Before I came to the University of Maryland about a year and a half ago, I knew it was time for me to embrace an artist that I had long been sleeping on. Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, better known as Logic, is somewhat of a god among DMV-area rap fans as a Gaithersburg native, yet he had never particularly piqued my interest as a listener. I truly tried to get into his music and learned to appreciate his machine-gun flow and ability to ride just about any beat created in the history of the universe. However, it just always felt like something was missing — some sort of substance to elevate Logic into that hierarchy of rap’s elite. I thought that Under Pressure, Logic’s 2014 studio album, would be the catalyst to do so, but it still left me wanting more. It was too safe, just solid raps sure to be eaten up by his cult following and receive relatively positive critic reviews. Logic needed something ambitious, an out-of-the-ordinary attempt to show the doubters he deserves the unwavering praise he often receives. That comes to us in the form of his sophomore album, The Incredible True Story.

Clocking in at just more than an hour, The Incredible True Story’s 18 tracks take the listener on a post-Earth outer-space odyssey during which two men are searching for an inhabitable planet called Paradise. It’s clear that Logic is attempting something that he never has, interweaving a sort of short film through the album a la Kendrick Lamar. This is Logic’s chance to have his name bounced around in your top-five conversation. 

After “Contact,” an intro track that drags on for just a little bit too long at two minutes and 43 seconds, we finally hear Logic’s voice on “Fade Away.” On the song’s hook, Logic repeats a catchy mantra: “Fade away, fade away/ They gon’ know my name until it fade away.” This album is what will keep his name from reaching the end point of the chorus’s prophecy. He’s progressing as an artist, and after this album, his buzz will extend far past the DMV. With replay value and lyrical substance, “Fade Away” provides the standout start the album requires — plagued only by the lengthy intro that precedes it.

However, it’s not until track five, “Like Woah,” that the album hits its full-Usain Bolt-in-Beijing stride. Over a beautiful beat brought forth by Logic and his longtime producer, 6ix, the rapper delivers a groovy vibe-laden flow that instantly warrants a singalong. “Young Jesus” comes next, the album’s lead single featuring Big Lenbo that begins with Logic saying, “This that ’95 shit right here. Take ‘em back to the ’90s!” And he does as the song oozes an uncanny ’90s New York hip-hop sound, begging to be played via boombox on a Brooklyn stoop. Big Lenbo’s brash, Action Bronson-esque lyrics perfectly mesh with the gritty beat, and Logic even provides a wonderful endorsement for safe sex: “Still can’t believe I didn’t get a shorty pregnant/ Man, that’s the definition of a life sentence.”

The ultimate ability of Logic shines through on tracks like “Innermission” and “Paradise,” where he combines his rapid lyrical style with deep, honest storytelling. On “Innermission,” Logic’s pain lingers in lines that mention friends in prison or a childhood tarnished by his parents’ substance abuse. Both have a sort of good kid, m.A.A.d city “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” feel, a culmination of a lifetime of unanswered questions and suffering transformed into song. If each of the 18 tracks could manifest this same combination of truth and rhyme, The Incredible True Story would go down as an instant classic. He’s not quite there yet, but a foundation for greatness has been comfortably laid by Logic, for Logic.

Admittedly, it wasn’t until the album’s final song, “The Incredible True Story” that I came to realize I really did enjoy it. A short, simple line caught my ear and stuck out as the reason why Logic had finally won me over as a fan: “Created a world no one has been to/ Everything that I’m into.” Though the album has its flaws, Logic’s originating an entire universe in one album is certainly not one of them. His success in doing so is evident in the fact that I have a clear mental image of this world he has forged, a perceived vision of each element involved, from the two main space explorers to the planet called Paradise. Hopefully there’s enough room on our planet for another Logic fan, as The Incredible True Story is the ambitious album I needed to become a believer.