After a prodigious, though bloated, farewell album to Def Jam Records in early 2022, called “Vinyl Days,” and entrance back into independence, Logic, while now owning his masters, returned, debuting his independent album, “College Park.” And it is one of, if not the, most polished album within his discography.
“College Park” is a conceptual album that takes skits, voiced by Logic, C Dot Castro, Big Lenbo, and more that are placed in 2011, and blends elements from Logic’s past experiences that subsequently lead into his current life experiences. The concept of these skits broadly give an indication of what each skit focuses upon, and the follow-up song highlights the focal point of that skit from the perspective of Logic in 2023. These skits loosely highlight themes such as drug abuse, alcohol addiction, and more throughout the album.
These skits play on a story. They’re about Logic and some friends riding around through College Park, located in Maryland, who are set to perform a gig later that same day. These skits have moments of banter between friends and humorous dialogue, but also include aspects of self-reflection, his come up, and hopes for his future, as well as highlighting themes of drug abuse, alcohol addiction, and more.
An example of reflection and high hopes within these skits is in the outro song titled ‘Lightyear.” In this skit, the setting is after Logic’s gig. Logic asks if people want to go out and get something to eat, but most decline and have to be elsewhere soo they all head their separate ways. As they’ve all dispersed, Logic is in the car with one of his friends, and Logic looks confused, excited, and worried at the same time. Logic details that he wants to be able to do other things within music. He doesn’t want to be in his fifties, rapping like the vein in his head is about to explode. He wants to sing, play guitar, he doesn’t want to just play it safe. His friend says just keep doing what you’re doing, and keep spreading that positivity, who knows where you’ll be in ten years. And as the skit comes to its close, it subtly fades into Logic singing and he says, “And now I am here, lightyears away from where I used to be.” Within the first line Logic already is reflecting upon his youth in the music world and where he stands now.
Now skits aside, the music, the soundscape, the lyrics, it’s all compacted together wonderfully. As the album has a story, and one quite easy to follow, it really makes this album shine. With sounds almost similar to his previous album, those sounds don’t lose their value at all as the beats throughout the album are diverse from one another. From the highly recurring soft-beat drums and loops of instruments at times, to its more uncommon loud horns and speaker-knocking drums, it keeps its soundscape a surprise to the listener. It has its moments where some things could be cut down in a way, but the features elevate these sounds. With great features from recurring collaborators C Dot Castro and Big Lenbo to a variety of new faces within Logic’s music such as Norah Jones, Joey Bada$$, Redman, and even Seth McFarlane. Norah Jones’s beautiful voice compliments her inclusion into the album so well, along with Redman and Joey Bada$$, who both keep on par rapping with Logic in their moments in the album. But the most surprising is Seth McFarlane. Seth McFarlane channeled his inner Frank Sinatra, and delivers such a magical and pivotal moment on the album. His vocal range and brute confidence leaking from his moment on the album, easily makes Seth’s feature the most surprising and even most noteworthy feature throughout the whole album.
Logic has been on a complete tear with his recent releases, and his ability to bring out the full potential in his collaborators is something that needs to be talked about more. His ability in crafting and combining sounds, combined with his talent in rap, all adds up greatly, as well as being able to tell a story through music while the story takes places from decades apart, and do it so well it truly represents what Logic is, and capable of. Logic, from being one of the most teased about artists, to now having control of his music and the creative freedom to do whatever to the music, and honestly rewiring his name. It is no shot in the dark, or surprise that Logic has released an early contender for rap album of the year.
