Louis Logic

Since leaving supergroup Demigodz, Brooklyn rapper Louis Logic has continued to experiment with his music, and his newest album is his most ambitious yet. Seven years have passed since his last studio effort, and during that time Logic studied voice, piano and music theory — and it shows. This totally self-produced album includes a lot of live instrumentation, especially piano, as well as the use of instruments and samples not normally a component of hip hop beats: wood blocks and doo-wop singing. The sound of indie rap as filtered through warped children's music is a great match for Fake Four Inc, with Logic's singing on "Bet the Farm" and elsewhere sounding similar to that of label head Ceschi, while his high-speed raps on "Chip off the Old Blog" sound like an attempt to give Busdriver a run for his fast-rap money. With a delivery that includes singing, fast raps and a more traditional flow, he remains interesting over the album's ten tracks despite the lack of featured guests. Logic's lyrics contain a lot of wit and self-deprecating humour, which help to lighten the mood somewhat on songs about rap career difficulties ("A Day Late and a Dollar Short"), bullying ("Big Fish Eat the Little Fish"), apathy and defeat ("Look on the Blight Side") and even a diss to a former producer on "Chip Off the Old Blog." With Look on the Blight Side, Louis Logic has turned out a quality product that displays both humour and horror as it pokes, prods and pushes at the boundaries of what is commonly accepted in hip hop.