Logic, Actor, Singer, Songwriter, Record Producer, Streamer, Youtuber, Author, Philosopher: Bobby Hall.

We know of many 'rags to riches' stories. Ones like the great Bobby Hall leave me truly inspired.

Two of Logic's widely known hits are 1-800-273-8255 (phone number for suicide hot-line) and Homicide, which featured Eminem. There is no denying the talent. His flow, flawless.

Talent alone doesn't call to me, though. Work long enough on anything and you will be good at it. I need a little something more. A little passion. A little soul. A little philosophy. Sprinkle on some uniqueness. That's what I'm after. Little did I know, Logic had it all along.

"I said I'm happy the man I is, and proud of the man I've become. I'm proud that I'm from a slum, and never got cold, never got numb."

-Logic, No Pressure, man i is

I had to see what led Logic to arrive at the lyrics "They say they don't want messages in rap, 'It ruins the art' Well here I am people, yeah, now tear me apart."

or to the lyrics "Industry rule number four thousand and eighty one, Your new shit ain't as good as your old shit 'til your old shit is your new shit, son."

What led Logic to arrive at such a self-aware, thoughtful album? Is the philosopher of No Pressure a newborn? Was it a build-up over time? Or are we witnessing the long-term suppression of a hero?

Hero isn't a word Logic would use to describe himself.

In an interview with Youtuber Fantano, he says multiple times he did not always write believing other people would be able to relate.

He was 'selfishly' writing about his thoughts and experiences, then other people happened to relate. That includes artists involved in the mainstream media. He became a voice for them as well.

"I've been trying to chase a radio hit my whole career. Anybody in their lane wants to be the biggest thing in the world so for years I was kinda making certain songs that I look back and I don't regret making those songs but like the first songs on my first album or second album I was trying to make songs to appease a certain crowd"

Maybe unintentionally, he became a mental health advocate this way. Calling out the toxicity of social media, openly talking about going to therapy, and mentioning his Manic Depression or having depression and anxiety on multiple occasions. Claiming that he is often overthinking- something me, a fellow manic depressive, can relate to so much.

In an interview with MadHappy Podcast, he talks about how he's always faced mental illness. Having panic attacks and triggers at a young age affected what he did or didn't do.

"Yeah, I went into a mainstream space and I did it because I had a fucking blast and I made millions and millions of dollars -laughs- like why wouldn't I do that? Then when I'm sitting back, not to sound like a douche bag, with my fuckin money and I'm in a mansion, a wall filled with plaques [thinking] this is old. I wanna do real shit."

This is what I heard when listening to Young, Broke, and Infamous, his first mixtape as we know it. It came out in 2010 when he was 20 years old.

His song Growing Pains has three parts so far. The 3rd being on No Pressure. The second on his first studio release in 2014, Under Pressure (yes, the prequel to No Pressure), and the first on his first mixtape.

The hook samples Kanye West's Touch the Sky: "I'm tryna right my wrongs but it's funny those same wrongs helped me write this song" he goes on to say, "Never had a lot, but now I got plenty of material, no longer do I wish for money 'cause being broke made me stronger, harder, faster, better" while on same album he the has a song that pretty typical for rap: money, clothes, girls.

In another song Young Sinatra, he opens the song with "Various women I'm swimming in, like a shark. Tear the pussy apart, shawty it's on after dark." Then in a later verse of the same song he writes "See, I bus tables and my homie Castro a waiter, I can't wait to blow and say 'I told you so haters!' Living the life of an egotistical pistol gripper isn't for me, I'd rather grip mic and undo girls zippers but not them ho girls, meet me after the show girls, slow girls, have 'em coming back for mo' girls"

While he did talk about girls and sex, he did it pretty tastefully. Even for a young 20 something-year-old.

I don't see these items as non-authentic. The opposite actually. Not only do I see substantial growth between 2010 and 2020 (as one should), but you see him being honest about the things he might have wanted at the time, even while knowing it's just for fun, and still being able to have his serious moments when he needed them.

Logic came from a rough childhood. In recent interviews, he discusses his mother. Including her addictions, being raised around violence, and making and dealing drugs at a young age. His home was a safe space for him but also a prison.

"It's not that I did things that made me feel better. I succumbed to the feeling and allowed it to win, and I did that for years"

He couldn't truly consider rap an escape because he was writing what was happening around him thus he still had to face it. Certain things felt normal at the time. Feeling as a child that he was less than because he didn't have a regular family life or semi-'normal' life in general.

"I understood class at a young age and it was just normal for me"

He never felt jealous or envious as a child when he would hang out with those who had that life. "I just appreciated when I was with them at their house or mini golfing, like, 'wow' and then, you go back to hell. [You just think to yourself] it is what it is."

Hall left home by the age of 17, moving in with his Godmother. Working 2 jobs and using art as an escape. Particularly cowboy bebop, drawing, writing everything from raps to short stories.

He slept on his friend Lenny's couch for a year. It was him who called him Logic and it stuck. Then he was signed to Def Jams. That was the beginning of his professional career.

