Texan Mosaic

By DOMINICK PUENTE//Staff Writer

Six mixtapes and six years into his rapping career, Logic has released yet another mixtape labeled “Bobby Tarantino” in early July.

Logic has faced a lot of criticism throughout his career due to being half African American and half Caucasian.

With a pale white skin tone, many other rappers and labels have given Logic negative feedback for rapping, without going through the hardships of living in a poverty-stricken community and the hardships that follow along with that.

Throughout his multiple mixtapes, he has rapped about struggles that people face every day, along with the problems he faced in a run-down neighborhood with his parents when told he was not the real rapper.

As his music and career have grown and improved, Logic has rapped about the negative things going on in the world and his overall thoughts, instead of the norm that rappers sing about such as strip clubs, partying and women.

In “Bobby Tarantino,” I am amused by the types of beats Logic uses in most of the songs. It gives me a sense of smooth melodic beats in songs such as, “Slave,” “Slave II” and “44 Bar.”

Slave is my least favorite out of the three songs, but lyrically, it covers everything Logic usually covers in previous mixtapes.

Logic raps about how he always goes through with whatever he has his mind set on, along with not caring if he is labeled white or black by the outside world.

“Slave II” and “44 Bars” are, without a doubt, my favorite songs on the entire album because of his verses that cover his rise from rapping in the basement and overcoming the ghetto to making something of his career.

One reason that he is one of my favorite rappers is because he does not find himself to be above everyone just because he found a little bit of success. In “Slave II,” he explains that he will let the record sales show how good he is.

Being a down-to-earth rapper and not letting things get to your head is one thing I pay attention to when I want to listen to a solid album. If it covers only clubbing, “popping bottles” and getting women, there is no point to listening to the music.

A song can tell a story about hard times, good times or a simple life experience. Logic does a great job of incorporating that into all his songs, including this mixtape.

“44 Bars” pulls me into the song as a listener because he learned through experience about new perspectives of life over time, along with learning that the world will keeping going once everything is said and done and he isn’t able to walk the earth.

At the same time, Logic is not afraid to say he is helping change the direction of rap and proves it through his record sales in songs such as “Flexicution” and “Super Mario World.”

Everyone loves a rapper who can dish it out and even take some back. But Logic has done good in being confident in his songs, while saying he will prove why he deserves to be confident.

If the album was nothing but slow and melodic beats, I am not sure I could be happy throughout the album. However, “Deeper Than Money,” “Flexicution” and “Wrist,” featuring rapper Pusha T,” add another dimension with deeper and heavier bass beats, along with Logic’s relatively fast-speaking verses.

I am not sure I agree with the hook that “Deeper than Money” uses in the song, because it causes me to power through. But, overall, it is a solid song that has decent versus.

The track “Wrist” is my least favorite on the album because of the feature on it. I am a definite fan of Pusha T. However, I think someone else could have done a better job of rapping his part.

Logic is known for his relatively fast verses, which almost gives his lines a rhyming effect. But Pusha T is a slow-verse rapper who doesn’t help the song carry on smoothly. Beats can change throughout a song and have different directions, but it is rare for me to like a song that changes pace through verses, and “Wrist” is not one of them.

There are a few tracks that are not necessarily tracks but are more skits that today’s rappers are incorporating in their albums.

In the first song of the album, “Illuminator,” it has an orchestra theme sound with Logic talking in a distorted voice, which completely hit me by surprise. But it is not my album, so I cannot argue with it.

In the second skit, “Studio Ambience At Night: Malibu,” a portion of a song in the new album Logic is working on plays in the background, which gave me a sense that he is closer to releasing his actual album quicker than his mixtape-per-year method.

I was not disappointed with any song entirely, but was more dissatisfied with a section or two in a few songs. It is one of the best pieces of work Logic has released and is fairly solid throughout all the songs. I give “Bobby Tarantino” 4.5 out of 5 stars.