Before LOGIC would drop tracks like Under Pressure, Flexicution, Everybody, or Sucker
for Pain
Before collaborating with the likes of Lil Durk, Tech N9ne, Big Sean, Juicy J, Killer
Mike, Childish Gambino, Khalid and Alessia Cara
Before earning an estimated net worth of 8 million dollars, making it onto XXL's 2013
freshman class list, and getting far, far away from his turbulent upbringing...
Yeah, Logic had a pretty rough upbringing.
His sisters got pregnant during their teen years, and were victims of rape.
His mother abused him, and went through a ton of rough stuff herself, including getting
beaten, stabbed, and addicted to drugs and alcohol.
His father was addicted to crack, and his brothers sold crack to everybody in the neighbourhood,
including his dad.
Logic ended up leaving his childhood home at just seventeen years, was expelled from
high school, and worked a long string of jobs while he tried to make it as a rapper.
Eventually, he found himself homeless, but a friend who believed in him helped him to
make his dreams a reality.
My name's Michael McCrudden documenting the life and career of Logic prior to fame here
for you on Before They Were Famous.
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if thats your jam.
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Logic was born Sir Robert Bryson Hall the Second on January 22nd, 1990 in Gathersberg,
Maryland, the youngest of eight brothers and sisters, born to a black father and a white
mother.
Robert wrote his first rap when he was just six or seven years old.
Here's him reciting the first song he ever penned.
At the time, he chose for himself the name skittles, a stagename given to him because
Eminem was already taken.
Needless to say, he didn't stick with that name for long, and a whole bunch of other
names would follow.
At 13 years old, Robert started to get serious about hip hop, after meeting Solomon Taylor
around this time, who would soon become his mentor.
Inspired by groups like the Wu Tang Clan and The Roots, Robert began to envision a future
in hip hop.
Solomon would encourage Robert to find a stage name by looking through the dictionary until
he found a word that spoke to him.
The word Robert chose was Psychological.
It was a good thing that Robert started rapping at such a young age, because the creative
outlet helped him to cope with his less than picture perfect surroundings.
He grew up in the West Deer Park neighbourhood of Gaithersburg, in section 8 housing.
There were guns in the home, the family lived off of food stamps and welfare, and young
Robert never had a Christmas or a birthday.
His father was addicted to crack and was absent through most of his childhood.
He would only visit every now and then, and on one such occasion, Robert would learn that
he had a bunch of other brothers he never knew about.
Those brothers were hustling in the streets, selling crack.
And one of their customers was Robert's dad.
That's pretty rough, but the women in Robert's family were dealing with even more severe
issues.
Both of Logic's sisters on his mother's side were raped, as was his mother.
More than one of Logic's sisters were also pregnant as teenagers.
Logic's mother had numerous abusive relationships throughout his childhood.
She was beaten numerous times, and on one occasion, she got stabbed.
She made a living through prostitution, and was addicted to pain medication and alcohol.
Logic one said in an interview,
“I can't even begin to explain the tormenting feeling of living in my household: constant
screaming, death-curdling screams, arguments between my mom and other men, her getting
her fucking ass-whooped.
At times, there was blood all over the kitchen and fucking floor.”
Suffering through so much messed up stuff, unfortunately, Robert's mother passed the
abuse forward.
She called her own son the n word, and once even tried to choke young Robert to death.
Robert attended Gaithersburg High School, but with his unstable home life, he started
to have trouble in school.
He left home when he was seventeen years old, and struggling to survive, he began skipping
classes, and started failing every course other than English.
In the 10th grade, he got expelled and, as a result, never graduated.
But, he kept on pushing on the straight and narrow, opting to moonlight as a rapper, while
working a long string of odd jobs.
Robert released his first mixtape, Logic: the Mixtape, under the moniker, Psychological
in 2009.
With the mixtape in circulation, his rap career was beginning to take off underground, giving
him the opportunity to open for rappers like Pitbull, Method Man, Red Man and Ludacris
at local Maryland shows.
On one fateful day, Psychological opened for Ghostface killah.
After his set, he met an audience member, Lenny, a land surveyor and huge hip hop fan,
who was impressed by Logic's talent.
The two became close friends, and Lenny would play a critical role in Robert's future success.
He's also the man responsible for the stage name Logic.
At the time, Logic was still working odd jobs.
His last was in the food industry.
Still struggling to pursue his craft and earn enough money to get by, Logic found himself
homeless.
His friend Lenny took him in and let him live in his basement.
Believing in Logic's, talent, Lenny gave him a golden opportunity.
He let Logic to quit his day job, and took care of the artist's expenses.
Logic's job was just to work on his music.
And Lenny gave him one year to make it.
That deal would eventually lead to the release
of his first studio album, under Pressure.
But while fans waited for that project, Logic would continue to pump out mixtapes.
Young Broke and Infamous would drop in 2010.
Young Sinatra would follow the next year, with Young Sinatra undeniable and Young Sinatra
Welcome to Forever following in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Around this time he also began to feature on the work of other artists.
In 2012, he featured on Sylvan LaCue's Nowhere To Go.
The next year, he was on Untouchable by Dizzy Wright and Kirk Knight, 20 20 by Lungz, and
When The Lions Come, with Jon Bellion, Castro, and Blaque Keyz.
Also in 2013, Logic would feature on XXL's Freshman Class Cover.
And, he had a pretty sick freestyle.
Under Pressure would drop in October of 2014, hitting number 4 on the Billboard 200, and
number to on the R and B and hip hop charts.
The album was certified gold, as was its lead single and title track.
With his next album, The Incredible True Story, Logic would find even more success, hitting
number one on the rap charts, and number 3 on the Billboard 200.
But he would top himself once again with his latest album, Everybody, which would hit number
one on both the rap charts and the pop charts.
And on the personal side of things, Logic's dad is off the crack, and the two have reconciled.
As for the rest of the story, well, we'll have to wait and see, because this is before
they were famous.
My name is michael mccrudden.
Thanks for watching this video.
Let me know who's next in the comments down below, and check out one of these other two
videos.