He grew up 15 minutes from where I live in Germantown, MD. A place called "west deer park" in Gaithersburg MD. It is kind of a shady area with some small local Gangs but it is NOT the hood
That's exactly the vibe I get from him, he's probably seen a bit of shyt but not as much as he talks about. That's okay cause most rappers exaggerate, but its more his stans that annoy me trying to tell people he's way deeper than he actually is.
Yup,
I haven't listened to his new album yet, But I did listen to his first album and saw him perform and he never came off as some hood or tough dude that acts tough.
Where is this coming from?
I don't think he's trying to act tough, but he comes across as more privileged than he is. I don't believe he grew up with a silver spoon and I'm sure he's had some legitimate struggle, but he seems like he has this 'poor me' complex and he's trying to brand himself as this visionary, when a lot of people go through way harder shyt every day. The dude can easily pass for white (for a long time I thought he was) and despite his family situation (which seems reasonably authentic), the look on his face paints a picture of someone who's used to people taking care of him - that can mean the educational system, the law, the people around him. If you look white and you grow up in the suburbs, everybody around you wants you to succeed, even if you might have your personal struggle. If you're of color and you're anywhere in America, the vast majority of people and institutions secretly want to see you fail, in a shyt job, an institution, or in prison.
And Logic belongs to the first group, which is why these privileged kids relate to him. He's friendly and safe enough for kids who haven't felt true struggle to get behind his stuff, but he's felt just enough pain and he seems to embellish the fukk out of it (see: the skit in Gang Related) to try and paint himself as some kind of poetic visionary. The dude's above average on the mic, but his posturing as some kind of fake Hip-Hop savior along the lines of Nas annoys me - when you compare the whole shtick to the stories current dudes like Vince, Joey, and Kendrick do, it comes across as really silly.
If you go through and read his lyrics, he'll use the same handful of words to talk about his experience through all of his songs, always talk about how his dad was on drugs, how he was supposedly in section 8, but he'll put in very little detail and pad the rest of the song with very basic metaphors and filler that doesn't mean anything, which is usually a technique wannabe whiteboy rappers use ("I swear this music in my genes like Denim, lyricism seep in 'em like venom"). Whereas people who've actually lived through that shyt, they'll have fukktons of details about what they've seen and in great depth, like Kendrick talking about his aunt stealing his Genesis and his dad having a long pinky nail to snort 4 and a half o's of coke. That's shyt that you don't make up unless you've actually been around it.
Overall it's really more his stans that annoy me, trying to say that he's 'real Hip-Hop' and then dudes like A$AP and Young Thug aren't. They also love to talk about how he's half-black as if that automatically makes him hood, which comes across as a racist assumption in and of itself. fukk that.
Anyway I just realized this post was long as fukk lol, I was feeling reflective today but it's time to get on with my day. If anyone has any more thoughts I'll read it when I get back.
