Logic is a Maryland rapper who is known for his rapid fire flow, but personally, his beats have always been better than his rapping.  At times his fast flow is too repetitive, and most of his songs lack interesting topics.  This new album, Everybody, is his first time diving into racial issues in America, but this change of pace does not make for better music, because Logic’s lyrics lack the detail and nuance to tackle these issues.

Despite this, the production on this album is incredible.  Logic raps over very detailed instrumentals which feature pianos, strings, horns and choral vocals.  He even has a couple bangers, like the song “Killing Spree,” which will make your car rattle with its booming bass.  Another instrumental highlight is the song “America,” which combines a grimy bassline with some melodic piano keys, vocal samples and a hard hitting drum beat.

Sadly, the beats are the only good thing about this album, and the lyrics are such a disappointment.  My favorite song is “Everybody,” which was one of the lead singles.  It has a nice beat and it goes along with lyrics about the difficulties of being biracial, particularly the fact Logic has faced racism from both races.  This song has a very nice lyrical message, but the only problem is that Logic strung out this song’s lyrical premise for 70 minutes without providing any more depth.  The only other song I like lyrically is the track “Black Spiderman,” an empowerment anthem about accepting your own identity.  I think, once again, it gives a positive message like everything else on this album, but it does it while providing some sort of lyrical substance to chew on.  The concept that black children need role models like a Spiderman just as much as white children do is important.

There are times where Logic tries to say something deep, but he puts his foot in his mouth instead.  “Hallelujah” has an awful lyric questioning why a cracker will represent God during communion and black represents evil.  This isn’t some deep insight.  We’ve seen this topic tackled with much more nuance in numerous other art-forms.  Logic just gives this piece of wisdom without giving any depth or interesting takes.  Another example is the song “1-800-273-8255.”  On the surface the topic is fantastic, as Logic teamed up with the suicide hotline.  However, the execution and lyrics are so ham-fisted it’s almost funny, but not in a good way.  During the hook there’s an adlib where Logic blurts “who can relate? Woo!” Is suicide a hype situation?

This album’s 70-minute runtime is worsened by the fact that there is so much filler nonsense.  “Take it Back” is two minutes of actual song with rapping, followed by about four to five minutes of Logic explaining his story over the instrumental, and “Confess” closes with famed southern rapper Killer Mike giving a three-minute monologue.  Regardless of how interesting the talking points in these monologues are, it is baffling that they are not included in the actual rapping or singing, so they lack any sort of replay value.  Logic also has skits at the end of a couple of tracks, where this man is talking to God and he finds out that he will eventually be reincarnated into every human in existence.  Essentially, we are all this man, who is very bluntly named Adam.  These skits are the definition of poorly written.

In addition, Logic underutilizes some of his features.  Killer Mike would have been more suited for a verse, and legendary rapper and member of the Roots, Black Thought, gives an incredibly short verse that still manages to say more than half of Logic’s verses on Everybody combined. Other features like Chuck D give underwhelming performances.

In Everybody, Logic fails to point out anything other than the fact that he’s mixed, and he does so ad nauseum.  This is already hitting meme on Twitter.  As people are screenshotting the 10+ times where he mentions being biracial.  While I think being biracial gives Logic a unique perspective on the world, it is not enough to be the concept of an album.  He fails to use that experience to say anything other than that people were racist towards him.  When comparing this album to other powerhouses in the conscious and political hip hop, such as Joey Bada$$’ All American Bada$$ and Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, Everybody falls flat on its face.  This is not the worst album of the year, thanks to its beats, but it is still a failure.