internet was really starting
to take off, and you could find instrumentals and acapellas and different things like that
on YouTube, rip-It, and take-It.
I would put it into Adobe Audition, which I used to record and do all my stuff in.
I just loved those super ill vocals, and I just thought they sounded good.
Sometimes it's not even about why ... you know it's like Life's a Bitch and then you
die, but I'm kind of doing more like flex-raps, fun braggadocio raps.
Does it really mesh?
Not necessarily, that's why I feel like going on YSIV.
I'm really talking about some shit, that's a lot deeper.
Rob Markman: But it was dope that you still used the AZ vocals, which I think for day
one fans, it's like, "Oh shit."
This is really Young Sinatra IV, like the same themes, right?
And if I'm a new fan and a lot of your fans are younger, who may not know ... to me AZ
Life's a Bitch, if you’re hip-hop had like ... you gotta be able to recite that verse.
Logic: That's common.
Something you gotta know a hundred percent.
Rob Markman: Right.
So you're schooling actually people just by using the AZ vocal, like a lot of people who
don't know will now learn.
Logic: I agree.
And very similar to his shit.
Visualizing and realizing, just coming in that way, I've done every single Young Sinatra,
I've started off with visualizing and realizing, and then this one I did my life is fucking
crazy.
Logic: It's dope, I love it and you're right, I love that being able to school these people
who might not really know about.
Because there's a lot, man, I think everybody knows Wu-Tang, like sure.
The hip-hop heads you better know who Wu-Tang is, you know what I mean?
There is a younger generation and even just a different demographic.
Of people who sure have heard Wu-Tang Clan, but do they know every member?
Do they know truly, The Tao of Wu.
You know what I mean?
I couldn't believe it.
That's why the fact that they got on a record with me is like, wow.
Rob Markman: Right.
Insane.
Logic: Insane.
Rob Markman: And we're going to get to that.
One more thing I wanted to talk about, because I just wanted to go back to the Young Sinatra
tape.
1-800 was a huge single for you.
Speaking about mental health, it's a big topic now for a lot of artists.
Positivity, giving something for people to inspire them.
Logic: Yeah.
Rob Markman: But this isn't new for you.
This might be the biggest single, definitely your biggest single.
Logic: Definitely, yeah.
Rob Markman: I was listening back to Young Sinatra and I hear As I Am.
And it's like, "Yo."
Logic: Damn.
Rob Markman: Bobby's really been on this shit for a long time.
Logic: Fo' sho', yeah.
Rob Markman: Do you feel a way when you get that criticism?
I've heard you talk about the criticism of people, saying that you're too positive.
Logic: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Rob Markman: If that's such a thing.
But this is always who you are.
This isn't anything new if you've been listening to Logic since day one.
Logic: Yeah.
I think most people who have a problem or issue with me, have a problem or issue with
themselves.
I think that's really what it is.
Like I'm positive dude, I came up from where I came from, through struggling and adversity,
and made it, the underdog.
The person who wasn't supposed to be here.
Food stamps, welfare, it's crazy though.
I think when I say that, people are so used to, "Yeah, yeah, rappers.
Yeah, yeah, welfare.
He came up, whatever."
But it's like, Nah dog.
I used to wake up with roaches on my face, and eating powdered milk and shit.
And that's real.
And to be able to make it out of that, out of that negativity and the violence, and all
this bullshit and be here.
It's crazy but to be here for a positive message ...
Logic: I mean that's why Ghostface called me the other day, he was like, "Yo.
We want you to know.
You ain't no C, MC.
You ain't no D artist.
You're an A." And he was like straight up, "A fucking plus.
You don't understand when it comes to all these people, you're right up there, top upper
echelon, MC.
You're doing it, you're positive, you're doing your thing, and fuck anybody who tells you
different."
And for that, and then he passed the phone to the RZA and the RZA is like, "Bong, bong,
motherfucker."
So, to have these people that I've always loved, revered, and respected, tell me, and
he's saying, "You're doing it right.
You're a good dude.
You're not fucking around.
You're not out here bullshitting."
That's all I could ever want.
Rob Markman: That is dope.
Logic: That criticism, it used to be hard, because I'm like, man how come they don't
like me?
How come they don't like me?
And I won't get too into it, because this is personal, but I was on the phone with Cole
the other day talking about shit like that.
It's so funny that he was just reminding me that none of these people matter.
You know what I mean?
What really matters is what you think about yourself.
And I love myself and I'm proud of myself.