Louis Logic

by Stewart MasonLouis Logic's carefully constructed public persona is that of a drunken fool with an Afro of truly majestic proportions and a history of unsuccessful relationships with women; if Nick Hornby ever wrote a novel about an underground hip-hop star, the main character would pretty much be Louis Logic, down to his self-consciously ironic choice of stage name. Underneath the persona, however, Louis Logic is a sharp-witted MC and songwriter whose rhymes blend clever comedy and rueful commentary about interpersonal and social concerns. Raised in the small town of West Babylon, Long Island (his bio claims that he's black and Puerto Rican, raised by an adoptive Italian family), Logic was first introduced to hip-hop by U.T.F.O.'s epochal "Roxanne, Roxanne" and further influenced by fellow Long Island natives De La Soul and their Native Tongues compatriots A Tribe Called Quest. While in college at Penn State University, Logic fell in with a DJ and aspiring producer named J.J. Brown, and then a prolific underground hip-hop duo called the Jedi Mind Tricks. Logic's first release was the 12" single "Trinity" with Jedi Mind Tricks in 1998, quickly followed by a series of singles under his own name and collaborations with DJ Next, 7L, the 1Shanti, Grand Agent, and Rahsheed. Most of these were eventually collected on a self-released underground mixtape called Music to Drink By: A Collection of Loosies and Exclusives in 2000. Logic then went on to form a side project with Checkmark and Mister Jason called the Brews Brothers and began an ongoing collaboration with the Demigodz, along with a seemingly endless number of guest raps on other acts' singles. Following a second mixtape, 2002's Debacle in a Bottle, Logic finally released his first proper solo album, Sin-a-Matic, in 2003. After that album, which was largely but not exclusively produced by college friend J.J. Brown, the rapper and producer formed a full partnership; Logic's second album, 2006's romance-oriented Misery Loves Comedy, was credited to Louis Logic and J.J. Brown.