Third mixtape released by the Gaithersburg rapper Logic, second chapter of his "Young Sinatra" series. Among the tapes of his series, "Undeniable" is the most personal: almost entirely produced by 6ix, it doesn't accredit guests (C-Dot Castro is featured in "Disgusting") and maintains the winning formula of the previous mixtape, combining simple and direct raw lyricism performed with a smooth and effective dope flow over a captivating East Coast boom bap production.
Sometimes the lyrics of the MC have a meaning, other times less and there are different fillers and cuts for every kind of listener that go to inflate the mixtape up to 84 minutes, divided into 22 long tracks (1 skit) that make it one of the his most irregular projects of his period in the underground circuit. Bobby Hall is saved again by a sensational production, which like the lyrics, is a carbon copy of the first chapter: this time there are rainy samples from Adele, James Brown, Justice, Sufjan Stevens, Hans Zimmer, The Weeknd, Monsters of Folk, U-N-I, Frank Ocean and Anita Baker, as well as several hip-hop songs by artists such as The Notorious B.I.G., A Tribe Called Quest, Miilkbone, Nas, Jay-Z, Raekwon, Kanye West and Childish Gambino. Among the many notes that go under the track, the rapper decides to change the samples for the skits from "Family Guy" to "The Boondocks", before finally voting on "Rick & Morty" in the following years.
"Inception" steals the beat from one of the tracks from Nolan's film, then "Set the Tone" boasts a triumphant beat from a cut of Jay-Z's "Black Album", followed by "Dead Presidents III", third installment of the song series by Logic which pays homage to both Hova's signature song and Nas' "The World Is Yours", from which it takes the rhythm. C-Sick works with Q-Tip's remix of "Illmatic"'s song and combines it with a speeded-up sample of Cortex's "Chanson d'un Jour d'Hiver", creating an extraordinary, sublime and mesmerizing soundscape. Logic drops two verses with his smoothest flow, then he closes the third one in a similar way to "Growing Pains II", overbeat and completing what's arguably his best song ever. I'm not sure because it happened eight years ago now, but it should be the first Logic song I've ever heard.
The MC of Maryland still excels in the triptych "No Biggie" - "Disgusting" - "Relaxation", then the album loses compactness and slides towards mediocrity, before being brought back up by a C-Sick pearl: "We Get High" faithfully reproduces his eponymous piece, in which he draws the beginning of Michael Franks' song "St. Elmo's Fire" and places a hard, dry midtempo drum over it, giving Franks' vocals a softer and smoothness feel. Rhythm intelligently left to breathe, then killed by the rapid rap of a Logic in top form. "Young Sinatra III" features a sample from Miilkbone's "Keep It Real" that pays homage to Nas "Life's a Bitch", where Robert Hall offers one of his finest performances. The following track brings together excerpts from "The World Is Yours", "Shark Niggas (Biters)" and "Bring It On" (as well as Jay-Z's "Threat"), they're tracks from three classic albums by different artists in consecutive years, it's hard not to include it among the best moments, although for some reason, the song feels inferior to the best ones here. Last but not least, "Dear God" earns a final spot among the highlights, thanks to a soulful sample and an inspired delivery by the rapper.
A beautiful far-too-long tape comes out, with a good and excellent production for most of the time, which, in the end, mixes extraordinary cuts with some weak ones: "Tic Tac Toe" is unbearable, while "The Spotlight", "What You Want" and "Aye Girl" are other choices not at the same level as most of the songs. Fortunately, the very good moments outweigh the less good ones, and that's not something that will happen often on the rapper's later records.
Highlights "Inception", "Set the Tone", "Dead Presidents III", "No Biggie", "Disgusting", "Relaxation", "We Get High", "Young Sinatra III", "All Sinatra Everything", "Dear God".
Rating: 7.3/10.
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