'Everybody' is the third studio album from Sir Robert Bryson Hall II better known by his rapper name, Logic. Like his previous album 'The Incredible True Story', this album is a concept album, which follows a story and theme throughout the album, where we learn more about the story as we listen. 'Everybody', more so than its predecessor is a project that is better off being listened to from start to finish in one sitting, as the album's song's replay value is unfortunately not really there.
The main themes in 'Everybody' are race and diversity. But many of the songs discussing those topics also carry a lot relevant life lessons not related to race. Songs like "Anziety" and "1-800-273-8255" talk about mental health, a very important topic to talk about. Logic reveals in an interview with The Rolling Stones that he didn't necessarily want to make this album, but he felt like he was called to do it for himself, his fans, and the people close to him.
At the end of the of album, it is revealed that Logic will be hanging up his coat in the rap game after his fourth album. Logic has been one of my favorite rappers since I began listening to the genre so on a personal note, it's going to be sad to see him go and I'm happy to see that his music has had a positive impact on people.
Logic also features guests such as Killer Mike, Ansel Elgort, Black Thought, Chuck D, Big Lembo, No I.D., Juicy J, Alessia Cara, Khalid, Lucy Rose, Damian Lemar Hudson, J Cole and last but certainly not least, Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Criteria
I have four criteria for reviewing rap albums, each will receive a rating out of 5. There's lyrical content, this includes word play, rhyme schemes, cleverness, and meaning. Flow/Delivery, which is basically how well and how smooth the lyrics were delivered by the artist. Production, which is the instrumental beat behind the lyrics, as well as sound quality and other effects. And lastly, I have personal enjoyment. At the end of the day, the most important part of listening to music is enjoying it. And when it comes to enjoying a sound, it doesn't need to be justified or clarified to anyone.
Lyrical Content: 3.5
Logic has always been an underrated lyricist, in my opinion, it's never really brought up as one of his strong suits. But songs earlier in his career such as "Dear God" and "Till The End" show exceptional lyrical ability. His main problem was his consistency. He'd have plenty of songs with rich lyrical quality, but others that are made up almost entirely of ad libs and meaningless fillers. This inconsistency was still prevalent in this album, maybe even more so. Logic employed a lot of full bar rhymes in this album, showing that his technical skills are still there, though the punchlines seemed a bit absent in this one. There are a lot of meaningless fillers in this album, but there are many instances where Logic will snap out of it, and go on a rant about society or race or any other theme in this album. When Logic starts rapping about the core themes of this album, the emotion is overwhelming and difference in lyrical quality is night and day.
Flow: 4.0
I've always believed that Logic's flow was his strong suit. When it comes to flow and flow alone, I'm not afraid to put Logic in the top tier of rappers. Even if his lyrics lack any depth, you can bet on the song still being a very enjoyable one because of Logic's stellar delivery. This album, however, his flow took a step back. Logic is a rapid fire style lyricist, and therefore his delivery will be choppy and loaded with words in a short span of time. In 'Everybody', Logic stayed with the rapid-fire theme more often than he has in the past, becoming basically redundant at times. Sometimes, his rapid-fire flow would even get in the way of some pretty good lyrics. Nonetheless, though, he still gets a high flow score in my review, because despite those setbacks, he's still killing it.
Production: 4.0
6ix my man! After The Incredible True Story, I wasn't really sure of I was a big fan of 6ix's production techniques. Every song on that album that wasn't produced by 6ix were songs I liked. And the songs 6ix did produce, I hated. But after Logic's surprise summer mixtape 'Bobby Tarantino', I fell in love with 6ix's production. 'Everybody' was a very strong follow-up. Prominent hip-hop producers like No I.D. and Dj Khalil also helped with the production of this album. Logic was never the type to rap over a lot of 808 bass, and this album still wasn't all that heavy with it. But the 808 in this album did seem a little more deep, dark, and distorted in the past. This is a good thing though, as I believe that dark vibe was needed in songs such as "Killing Spree" when Logic goes on tanget's about how messed up society is. But overall the beats were smooth, and it utilized a lot of natural, acoustic sounding production.
Overall Enjoyment:3.0
This album was probably my least favorite of Logic's discography. I still did enjoy it though, because as a fan, there are a few individual songs on the album that I will continue to replay, but not as much as the other albums. But I also acknowledge that the replay value for the average listener is weak. The themes of the album didn't help or hurt. When he discussed race and diversity, he definitely touched up on some valuable points, which helps move the actual conversation forward but it doesn't necessarily make the album more entertaining. From a musical standpoint though, I just wasn't feeling it as much as his other work.
Album Rating: 3.625/5.000
This was still by most standards a pretty good album. The skill was there, the emotion was there and the flow and production was definitely there. The features unfortunately were pretty dry, and it pains me to say it but that also includes J Cole's verse. "America", "Ink Blot" and "Black Spiderman" were the only songs where I genuinely enjoyed the features. As a fan, I'll definitely be going back to this album to listen to some songs.
