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Bobby Tarantino II:

The sequel is always worse

By Brad Trevenen, Staff Writer

03/20/2018

Logic, Maryland rapper and all-around people person, is back as his alter, Bobby Tarantino, for a 13-track follow up mixtape, “Bobby Tarantino II,” following the first in 2016. The mixtape is the seventh of his career, and features notable artists 2 Chainz, Big Sean, and Wiz Khalifa, and is almost entirely produced by 6ix.

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Bobby Tarantino is one of three of Logic’s personas over his career. And, as the name alludes to Quentin Tarantino, whose films tend not to hold back violence or spectacle of any kind, Bobby doesn’t hold back either, delivering flows that are both rapid and vapid.

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Logic/Bobby has a reputation of biting flows from other popular artists, like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, as well as other artists’ stylistic choices, such as A Tribe Called Quest’s tour guide, Kanye’s “Amazing” drum beat, and G.O.O.D. Music’s “Mercy” sample. And with “Bobby Tarantino II” come a whole new round of aesthetic thefts.

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On tracks “Contra,” “BoomTrap Protocol,” and “Wizard of Oz,” Logic recreates Travis Scott’s autotuned aesthetic. Logic sings on “Wizard of Oz,” “I am too diverse to stay in one lane.” The great irony here is that Logic’s own lane/style/aesthetic is so defined by others that it’s arguable he never had one. Additionally, “Indica Badu” uses the same drum pattern as “Metropolis,” which is a track from Logic’s “Under Pressure” debut, but which was borrowed from Lamar’s “Sing About Me I’m Dying of Thirst,” released two years prior.

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On “Wassup,” Logic directly mentions J. Cole in verse 2, which also contains two allusions to “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”: “call me Syre like Jaden, fool / uh, that’s the power of Will / Yeah, that’s the power I Phil,” and “Big boy money Uncle Phil here / only fresh “prints” in my pocket.” It’s important to note that J. Cole has a relatively well known first line on his song, “No Role Modelz,” where he says, “First things first rest in peace Uncle Phil.” “Wassap,” the eleventh track on the album, also features Big Sean, whose feature is ironic since Big Sean is no stranger to borrowing small aesthetic concepts from other rappers’ bars. Although, Sean’s flow is a welcome break from Logic’s, as Logic’s delivery goes unchanged for the mixtape’s runtime, coming off at the very least as monotone, and at the worst as grating.

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When Logic isn’t busy finding another artist to be inspired-by/idea-thieve, he, as Bobby Tarantino, is still pedaling his mantra, “peace love and positivity” to the masses, who seem to be excusing the massive amount of underwriting on this tape. Sure, it’s trap, but some of the tracks have more chorus than verse, and many of them end in instrumental outros to drag on a song like “Yuck,” which only has one 29-bar verse, to the near 3-minute mark. On “State of Emergency,” Logic reminds his audience of their multiplication tables, “kill em with kindness you too weak like 7x2.” And others, are just completely devoid of anything that isn’t said elsewhere on the album. For example, “Everyday” is failed electro-pop-hop cut seemingly done just to feature a friend – in this case, producer Marshmello.

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But in the middle of this artistic wasteland, there is a lone oasis. “Warm It Up,” the eighth track of the album features Logic’s old persona, “Young Sinatra,” who, by comparison, is the sober, hungry, and legitimately aggressive version of Bobby Tarantino. Though brief, Sinatra raps several clever one liners. Earlier in the song: “pass the Mary Jane like I’m running a train with Peter Parker / I have more sex in the city than Sarah Jessica Parker.” And later in the song: “claiming you really about this shit / You got your Jim Carrey on – Liar Liar; I might crucify ya […] I am the God of this shit.” And much like God, Logic rested on the seventh mixtape.

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