Under Pressure

by Logic

Overview

Acting as if the debut album still meant something in the post-mixtape anything-goes world (thanks Internet!), Maryland rapper Logic set himself up for something big after his crafted and beloved series of Young Sinatra mixtapes, but he could have called them Young Beatles. Those right-clickable freebies were like Please Please Me, while this mature entrance on Def Jam is his Rubber Soul turning into Revolver, offering a conceptual, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City-like journey through Logic's sad past, but adding to the mix Drake-sized charisma along with some innocent kid wit. "Metropolis" goes "Just left a hotel in Belgium, and their waffles was insane" with wide-eyed flair, chuckling and kicking it in stark contrast to Logic's admission elsewhere that selling crack rock to Dad was a low point for this now 24-year-old man. Family problems, addiction, and poverty are always knocking at Under Pressure's bedroom door, but the bedroom walls are lined with pictures of hip-hop heroes of all sorts, as "Bounce" finds the joy and creative outlet in a genre that goes "from Project Pat to Dilla." Phone messages from family weave in and out of the album, some of them now sober and asking the rapper to stop speaking of the past, but like the posters on the wall, they're just influences and milestones, as this feature-less album is filled to the brim with Logic, because with such insight, charm, honesty, and outlook, it absolutely should be. Likewise, "Under Pressure" is almost ten minutes long because that's what such a complex track deserves, embracing how the rapper's upswinging life is all tangles and contrasts, from a sister dealing with a post-rape life along with kids who hate her, and all while Logic is in danger of morphing into a fame-fed hypebeast ("I know that birthday, I missed it/I swear I told my assistant, butâ?¦."). Producer 6ix offers up fresh R&B ("Soul Food") and A$AP Mob-ish dream sequences ("Gang Related") while Logic goes whiz kid with his production on the pop-tacular highlight "Buried Alive." Even if this ambitious album is extremely busy with genre-hops, segues, sampled voices, and interludes popping up, it isn't cluttered, as if blueprints and album outlines were thoroughly discussed and tested, probably with executive producer No I.D.'s final approval. Just like Kendrick's stunning Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, Under Pressure is an autobiographical and odds-beating debut that arrives more fully formed than expected. Maybe all those mixtapes were all called Young Sinatra because the best was yet to come. ~ David Jeffries

Product Details

Release Date:	12/15/2014
Label:	Def Jam
UPC:	0602547123619
Rank:	5098

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Intro
2. Soul Food
3. I'm Gone
4. Gang Related
5. Buried Alive
6. Bounce

Disc 2

7. Growing Pains III
8. Never Enough
9. Metropolis
10. Nikki
11. Under Pressure
12. Till the End

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Logic   Primary Artist
Big Sean   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Tom Lea   Viola,Violin
Kevin Randolph   Bass,Piano,Synthesizer,Synthesizer Pads
Steve Wyreman   Bass,Organ,Piano,Guitar,Synthesizer
PAttYCraSH   Vocals
Ben Schwier   Organ,Piano
Josh Lippi   Bass
Dylan   Synthesizer
Terrace Martin   Saxophone
Childish Gambino   Featured Artist
Claire Courchene   Cello
Camille "Ill Camille" Davis   Vocals
The Frontrunnaz   Vocals
Zhen Liu   Keyboards
Anna Elyse Palchikoff   Spoken Word
Big Lenbo   Handwriting
Cheryl Tan   Vocals
Jessica Andrea   Vocals

Technical Credits

Andre Young   Composer
P. Williams   Composer
Bernie Worrell   Composer
Bootsy Collins   Composer
D. Cunningham   Composer
D. Perkins   Composer
D. Thornton   Composer
Lawrence Parker   Composer
E. Wright   Composer
Leesa D. Brunson   A&R
Leon Ware   Composer
Pharrell Williams   Composer
S1   Producer
Robert Mellin   Composer
Narada Michael Walden   Composer
Travis Stewart   Composer
Dun Deal   Producer
P. Brown   Composer
George Clinton   Composer
Guy Wood   Composer
Frank Dukes   Composer
Rob Kinelski   Mixing,Composer,Additional Production
Rob Knox   Producer
DJ Khalil   Producer
Norman Whiteside   Composer
Andre Benjamin   Composer
Kevin Randolph   Composer
Kebu   Producer
Dr. Dre   Composer
Tyrone Davis   A&R
Logic   Producer,Additional Production
Robin Saville   Composer
Arthur Ross   Composer
Steve Wyreman   Composer,Additional Production
J. Dutton   Composer
R. Murray   Composer
D. Glover   Composer
Scott Mescudi   Composer
Rico Wade   Composer
J. McArthur   Composer
Robin Tadross   Composer
David Kutch   Mastering
Eric Wright   Composer
Abrim Tilmon   Composer
Dawud West   Art Coordinator
Evan Mast   Composer
Chris Atlas   Marketing
C-Sick   Additional Production
Patrick Brown   Composer
Lorenzo Patterson   Composer
M-Phazes   Producer
Michael Stroud   Composer
Steve Thornton   Composer
Antwan Patton   Composer
T. Stewart   Composer
Eric Weissman   Music Clearance
Tai Linzie   Art Coordinator
Christopher Thornton-Holmes   Composer
Bobby Campbell   Mixing,Engineer
Raymon Murray   Composer
Donald Glover   Composer
DJ Dahi   Producer
Jacob Dutton   Composer
Andy Proctor   Package Production
Skhye Hutch   Additional Production
Sean Anderson   Composer
Larry Griffin, Jr.   Composer
No I.D.   Executive Producer
Praveen Sharma   Composer
Sam Spratt   Artwork
Claire Courchene   Composer
M. Stroud   Composer
Jeremy McArthur   Composer
David Baker   Mixing Assistant
Nick Mahar   Photography,Booklet Design
Dacoury Natche   Composer
Casey Cuayo   Mixing Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Mark Landon   Composer
Noah Preston   A&R
Tae Beast   Producer
Donte Perkins   Composer
Keith R. Tucker   A&R
David Cunningham   Composer
Brittany Mansfield   A&R
Arjun Ivatury   Composer,Executive Producer
Chris Zarou   Executive Producer
Jonathan Benavente   Photography,Booklet Design
Sir Robert Bryson Hall II   Composer,Executive Producer
Alkebulan Williams   Composer
Anthony Christopher Ryan   Composer
Diondria Thornton   Composer
Khalil Abdul-Rahman   Composer
6ix   Producer,Additional Production