As Logic, he began thinking about different things and recorded a self-proclaimed 'cool and swaggy song', Young Sinatra, and decided that's gonna be his slim shady. Now three different identities in one. Logic, Bobby, and Young Sinatra.

"All legends have alter egos. I'm Bruce Wayne broke in this house, but I pick up a pen and I'm batman. Not to escape from Bobby, Logic narrates Bobbys' life."

A lecture by a well-known philosopher, Alan Watts, was sampled in Logics track The Incredible True Story in 2015 in addition to Dark Place on No Pressure 2020. Proof of his lifelong attraction to philosophy.

It's also Alan Watts who talks about this very "element of duplicity" that Logic writes about. It's inside us all.

Logic - Dark Place:

In THIS song produced by Johnny Hopkins in the metal band Nothing More, Watts says: "Now then, the question arises, who's deceiving who? who's fooling who? Well, you're deceiving yourself . Everybody takes the shortcuts, everybody plays tricks, everybody has an element of duplicity."

I feel this can be applied to Bobby Halls' entire career in many ways. Philosophically speaking, we can all relate to this.

Anywhere from weird family dynamics, to coming to a certain point in your life when you ask yourself what is me and what is the mask I created for survival?

His mom showed him crime movies which obviously play a big role in his personality to this day. Coming to the conclusion we do or should all try to reach about our parents because it allows us to come to conclusions about ourselves "despite the bad times, without those few sweet moments I wouldn't have the things I do today creatively or as a man."

Like many of us, Logic doesn't want to look back on a life full of regret. We all want to be accepted for who we truly are. He always had pop culture references to things like anime, streaming video games, Rubix cubes, and often got made fun of for it.

"I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I'm not but its hard to be yourself utterly and completely when people are telling you it's a farce or it's not real enough or not good enough or not raw enough."

As you follow him on his journey chronologically you can see that awareness that always existed in Hall. You can not only see an external struggle but an internal one as well. Which is the work of a true philosopher. It's when you look within that you realize what is around you and why. You will see that Bobby Hall is just another guy doing what we do. Asking ourselves the hard-hitting questions within ourselves. He's just brave enough to do it loudly.

He didn't always have this urge to rebel so strongly, originally he "wanted to rap on trap beats" but he "always tested boundaries and despite that, the venues kept getting bigger and bigger even when the OG fans were shitting on him."

When he would try releasing albums that weren't full of the usual hip hop clichés, Def Jam Records did not want to release his content. He then took it upon himself to go on tour and do things without them. Luckily the new people at Def Jams are much better. "The old regime" were to blame.

For the first time in his career, he said no to money, no to status, no to things he didn't genuinely want to do. He kept a journal which later became No Pressure saying "These fucking lyrics are my heart a soul"

So, What did lead Logic to arrive at such a self-aware, thoughtful album? Is the philosopher of No Pressure a newborn? Was it a build-up over time? Or are we witnessing the long-term suppression of a hero in rap by the industry? Life is crazy, man. I'd say most likely a mixture of all of the above and then some. As Logic says, he's only let us see into a tiny window of his actual life.

Most importantly, I think we can all take some useful and life-changing ideas from him. I already resonated with many of his words but was also introduced to some new perspectives which allows me to reflect on myself more accurately making room for growth, increased self-esteem, and feeling significantly less alone as a rambling bipolar person.

If you are ready for more content from Bobby Hall, you're in luck. You can read his fiction book Supermarket which released in 2019 while you pre-order and wait for the release of his book This Bright Future: a Memoir that comes out September 2021.

He says the main character of Supermarket is loosely based on his identity kind of like another alter ego but more of a reflection of his own mental hleath.

Its' counterpart Supermarket the soundtrack (can be found on Spotify) was inspired by a girl in a smoothie shop.

Every day for two weeks he would go just for a chance to talk to her. The soundtrack also contains a few silly tracks just for the fun of it, too. Receiving music from artists like Mac Demarco who he speaks highly of.

As he pursued this girl he wrote about the idea of who he hoped she would be; his dream woman. She turned out to be everything he ever wanted. They are now married and have a child together.

He writes books and exploring outside of his usual musical genre because he just needs to do something different. He already knows he can do what he has been doing. He's bored. He wants to sing. If it flops, that's fine. But it hasn't flopped, so he will continue to branch out. Since Supermarket he has developed his singing abilities even further.

Logic - Live From the Farm:

The memoir has many never before told stories that he resisted spoiling in his 1.5 hour-long interview with Fantano.

After discovering Logic, and researching for this story, I am looking forward to getting my hands on both. Supermarket is on the way.

Personally, I'm coining Bobby Hall as a free spirit. An artist. A rebel. A hero. I commend him for speaking up, speaking out, and I will be tuned in until the end.

I'm going to conclude this with a quote from a different rapper I've been listening to for over ten years, Slug:

"The soldier is a dreamer and a realist , And history sealed this , Thought me that a hero ain't nothing but a field trip . Nah, I know you're down to do something profound , Put a stick in the ground to prove you was around . No amount of time will ever be considered enough , I'm trying to tether it up and live forever through love. We're not lucky but we're fortunate, I'm pretty sure of it. And all the life we wasted trying to make some bread , Might've been better spent trying to raise the dead."