Logic - A Postmodern Artist Research

Homage:

• Quentin Tarantino
• Frank Sinatra
• A Tribe Called Quest
• Super Mario
• Si-Fi
• Wes Anderson

There are several things which Logic pays homage to throughout his work. He makes his love for film known and often references Quentin Tarantino, even naming his latest release Bobby Tarantino’. There is a large conversation in his Incredible True Story album between the characters about what the best Tarantino film is and another conversation occurs in his first album, Under Pressure when Logic and a girl on a train talk about movies in the song Metropolis. There is abundance of other references to Tarantino made in Logic’s body of work, and this because Logic has labelled Tarantino style as a huge influence.

Frank Sinatra is also a huge influence of Logic; his nickname is Young Sinatra. The Real-All-the-time crew (Rattpak) created by the Logic just as Frank Sinatra called his crew the RatPack. A Tribe Called Quest is another huge inspiration to Logic. He pays homage to them by using his own version the Midnight Marauders Tour Guide on Both his Under Pressure and The Incredible True Story Albums. (Thalia – Midnight Marauders Tour Guide) are also paid homage to. His love for video games are also show, with homage paid to Super Mario on the track ‘Super Mario World’.

The Incredible True Story is a Hip-Hop Si-Fi Album. Logic has stated that films like Interstellar were a huge inspiration when writing the script of his concept Album ‘The Incredible True Story’. The cover’s artwork resembles this image from Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

Parody:

Logic embodies a number of various characters. His most famous one which appears throughout various projects is a character named Marty Randolph. Marty is a representative of a record label called ‘Sell-Out Records’ and throughout each of these skit he attempts to talk to Logic and persuade him to sign. This is similar to Eminem’s Paul skits which frequently appear.Here we see Logic make fun of the rap genre and how the majority of rappers are rapping

• Character - Marty Randolph – a representative of ‘Sell-Out Records’ who it trying to sign Logic.  
• Young Sinatra
• Bobby Tarantino

Sell-Out Records

‘Basically, ok you know that whole thing that compiles you?

The whole Young Sinatra, smooth, intellectual lyrics, the realism of who you are and how you project that, everything that you do with your music?

[Logic:]

Yeah. Man thanks. I'm glad you spotted that out

Marty: 

Basically, what we're going to do is get rid of that

Ok? We want to put you in the limelight with a bunch of bitches and popping bottles

Cause nobody cares about that stuff’

Here we see Logic make fun of the rap genre and what the majority of other rappers are talking about. ‘bitches and popping bottles’ in appose to real life subjects that have real meaning. He aposes the hyper real world which is associated

Bricolage:

Logic samples music and spoken words from various periods of time and various genres of music. He tends to like sampling mellow instrumentals and vocalisations, such as The Singer’s Unlimited version of Deck the Halls, which Logic cuts up in Fade Away. In his latest album he includes Cassius Clay’s spoken word album I Am the Greatest in his song of the same name.

Samples from a wide range of artists:

• Pusha T
• Black Eyed Peas
• Eazy-E
• John Cameron (1973)
• Barrington Levy (1985)
• James Brown
• Bryson Tiller
• Nintendo
• Kanye
• The Weeknd
• OutKast
• Drake
• Jay Z
• Childish Gambino
• Adele
• The Isley Brothers
• And more. Range of genres and music eras have been sampled in his body of work.

Intertextual References:

His love for video games are also show, with homage paid to Super Mario on the track ‘Super Mario World’ . The Super Mario Soundtrack is sampled over this track along with references to games like Uncharted 4 and his love for films like Jurassic Park. Logic has said that the track shows his inner-nerd. The inclusion of the Super Mario soundtrack can also be considered as a form of bricolage as the sample is taken to create an entirely new track.

The final track of The Incredible True Story (of the same name) includes a snippet of philosopher Alan Watts’ ‘What if money was no object speech. Logic has said that this speech could summaries the message of the entire album in only a few minutes.  

• Alan Watts Speech
• Tarantino (Story, non-linear)
• Interstellar (The Incredible True Story)
• Christopher Nolan
• Kubrick – 2001: A Space Odyssey (The Incredible True Story)
• Gaming (Uncharted, Super Mario
• Jurassic Park
• Akira (‘I got that Akira on the wall’, Space jumpsuit worn when performing and on album artwork for The Incredible True Story).

Simulacrum:  Known as Logic but is the same as himself. He is not playing a character. Other names he is known as/plays are Young Sinatra, Bobby Tarantino and Marty Randolph.

• - Logic
• - Bobby Tarantino
• - Marty Randolph

Consumption

• PLP – Peace, Love and Positivity
• Online mixtapes and Albums, Streaming.
• Since ‘getting big’ and signing with Def Jam, his albums have been released as physicals (CD, Vinyl). 

Logic has been very forward about wanting his audience to receive the message left in his music of keeping ‘Peace, Love and Positivity’ and to follow your dreams. At the beginning of his career, logic was unknown and released mixtapes online for people online. After attracting attention and signing for Def Jam Record, he released is debut album in 2014 – Under Pressure. From here, his music has been released on major platforms like iTunes for sale as well as streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. He also released physicals for his two albums in both CD and Vinyl formats.

Creation

·         Songwriter, Producer, Rapper, Singer

·         Vocals, Sampler, Synthesizer

·         YouTube Channel.

·         Screenwriter

·         Directed some of his music videos.

Performances:

• -         Constantly performs live at his own shows and at festivals. Typically, tours following the release of a new album/mixtape.
• -          Brings audience members on stage to perform with him
• -          Has recently created music on the spot with the crowd at shows.
• -          Limited number of videos, no distinct style.

List of a few influences and inspiration:

• Film: Tarantino (In terms of non-linear storytelling), Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Bastards, Interstellar, Source Code, Wes Anderson, Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Grand Budapest Hotel (Incredible True Story), Akira, Stanley Kubrick, Cowboy Bebop, Rick and Morty and Christopher Nolan
• Music: Frank Sinatra, A Tribe Called Quest, OutKast, Eminem, Nas, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Wu Tang, Kendrick’s GKMC, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Isley Brothers
• Gaming: PlayStation, Uncharted, Mario
• Alan Watts

Collaborations

•      Suicide Squad Soundtrack (Sucker for Pain w/ Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Imagine Dragons, Ty Dolla Sign, X Ambassadors)
•      Big Sean
•      Childish Gambino
•      Tyler, The Creator
•      G-Eazy (Tour)
•      Pusha T
•      The Roots (Performance)
•      Kid Cudi (Tour)
•      Tech N9ne
•      Big Lenbo
•      Slug
•      Killer Mike
•      Big K.R.I.T
•      PRhyme (Royce da 5’9 & DJ Premier) 
• 
  

Wants to work with friends in the industry like:

•      J.Cole
•      Nas

as well as artists like Kendrick Lamar, Joey Bada$$ and more.