When it comes to the genre of UK rap music, there are certain veterans in the game that have stayed underground and Logic is one of them. After dropping a fair few mixtapes and three underground albums spanning over a decade, with affiliations to south London rap collective PDC and playing the role of Peoples Army general alongside Lowkey and DJ Snuff, Logic has dropped his new album “True Talk” in collaboration with new producer Last Resort that features some weighty link ups from Maverick Sabre, Klashnekoff, Akala, Lowkey, Rewd Adams, People’s Army Big Cakes, Remus, battle emcee Elz as well as Renee Soul and Shadia Mansour.
If you, like me, demand the most authentic beats when it comes to defining real hip hop Last Resort commences the album with a beat reminiscent of ’90s hip hop, scratching and all, for the intro track “I Am Logic” where the emcee introduces himself from birth to the present, describing his thoughts and feelings on life and himself, with his mix of witty wordplay and story telling allowing the listener an insight into his spiritual and personal beliefs before throwing us into the remainder of the album.
Switching up the mood with a hard hitting dramatic beat, reminiscent of something you’d hear in a horror movie, Logic lays down punchline on top of punchline with “Never That” before to returning to an old school style of production sampling classic hip hop breaks, we get introduced to Big Frizzle who features heavily on the LP and provides a playful sing song chorus on “Essence” where Logic pays homage to hip hop and the culture.
Logic feat. Big Frizzle – “Essence”:
As far as a solid body of work goes, True Talk characterises everything you would want from a hip hop album, with an impressive list of collaborators including on the title track featuring two of the UK’s best lyricists Klashnekoff and long time collaborator Lowkey, as well as vocals from the likes of Renee Soul and Shadia Mansour.
Production from Last Resort displays a variety in his sound and a breadth of tempo’s on the mellow “Call For A Revolution” to the amped up “Animal” – a pre packaged radio friendly banger. One of the standout tracks remain to be his link up with one of the founders of UK garage, Mighty Moe and another revisit from Big Frizzle on the chorus in “It’s On Top.”
Logic’s delivery ranges from aggressive and aggy in “One Take Wonder” and the forementioned “Animal” to calm and cocky in “Walking Away” and “Shadow” where he opens up and broaches the subject of troubles in a relationship. True Talk gives Logic’s opinions on our global and political climate whilst keeping a non forceful tone to his message and Last Resort gives us the honest and authentic backdrops. Rounding up the journey we go to the last of the big collaborations with Maverick Sabre and Akala on “We’ll Never Know” who wax lyrical back to back before we end on two impassioned and truthful final tracks with a more than fitting outro.
True Talk is a more than appropriate title when it comes to summing up this body of work with Logic’s mature but aggressive delivery and poetic bars which makes for an honest depiction of what he stands for with his dose of socio political commentary. If beats are a necessity for you for to set the scene of a rap album Last Resort doesn’t fail to consistently deliver and the array of contributions from underground rappers to those familiar with a more commercial audience portrays the importance to the emcee of embracing his comrades in the scene. Let’s see if this LP allows Logic to emerge from the underground.
Logic & Last Resort – True Talk
Label: Overstand Music
Released: December 19, 2011
Buy: iTunes UK / HMV
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