Hip-hop is defined by character. Tupac, Biggie, Snoop, and LL Cool J all were icons to the world due to that element of character. Sadly, hip-hop is dry on character these days. While there’s a plethera of great artists, even great people…we seem to be lacking the individual who has the charisma, the candor, and that b-boy grace to represent our foundation beyond just the music. Louis Logic is as good a canidate of this as any. While his debut album, Sin-A-Matic, officially drops this week, Lou has been putting in visable work for years. He has collaborated with many artists from yesteryear’s unerground that are finally getting recognition. Logic has also bounced around the northeast until finally returning to his Big Apple homeland, where he lives and drinks. Lou’s exciting life and dynamic past truly make what he has to say, worth hearing. That fore-mentioned character is very prevalent in this interview. With his signature subtle humor, the great storytelling rapper, tells Allhiphop a few stories that help make order out of Logic’s chaotic past. Allhiphop: Talk about your growing up, I know it wasn’t easy. Louis Logic: I’m originally from Long Island. My pop was an NYPD cop in Harlem. When he retired, he wanted to move back to a real small town where he was from. It was close to Lock Haven [Pennsylvania]. This is about ’88. I went to high school [there] from ninth grade to eleventh. That’s pretty much where all the drama took place. Allhiphop: What sense of hip-hop did you already have before out to the sticks? LL: Truthfully, it all started because of skateboarding, which I took up when I was about ten. I skated for ten years and did that whole thing. I was actually on a team called Number 9, from Long Island. They now make all the boards for Zoo York. I had a best friend. We were like the two mutts out of the crew. Because we were both mixed [racially]. He skated and rhymed. We’d go out and skate for the day, get all tired and pooped out, sitting on the curb, thinking we were little bad a####, smoking cigarettes and sh*t, drinking beer outta paper bags. He’d spit for me, and I was so impressed. Because he could freestyle and I never heard anything like that before. So, oroginally, I was just a listener, but he’d coax me into doing it. Because freestyling gets lonely by yourself. I would try here and there. This kid’s name was Charlie Tucker, and I’d really like to thank him. He essentially, personally, taught me how to rhyme. Allhiphop: Did the racism and adversity you would later face when you moved, push you further into rhyming and hip-hop? LL: There was a time when I wanted to fit in. I tried to fit in. I tried to get the clothes that those kids wore and stuff like that. I wouldn’t nessecarily say that it changed my listening habits or anything. Because that was all personal stuff. When I first showed up there, I had Caberiches on, and black Adidas sneakers with whjite stripes. And an I.O.U. sweater, very Long Island. They were all freaked out by this. They didn’t know what to think. Most of them, because of fear or what, they were really really mean to me. I got into a lot of fights. It was not an uncommon thing to walk down the hallway and hear, "N#####" behind me. My dad actually started driving the school bus, cause he was bored – retirement will do that to you. My dad had to kick me off the bus because I punched this kid in the face cause he said, "How far do I have to chase a n##### to get these shoes?" Those black Adidas. Crazy sh*t like that happened to me on a regular basis. Allhiphop: Did that struggle draw you in further? LL: Yeah, I understand what you’re saying. Yeah I would say that it did have an influence on my me getting more involved in urban music and just generally into Black culture. Because I didn’t know much about it before that. And I didn’t really have any Black friends. My neighborhood was real Italian. I started to develop this shell like, "f*ck these guys, I’m proud to be who I am." Ican put up with a lot of sh*t about being Black. It became a more serious thing to me. And urban music, styles of dress, hairstyles, everything it became my guard against that. The more they pushed at me – the more I was like, "sh*t, I’m a Malcolm X n*gga, I like sh*t like that!" I started getting into reading about Black history, and writing more rhymes and stuff. Buying all Black music, Black designers. It got pretty serious to the point where my mom and dad were kinda freaked out by it for a little bit. They were trying to be good about it. They didn’t understand what was happening. I wrote something in my liner notes, "I want to thank my mom and dad for adopting me and allowing me to experiment as extensively as I have to find my voice." There was a long time where I didn’t know what to think of myself. Because I am mixed, and I was adopted. Allhiphop: Then onto college which sent you on your path meeting Chops and all ? LL: Definitley. College was the best thing that I ever did, seriously. I mean prior to making this album. Because this [album] is the most important thing to me I’ve ever done. Music has become everything to me in life. But yeah, if it wasn’t for college, I don’t think I would’ve gotten into recording music. Allhiphop: The sound of your record is very unique. How did you plan it out? LL: I tried to make a record that would be a soundtrack to your life. Whatever time period you’re in, you would […]
