Vinyl Days

by Logic

Overview

It's fitting that Logic's most rap-centric album in years comes fresh off the back of his full-blown "retirement." After making a virtuous curtain call on 2020's No Pressure, the Maryland native unceremoniously returned to the game just 11 months later, tapping into his worst mock-trap tendencies on Bobby Tarantino 3. Evidently, he got his second wind in 2022 and released a statement piece with 2022's Vinyl Days. Logic's seventh studio album is a weighty tribute to the golden age of '90s hip-hop, and his scholarly passion for the genre is present in every fiber of the project's composition. Verses are searing with the no-holds-barred lyricism of that era, colored by tributes to Dilla and Lupe, and shipped with a head-nodding cadence that would make B Rabbitt proud. The album's production -- a veritable vault of boom-bap gems -- ranks among the best the artist has touched, with artful sample chops, concrete drumlines, and nostalgic, warm overtones. The stream of consciousness writing, perhaps prompted by Logic's no-stakes return to the game, leads to some questionable moments -- like his weirdly murderous confessions about critic Anthony Fantano -- but offers more value in making the project feel like an extension of his state of mind. A touching plea for Madlib to revive his Quasimoto alter ego, an origin story for Mac DeMarco's Salad Days over RZA production -- these moments couldn't have come from anyone else. For all of its fervent adherence to the '90s blueprint, however, Vinyl Days inherits one major flaw from the streaming era -- its attention span. Most of the tracks here barely go over the two-minute mark, leaping urgently into interludes and beat switches before settling into any rhythm. It's unsurprising that the project's longer cuts make the boldest impressions: Blu & Exile are smooth partners on the soulful "Orville," "Sayonara" offers a "Last Call"-esque farewell to Def Jam, and "Vinyl Days" is a stank-face cruise through four minutes of Preemo production. The four-minute "Therapy Music" proves this year's most unexpected gem: while Russ meditates on his anxiety with the slick "I finally made it to the field of my dreams, and I let ghosts pay around in my head like I'm Ray Liotta," Logic closes the ceremony with a star-gazing second verse, "hanging with cats that stay with the iron like they Tony Stark" before thumping the beat back to life for a soulful finale. With an end to producing a smaller, more substantive set of ideas, the Vinyl Days sessions might have produced another five-star effort in Logic's catalog; though all too brief, these flashes of rap's golden era are colored in all the right hues. Vinyl Days isn't the second coming of Young Sinatra, but it may mark the start of a compelling new dawn for the MC. ~ David Crone

Product Details

Release Date:	06/17/2022
Label:	Def Jam
UPC:	0602445925292

Tracks

1. Danger
2. Tetris
3. In My Lifetime
4. Decades
5. JJ Abrahams
6. Blackwhiteboy
7. Quasi
8. Bleed It
9. LaDonda
10. Aaron Judge
11. Clouds
12. Michael Rap
13. Therapy Music
14. Tony Revolori
15. Rogue One
16. Breath Control
17. Nems
18. Nardwuar
19. Kickstyle
20. EarlyBird
21. Ten Years
22. Porta One
23. NeedleDrop
24. Introducing Nezi
25. Orville
26. Carnival
27. Lena's Insight
28. Vinyl Days
29. I Guess I Love It
30. Sayonara

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Logic   Primary Artist
DJ Premier   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Nezi Momodu   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
C Dot Castro   Primary Artist
Exile   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Doc D   Primary Artist
Blu   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Action Bronson   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Russ   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
RZA   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
AZ   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Big Lenbo   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
The Game   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
The Like   Primary Artist
Royce da 5'9"   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
C.Castro   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Wiz Khalifa   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Curren$y   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
iamJMARS   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Langston Bristol   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Mario Luciano   Keyboards
Lena Waithe   Voices
Anthony Fantano   Voices
Doc-D   Featured Artist
Lauren Santi   Vocals (Background)
Rainn Wilson   Voices
Cee Williams   Vocals
Josh Lippi   Bass
Michael Rapaport   Voices
Nardwuar the Human Serviette   Voices
Jabrille Williams   Guitar
Earl Sweatshirt   Voices
Tony Revolori   Voices
6ix   Bass
Like   Featured Artist
J.J. Abrams   Voices
Joe Lee   Vocals
Aaron Judge   Voices
Morgan Freeman   Voices
Kevin Randolph   Keyboards
Steve Wyreman   Bass,Guitar,Keyboards
Nems   Voices

Technical Credits

Mario Luciano   Producer,Composer
The Kount   Producer
Marlene King   Composer
PSTMN   Producer
Kyle Metcalfe   Composer,Recording
James Branch   Composer
VIG   Producer
Vignesh Vishwanathan   Composer
ALFIii   Producer
Nezi Momodu   Composer
Christopher Pegram   Composer
Jordan Thornton   Composer
Joseph Bellah   Composer
Kenny Amacher   Recording
Jake Ferguson   Composer
Darryl "Hasaan" Jamison   Composer
David Kutch   Mastering Engineer
Michael Parkinson   Composer
Aleksander Manfredi   Composer
Charles Bernstein   Composer
James Reese   Composer
MCA   Composer
Robert McCollough   Composer
Clayton Gunnels   Composer
Robert Campbell   Mixing,Recording
Jan Weissenfeldt   Composer
Anthony Cruz   Composer
Jack Yglesias   Composer
John Ruskin   Composer
Chris Martin   Composer
Jayceon Taylor   Composer
Cameron Thomaz   Composer
T-Minus   Composer,Producer
Kourosh Yaghmaei   Composer
David Anthony Guy   Composer
Ryan Montgomery   Composer
Dan Smith   Composer
Regional Garland   Composer
Gabriel Stevenson   Composer
Ariyan Arslani   Composer
Noah Preston   A&R
Raven Bush   Composer
Tae Beast   Producer
Donte Perkins   Composer
Khalil Abdul-Rahman   Composer
Robert Hall   Recording
Ronald LaTour   Composer
Leon Ressalam   Composer
6ix   Producer
Nicholas Smith   Composer
Barbora Patkova   Composer
Tedd Boyd   Producer
JRB   Producer
Lakhari Theodore Boyd   Composer
Christopher Castro   Composer
Russell Vitale   Composer
Koal Harrison   Composer
Tom Nehls   Composer
Ken Amacher   Recording
Michael Clark   Composer
Adam Horovitz   Composer
Allen Toussaint   Composer
Blackbird McKnight   Composer
Arjun Ivatury   Composer
Sir Robert Bryson Hall II   Composer,Recording
Paul Jackson   Composer
Bootsy Collins   Composer
Johnny Griggs   Composer
Malcolm Catto   Composer
James Brown   Composer
Clyde Stubblefield   Composer
Phelps "Catfish" Collins   Composer
John Barnes III   Composer
Lester Abrams   Composer
Robert Diggs   Composer
Eothen Alapatt   A&R
Gilbert O'Sullivan   Composer
David Axelrod   Composer
Frank Waddy   Composer
DJ Khalil   Producer
Homer Steinweiss   Composer
Bill Summers   Composer
Curren$y   Composer
Bennie Maupin   Composer
James Marshall   Composer
Logic   Producer
Steve Wyreman   Composer,Producer
Nick Movshon   Composer
Leon Michels   Composer
Thomas Brenneck   Composer
Michael Diamond   Composer