It's fitting that
Logic
's most rap-centric album in years comes fresh off the back of his full-blown "retirement." After making a virtuous curtain call on 2020's
No Pressure
, the Maryland native unceremoniously returned to the game just 11 months later, tapping into his worst mock-trap tendencies on
Bobby Tarantino 3
. Evidently, he got his second wind in 2022 and released a statement piece with 2022's
Vinyl Days
.
's seventh studio album is a weighty tribute to the golden age of '90s hip-hop, and his scholarly passion for the genre is present in every fiber of the project's composition. Verses are searing with the no-holds-barred lyricism of that era, colored by tributes to
Dilla
and
Lupe
, and shipped with a head-nodding cadence that would make
B Rabbitt
proud. The album's production -- a veritable vault of boom-bap gems -- ranks among the best the artist has touched, with artful sample chops, concrete drumlines, and nostalgic, warm overtones. The stream of consciousness writing, perhaps prompted by
's no-stakes return to the game, leads to some questionable moments -- like his weirdly murderous confessions about critic Anthony Fantano -- but offers more value in making the project feel like an extension of his state of mind. A touching plea for
Madlib
to revive his
Quasimoto
alter ego, an origin story for
Mac DeMarco
's
Salad Days
over
RZA
production -- these moments couldn't have come from anyone else.
For all of its fervent adherence to the '90s blueprint, however,
inherits one major flaw from the streaming era -- its attention span. Most of the tracks here barely go over the two-minute mark, leaping urgently into interludes and beat switches before settling into any rhythm. It's unsurprising that the project's longer cuts make the boldest impressions:
Blu & Exile
are smooth partners on the soulful "Orville," "Sayonara" offers a "Last Call"-esque farewell to
Def Jam
, and "Vinyl Days" is a stank-face cruise through four minutes of
Preemo
production. The four-minute "Therapy Music" proves this year's most unexpected gem: while
Russ
meditates on his anxiety with the slick "I finally made it to the field of my dreams, and I let ghosts pay around in my head like I'm Ray Liotta,"
closes the ceremony with a star-gazing second verse, "hanging with cats that stay with the iron like they Tony Stark" before thumping the beat back to life for a soulful finale.
With an end to producing a smaller, more substantive set of ideas, the
sessions might have produced another five-star effort in
's catalog; though all too brief, these flashes of rap's golden era are colored in all the right hues.
isn't the second coming of
Young Sinatra
, but it may mark the start of a compelling new dawn for the MC. ~ David Crone