Words: Chris Read
In an age where statistics, we are told, suggest that ‘the album is over’ and ‘hot singles’ (and albums which are little more than collections thereof) are where the safe money is at, the desire to produce coherent long players must be hard for many artists to muster. But that’s not to say there aren’t still major artists giving it their best shot and many succeeding (see Kendrick, Kanye, Drake, perhaps even J. Cole for solid recent examples). Logic‘s new long player ‘Under Pressure’ certainly attempts to place itself in that lane and for the most part does so with some style. When the Eazy E sampling single of the same name dropped weeks back, it shot straight to the top of our Hot Samples chart and confirmed that the forthcoming album would be nothing if not eagerly anticipated.
Read on for our track by track break down of the album’s sample material:
1. ‘Intro’ (replays ‘Aeroplane (Reprise)’ by Wee and ‘Midnight Marauder Tour Guide’ by A Tribe Called Quest)
If you want to your album to sound like an album rather than a collection of unrelated tracks then a solid intro and outro are the book ends that might just seal your record’s fate. Logic’s ‘Intro’ gets it just right, with a behind-the-scenes feel giving way to lush piano phrases subtly interpolating Wee’s ‘Aeroplane (Reprise)’. It’s an interesting choice given the track’s recent association with Kanye’s ‘Bound 2′, the influence of early Kanye albums evident here generally. Lyrically it’s confident: “maybe if I go platinum they’ll remember me…” and we’re treated to a couple of minutes of lyrical reminders that Logic’s a winner over swelling piano and synth before the track bubbles to a crescendo of drums and cheering crowds. The intro closes with an introduction to ‘Dalia’, our guide for the album, closely modeled on A Tribe Called Quest‘s iconic ‘Midnight Marauder Tour Guide‘, and whilst it may be a risky move to try to place your own work in the same bracket as a revered classic, it’s another indicator that this album will be more of a journey than a clumsy stop / start affair. As with the the Tribe Called Quest companion on which she’s based, Dalia makes sporadic appearances throughout the album bridging gaps from one track to the next.
2. ‘Soul Food’ (samples ‘Champ’ by The Mohawks)
The album gets underway for real with a strong opener featuring Logic displaying a Kendrick-esque flow over rolling drums. One can’t help but be reminded of Kendrick’s epic two part track ‘Sing About Me … I’m Dying of Thirst’ when ‘Soul Food’ breaks midway for a change of pace and feel. The latter, darker half of the track contains the only sample, a very brief but nonetheless iconic vocal stab from The Mohawks much sampled ‘Champ’.
3. ‘I’m Gone’ (samples ‘Take A Win’ by The Physics)
‘I’m Gone’ takes the tempo down a notch without sounding out of place. The drums have a trappier 808 feel than evident elsewhere with underlying atmospherics featuring layers of slowed down vocal harmony lifted from The Physics 2012 ‘Take A Win’ alongside some pitched down vocals very reminiscent of the climactic ending of Drake’s ‘Furthest Thing‘.
4. ‘Gang Related’ (samples ‘Carrot Man’ by Sepalcure’ and ‘Mad Crew’ by KRS-One)
Here the album takes on a truly cinematic feel, a liberal pitched down sample of Sepalcure‘s haunting ‘Carrot Man’ providing the back drop to a tale of sinister nighttime events unfolding. Occasional appearances of a pitched down sample of KRS-One‘s ‘Buck, buck, buck, buck, booyakasha’ lifted from 1993’s ‘Mad Crew’ provide a topical lyrical reference whilst a brief news report style interlude mid way through the track wouldn’t sound out of place on any number of early 90s skit-laden hip hop LPs.
5. ‘Buried Alive’
A reversed piano recording topped with scattering drums form the foundation of the track here. Processed vocal effects fill the remaining space with vocals pitched up and down, in places autotuned and chopped into rhythmic patterns over the chorus sections.
6. ‘Bounce’
Bounce initially delves back into more sinister territory sonically with heavily filtered drums and reverby distorted vocal chops opening the track before 808s and synths appear jacking up the energy levels giving more, well… bounce.
7. ‘Growing Pains III’
As the title suggests, ‘Growing Pains III’ is the sequel to parts I and II this time depicting the realities of fatherhood, baby mamas, welfare handouts and the temptations of crime. Sonically, drums are low key, taking a back seat to the vocal and its narrative, atmospheric synths and reverbed horns setting a reflective tone.
