Vinyl Days

“Wanna know why I retired?” Logic asks on “BLACKWHITEBOY.” “’Cause I was uninspired.” Fair enough. But if it was inspiration that brought the Gaithersburg MC back to the booth after a nearly year-long pause to record his seventh and self-proclaimed “final” studio album for Def Jam, it likely came from some outside help. Vinyl Days features guest verses from Action Bronson, Curren$y, Russ, Wiz Khalifa, Royce da 5’9, RZA, AZ, and The Game (among others), along with voice notes from Aaron Judge, JJ Abrams, Michael Rapaport, Tony Revolori, NEMS, Earl Sweatshirt, Rainn Wilson, and Lena Waithe. The bars are here—it is a Logic album, after all—along with heaps of gratitude (“Decades”), stories about his life pre-fame (“Bleed It”), a deep exploration of his relationship with music critic Anthony Fantano (“LaDonda”), showcases for lesser-known MCs (“Kickstyle,” “Introducing Nezi”), and even a heartfelt plea for Madlib to return to rapping (“Quasi”). But the biggest takeaway from Vinyl Days is that Logic is friends with a lot of talented people. And it was important to have them all by his side when he came back to rap.