Album Review: Logic’s “Everybody”
The biracial Maryland rapper returns for his third studio album with an audio movie about the meaning of life and a world where everybody is united.
“Everybody people, everybody bleed, everybody need something, everybody love, everybody know.”
That’s the chorus of “Everybody”, the first single and title track of Robert Bryson Hall II, or Logic’s 3rd studio album. It acts as a mission statement for the album, a design scheme also used to shape his previous two albums. Under Pressure served as the introduction to Logic himself, The Incredible True Story featured an audio-cinematic story—his love for Quentin Tarantino manifested — about two pilots on a mission looking for planet Paradise, following Earth’s destruction. In Everybody, they’ve arrived.
Logic’s perspective is a bit different than those of his peers. His father’s black and his mother’s white, so his experiences growing up were a culmination of the worst of both worlds, experiences he details in “Take It Back”, rapping: “Masta’ deep down inside of me, the plantation deep down inside of me”, a sentiment he repeated in an interview, saying the album is about “me being black and white, and seeing life from two sides. It’s about the cultural evolution and how you can go from the darkest of skin to the lightest of skin.”
Paradise, then, is a place where race and nationality cease to exist and everybody is united (depicted by the album cover art, inspired by Paolo Veronese’s painting “The Wedding At Cana”). How crazy is it, really? “Everybody was born equal, regardless of race, religion, color, creed, and sexual orientation”, Logic raps on “Take It Back.” “Your grave is six feet under just like everyone else’s”, Neil deGrasse Tyson, as God, tells the protagonist of Everybody’s story, Atom, in the skit that concludes “AfricAryaN” and the album. (The song also features a surprise appearance by J. Cole.)
“This is beyond the flesh, this is beyond the flesh
This is from the soul and for the soul
This is for all my brothers and sisters, for all my children
This is for every race, this is for every color, every creed
Music does not discriminate, music is made to assimilate”
During the intro track of Everybody, “Hallelujah”, Logic states his belief in the power of music. It’s a power he clearly respects and doesn’t take lightly. In an interview, he talks about encounters with fans who told him his music saved their life. He was astounded, because he admits that wasn’t his intent. “1–800–273–8255”, titled after the actual Suicide Prevention Hotline number and featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid, is Logic actually trying to save a life, and it’s great.
Suicide isn’t the first potentially-touchy subject he’s tackled. In this same album, he tackles mental health in “Anziety”, which features the wonderful Lucy Rose, who made an appearance on his previous album and has contributed to the soundtrack for HBO’s Girls. In his debut album, it was his addiction to nicotine, in my personal favorite, “Nikki”, which included an appearance by reoccurring A.I. in Logic’s audio-cinematic universe, Thalia, who makes a cameo in Everybody.
Which brings us to the philosophical portion of the album. What is the meaning of life? It’s a cliché, but valid, question, as protagonist Atom points out. On “Killing Spree”, featuring actor Ansel Elgort, he mentions that “life is everybody.” This alludes to The Martian author Andy Weir’s short story, “The Egg” (which Logic admits inspired Everybody’s narrative), a story so profound that I’m not going to explain it besides saying it ponders the thought that “I’m every human being who ever lived.”
In the previously-mentioned last song of the album, “AfricAryaN”, the question is answered: “The fact that you are living is what life is all about, so live your life to the fullest, according to your happiness and the betterment of all.” Logic has already cleverly revealed he has a fourth and final album planned, and while it’s still unclear how it will conclude the saga, it’s safe to say that it’ll be music for everybody.
BONUS: Small Details I Loved
- The album cover. Every person in the painting is a real person involved in the album, from producers to friends, from dogs to inspirations. In total, there are 80 people (my favorite cameo is Ashley Johnson) and 44 easter egg objects (my favorite is Logic’s other two albums).
