Logic is a hip–hop enigma; he stormed into the rap game with a ferocity back at the beginning of the decade, blowing up with songs such as “All I Do” from the Young Sinatra mixtape trilogy. With a rapid–fire flow, slick wordplay, and an empowering swagger, the rapper seem poised to grab the rap throne. His debut album, Under Pressure, received critical acclaim for its biographical storytelling, and he followed that up with a decent concept record in the form of The Incredible True Story. However, Logic then began to release music of a more uneven quality, ranging between the utterly vapid on songs such as “Super Mario World” to the incredibly impactful nature of “1–800–273–8255.” Now, he’s dropped “The Return” and brought everything full circle.
Last time I wrote about him, the emcee had released “44 More,” the first single off his following mixtape, Bobby Tarantino II. It felt like a callback to the Young Sinatra trilogy, and also created warranted hype for BT2. Still, the mixtape fell short of expectations, consisting of the same tedious, mediocre content that has plagued Logic’s recent releases, such as Bobby Tarantino and Everybody. Truth be told, Bobby Tarantino 2 was a complete letdown.
For that reason, “The Return” almost feels like a sequel to “44 More.” Once more, the flow is reminiscent of early Young Sinatra–era Logic, particularly the content from tracks such as “Nasty.” As the intro ends with the line “Satisfy this hungriness,” Logic launches into three verses of aggressive content intermingled with smooth references and wordplay. From lines such as “’Cause don’t none of y’all know a f***ing thing ‘bout what I been through/And all that superficial sh** you love I’m just not into” to “And back then I thought I’d be defined by how good I rhyme/Not like these rappers with sh** flows, but look good online,” the rapper brings his fury to life and calls out his haters.
“The Return” is simply solid; it isn’t Logic’s best song by any stretch, but it’s a drastic improvement over recent singles such as “Overnight” and “Everyday” in both flow and depth of content. In a sense, he achieves a “return”—bringing a sense of nostalgia to longtime fans that have pined for the lyricism and swagger that made him famous in the first place. However, it’s important to consider the hysteria over Bobby Tarantino II in the rap community after “44 More” before getting excited. Let’s mute expectations and hope he blows us away.
