Logic — YSIV

Young Sinatra IV, rendered with the acronym YSIV, is Logic's fourth studio album and, more importantly, is the fourth and final installment of his "Young Sinatra" series of projects, consisting of a trilogy of mixtapes released consecutively between 2011 and 2013. This album was born as a sequel to the latest mixtape and is entirely produced by 6ix, with Logic that fortunately touches almost no beat, reserving a rhythm together with Vontae Thomas, Cubeatz, Izaiah, Kajo, Matthew Crabtree, Rascal and Ryan Tedde, Sunny Norway provides two rhythms, NAZ three. Guests are Lucy Rose, The RattPack, Kajo, Slaydro, Big Lenbo, Hailee Steinfeld, Wale, John Lindalh, Ryan Tedder, Jades Smith, and above all, the entire Wu-Tang Clan, all living members + the affiliate Jackpot Scotty Wotty. The cover resumes that of the first mixtape of the series, with the image of Frank Sinatra replaced by him.

As in every Robert Hall album, the first song opens the way and gives you an important indication of what the album you're going to listen to will be like: skit, boom bap, perfect drum, brilliant samples. It starts well, of course, Logic hasn't arrived yet: when he gets on the beat, he pulls out bars with a slow and smooth and deceptive delivery, because on the surface it might seem decent or even good, but if you pay proper attention, you immediately realize that the guy isn't inspired here. The confirmation comes when he decides to sing the hook together with the good Lucy Rose (again, as always, better than him very easily), ruining a decent cut, but excessively long with a full seven minutes of song.

This LP will go on, but you may also immediately stop after the first track. Hip-hop fans, of all genres, some critics, guys with funny hats that maybe don't exist and pretty much the whole fan base that Logic has built from mixtapes, have criticized him more or less heavily in recent years because of the "new sound" / "different sound" he has decided to fiercely explore in recent years, in search of affirmation and success as a pop rapper who eventually, thanks to God Def Jam has found. The boy is tired, you can hear him in these almost 80 minutes of rap how tired he is, really tired, of these criticisms. And he decides to make "music for the fans"... he decides to bring his base back to his origins, to mixtape records, those that had the flavor of nineties hip-hop and his best bars ever.

The album is exactly that: nostalgia, one of the best sensations you can experience, but the nostalgia that the author wants you to feel is almost a forced nostalgia, a wrong nostalgia, tasteless and colorless, Bobby Hall in Tarantino wants to give you the idea of nostalgia, but not the real feeling of it. It doesn't matter that 6ix's production is the best of the last three years, it doesn't matter that Logic's flow is the best of the last three years or the fact that on the boom bap rhythms his voice sounds much better than on that damn snare drum that randomly pounding senselessly fifty times a second. Logic clearly has no desire to do this, to make this album that he already knows is going to go wrong with sales and won't fill his wallet like his last one.

Then? Then it's one of his finest studio albums so far and the following year will be one to regret in blood. Between lyricism and flow, Logic practically doesn't perform: in the first part of the record, he spits lazy, effortlessly, he sounds bland when accelerating and blander when delivering smoothly. He raps on autopilot for over twenty minutes and creates pop rap songs between the mediocre and the bad, hitting the low point with "One Day"; but sooner or later, the album inevitably dates back thanks to the guests and the return of the samples that are the salvation of the main rapper.

After "Wu-Tang Forever", which deserves a separate chapter, the album seems to collapse again, but Logic keeps it on its feet by playing on his constant obsessions: Kanye is quoted almost everywhere in the listening, there's yet another homage to "Mrs. Jackson" of Outkast in the mediocre "Ordinary Day" track, and "YSIV" samples "Life's a Bitch" again, with the excuse that deals with the series of songs "Young Sinatra". In this latest cut, the soundscape produced by 6ix is interesting, the drum works, the samples are melodic and Logic delivers excellently, slowly and velvety, in what appears to be one of his best performances in recent years, despite the track is certainly too long.

"Street Dreams II" has a tight drum that clashes with the rest of the beat, but luckily, it's still a noteworthy production, with a great sax sample holding up the smooth flow of the MC. There follows a posse, the quirky "Legacy" whose good melodic sample makes up for the lyrics and a random function from Will Smith's son... ehm, I think Logic lost a bet or something. Closes a very long 11-minute outro. Logic didn't believe in this album, which was destined for great things also from a commercial point of view: #2 on the Billboard 200, same result among rap records, ranked all over the world, despite the flaws. There are still too long cuts, as in all Logic albums since the beginning, there are 40-45 minutes too long, but it's much better than it may seem.

Side note. "Wu Tang Forever". Logic brings together all the living members of the Wu-Tang Clan and puts them into a song that pays homage to both the legacy of the best supergroup in hip-hop history and their second album. The intro pays homage to "Bring da Ruckus", the opening track of Wu's debut, the legendary "36 Chambers". 6ix and NAZ, the two producers, should have come up with something special for this piece, however, their rhythm is practically poor. It's not of vital importance, because somehow, the Wu-Tang will lift it up to the level of "classic posse", but it's a struggle to listen to this for eight minutes: there's a drum too hard, tight and bad for the boom bap and in addition a dude makes a weird and exhausting noise in the background all the time.

Then, there's Logic, he starts first and is soon paved by all the other performers, practically the opposite of GZA, which nobody wants to follow because he immediately kills the cut: Young Sinatra sounds inspired, but in his verse he not only says nothing and doesn't spit a decent braggadocio, but still thinks of his beloved mumble in a song that has all the Wu-Tang. Most of the time, he tributes the Clan, and with the few remaining bars he goes against the mumble, makes a casual tribute to Dr. Dre (?!??) and congratulates himself on reuniting the group.

Ghostface attacks on the second verse and goes away brilliantly, flow smoothness, fluid, dirty, dope, immediately followed by Raekwon, perfect attack, professional, great flow, confident delivery, crisp. RZA stops the fluidity that the track was starting to acquire and puts a stake by pulling out one of its most inspired deliveries, obviously it can't go as fast as in the past, but he has still personality and energy to lead the way to the best verse of the cut. Method Man sweeps everyone away with an unattainable stanza, with great quotes and double entendre, also paying tribute to the sample on which they're spitting.

When Johnny Blaze finishes, the song is at the right length to be closed, around four minutes. After that, you lose attention, it's inevitable. There are still Inspectah Deck, Cappadonna, Jackpot Scotty Wotty, U-God, Masta Killa and GZA, none of them as impressive as Meth or strong enough to make you jump: Cappadonna brings energy, GZA has the shortest verse, and Jackpot is a pleasant surprise on the roster, it's curious he's been unknown all this time. The others are fine, certainly better than Logic's usual guests and all those he has placed here for example. Classic, but flaws in excessive playing time and in a beat that doesn't reward neither the listener nor the performers.

Highlights: "Wu Tang Forever", "YSIV", "Street Dreams II".

Rating: 6/10.