8. ‘Never Enough’ (replays ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ Kid Cudi feat MGMT & Ratatat and ‘So Fresh, So Clean’ by Outkast)
‘Never Enough’ takes on a similarly epic feel to album’s intro with a slow building arrangement of guitar, piano and strings introducing an optimistic horn line before vocals and drums finally arrive a minute or so into the cut. It’s a constantly moving arrangement with drums, synths and horns drifting in and out throughout. The track breaks down at the midway point with a catchy interpolation of Outkast‘s ‘So Fresh, So Clean’ quoting the lyric ‘we the baddest motherf***ers on the planet’. Also referenced in a similar fashion is Kid Cudi‘s ‘Pursuit of Happiness’.
9. ‘Metropolis’
It’s evident that Logic has studied Kendrick’s ‘Good Kid m.A.A.d City’ closely in the making of this album and here the combination of gently tapping drums and jazz guitar licks is nothing if not reminiscent stylistically of Kendrick’s ‘Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst’. Again arrangement is key in this track with gradually building vocal and synth pads, reverbed horns and stereo vocal effects and an almost soothing hook creating a captivating, ever-changing song that is so much more than a classic verse / chorus rap track.
10. ‘Nikki’ (replays ‘Love is Green’ by Jeff Beck)
Jeff Beck‘s ‘Love is Green’ is an aptly titled sample source for what at first glance appears to be an ode to a loved one. If you’ve not yet listened, we won’t spoil the ‘I Used to Love H.E.R’ style reveal at the end of the track but the clue’s in the title. In terms of production style it’s one of the album’s simpler (and shorter tracks) with sparse 808s and a touch of synth complimenting the Jeff Beck interpolation.
11. ‘Under Pressure’ (samples ‘Eazy-Duz-It’ by Eazy E, and ‘My One and Only Love’ by Grant Green)
We already mentioned the buzz that the deft chops of Michel’le‘s chirpy vocals from Eazy-E’s ‘Eazy-Duz-It’ caused when the single dropped some weeks back. For the album version we’re given an epic nine minute rework that draws on samples not present in the single version. If the Kendrick influence hasn’t struck you at this point in the album, this track really drives it home with a guitar sample from Grant Green‘s ‘My One and Only Love’ (Kendrick also having sampled Grant Green for ‘Sing About Me…’) coupled with a similarly styled drum track. The shifts in tone and feel arguably also reflect ‘Sing About Me…’, but once again the arrangement is masterful, ensuring attention is not lost on a track which occupies a significant proportion of the album’s run time.
12. ‘Till The End’
“Conversations with No I.D who made hits with ‘Ye, now he wanna f*** around and make hits with me” so we’re told in the track’s opening verse. The reference is a relevant one to make in the album’s outro: No I.D handles executive production duties on this entire album, bringing to that role a range of experience that extends from classic mid 90s head-nodders to the dark broodiness of Common’s recent ‘Nobody’s Smiling’. No I.D is of course also a frequent Kanye collaborator and with this track’s almost Gospel feel, it’s hard not to be reminded stylistically of Kanye’s penchant for a good gospel sample.
DELUXE EDITION BONUS TRACKS:
13. ‘Driving Ms Daisy’
Reversed guitar licks topped with fizzing synths make for a captivating track with a pulsing energy that doesn’t really demand the epic breakdowns evident on other tracks… but we get one nonetheless with pitched down chopped vocals introducing a darker closing passage which occupies the last minute or so of the track. Childish Gambino features.
14. ‘Now’ (samples ‘Who U Wit’ by Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz)
In comparison with the somewhat cinematic feel of the album as a whole, one can’t help but view the bonus tracks as rather throwaway in comparison. ‘Now’ shares more in common with current crop of 808 and bass, sub 80 bpm major label rap than it does with the rest of the album, including the sample source, the ubiquitous ‘Hi’ vocal from Lil Jon‘s ‘Who U Wit’ recently used by Drake, 2Chainz, Rick Ross, A$AP Mob among many others.
15. ‘Alright’ (samples ‘Who U Wit’ by Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz)
Featuring Big Sean, a rapper who has (some would say inexplicably) appeared on a track by almost every major selling rap artist in the past two years, it’s unfortunate that the deluxe edition closes with another rather generic sub 80 bpm 808 and bass affair. Tellingly that same ubiquitous Lil Jon sample used for ‘Now’ makes an appearance. Logic’s obvious technical skill make it a reasonably decent listen, but it’s another low point in comparison with the rest of the tracks on this otherwise hard to fault long player.
