Logic’s finally found the sweet spot of fun, positivity, and storytelling on his newest album YSIV. As he said himself, “The boom bap’s back, harder than ever.”

When I used to think about Logic, I found myself struggling to truly appreciate him. Songs like Flexicution and Fade Away are some of my top songs 2015 and 2016 and are always on rotation in my playlist, even today. The great flows and fun lyrics over fantastic beats made by himself and 6ix are what I love about Logic.

On the other hand, his desire to make everything overly positive while mentioning the fact that he is biracial every other sentence comes off as cringey. Not to mention the fact that I am still upset that the second half of Take it Back feels like even more of a waste of a good beat than anything Bhad Bhabie makes. 

YSIV is everything that is great about Logic, while incorporating the worst parts much more skillfully. 6ix and Logic do their things on the beats, which are consistently amazing across the album. From the upbeat, funky guitar on 100 Miles and Running to the old school boom bap sound with the Nas sample on the title track YSIV, the variation in sounds across the album is one of its best qualities. Every song has a mood set by the beat that is perfectly matched to the lyrics. 

The lyrics across YSIV are improved from previous albums, although some songs still suffer from a lack of anything new or interesting being said. He ups his storytelling game, especially on the second half of the album on songs like Street Dreams II and Last Call, where he imitates the Kanye song of the same name on College Dropout. On the other hand, otherwise decent songs like The Adventures of Stoney Bob suffer due to awful lyrics. The hook is horrendous and some lines are laughably bad, like “For shizzle my nizzle, I feel like D-O-double Gizzle on this grizzle, my nizzle, put the greenery on the grill and let it sizzle, my nizzle.” 

Wu Tang Forever and Everybody Dies are easily the highlights of the album. The Wu Tang Clan verses are 36 Chambers quality and Logic’s verse still might be the best on the song. The beat on Everybody Dies is my favorite on the album and the sample of a Bruce Lee documentary saying, “you are watching a master at work” makes the song so enjoyable to listen to. When Logic is having fun, it’s easy to join in. 

One of the major problems with YSIV is the pacing. The long talking part on Thank You is nice, but really only works as an outro to the album, not an intro. The aforementioned abomination The Adventures of Stoney Bob is completely misplaced, ruining a second half of the album based more on storytelling. With too many misplaced songs, the vibe of the album stutters more than it should, taking away from a holistic listening experience. Fortunately for Logic, the album is way more enjoyable when listening to individual songs and not expecting a consistent theme. 

While it isn’t his most complete album or most mixtape-fun style project, YSIV makes serious strides in improving on its predecessors. Any type of Logic, from Young Sinatra to passionate, poor, black Logic can be found on this album. It’s definitely one of his more enjoyable projects, up there with Under Pressure and Bobby Tarantino. “This what you all been waitin’ for, ain’t it?” 

Yes Logic. It most definitely is.