Everyone loves a good underdog story. All throughout history we are told of heroic tales where unlikely individuals defy all odds to achieve greatness. From classics like David and Goliath, to modern tales like Frodo Baggins and The Lord of the Rings, “long shots” have always been admired throughout society. With this being said, the life of Sir Robert Bryson Hall 2nd (Logic) is no exception.
Just as many aspiring artist start out, Logic was brought up through harsh living conditions. Born in Gaithersburg, Maryland, he spent much of his youth in West Deer Park, where nearly a quarter of the residents lived below the poverty line. Going along with this, Logic was also faced with a tragic home life. Both of his parents struggled with alcohol and cocaine addiction, while also witnessing his brothers produce and distribute crack cocaine throughout his neighborhood and even to his own father. Faced with the constant struggles of his personal life, Logic began neglecting school and skipping class, which ultimately led to his expulsion from Gaithersburg High during the 10th grade. Commenting on being expelled, Logic stated that he felt as though the school system had “given up on him.” At the age of 16, this is what drove him to begin actively pursing a career in music.
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He had originally discovered his passion for rap and hip hop music a few years prior to being expelled from school through the movie Kill Bill: Vol. 1. The Quentin Tarantino film (who is still to this day his favorite director) featured a score produced by RZA, a member of the popular rap group, Wu-Tang-Clan. This inspired Logic to begin listening to group, which rapidly developed a passion for hip hop for him. After growing more infatuated by rap music through other artists like The Roots, one of his close friends and mentors, Solomon Taylor, persuaded him to begin listening to instrumental CD’s to write lyrics over. Through doing this, Logic eventually work his way to the stage in 2009.
While doing so, he performed under the stage name “Psychologic.” When asked years later what made him choose this for his name, stated “I just loved this word because it was about the mind and I knew that’s what I wanted my music to consist of; something that really challenges the mind.” This lead him to releasing his first unofficial mixtape, which was titled Psychological – Logic: The Mixtape. Upon the mixtapes release, Logic’s career as a rap/hip hop artist began. Through 2009 he received work as an opening act for famous artist performing in Maryland, including; Ludacris, Method Man, Pittbull, and a variety of other musicians.
He slowly began to develop a following/fan base through performing at these concerts, and worked his way to releasing his first official mixtape in December of 2010, Young, Broke & Infamous. The mixtape received high ratings among critics as well as fans, and was confirmed to have been download over 250,000 times on popular music sharing sites. Through the success of his first mixtape’s release, Logic was contacted by Chris Zarou, the president of Visionary Music Group, and eventually signed to the independent label. Logic has spoken on multiple accounts on how he wanted to sign with a label that was independent in order to obtain success on his own, so that, when he does sign with a major label he would have the authority/credibility to do it exactly the way that he wanted. With his first mixtape in the books and a label now behind him, Logic began his rapid rise to stardom.
Hip Hop's Sinatra 