https://twitter.com/TheRattPack301/status/783049535539077120
Logic’s caused a stir with the title for his upcoming project, creating a conversation in the process. While as a guest on Dan Harmon’s Harmontown podcast, he announced that his next release would be titled AfricAryan in a widely circulated clip.
“It’s about me being black and white and seeing life from two sides,” he explained of the LP, slated for 2017. “And once again about that cultural evolution and how you can go from the darkest of skin to the lightest of skin.”
AfricAryaN and the concept behind may very well be valid, but we may as well go ahead and acknowledge two things. One, Logic doesn’t sound like he understands what the phrase “cultural evolution” means. Two, the word “Aryan” is a trigger here. Like many on Twitter, the always outspoken OG Maco picked up on the latter term and shared his perspective in a series of tweets.
“Like the Aryan Nation?” he wrote. “Fam I know you don’t like being black but f*ck. The word ‘Aryan’ is used almost exclusively as a rally cry for the ‘pure blood’ superior white race theory. I think it’s a [shit] title. Don’t want ANYONE to call me a hater or skew my words and say I’m calling him a racist, I just think it’s a poor title choice for the times.”
Point well stated. Statements like Maco’s and the social media blowback apparently have Team Logic re-thinking the title. Currently, they’re reportedly pulling back and calling it a working title with “nothing…solidified yet.”
I don’t know what it means to be bi-racial in America. But, I have a buddy who is and we’ve had convos here and there about how uncomfortable situations regarding race can become for him. He’s just as disgusted by Trump’s rhetoric as most other Americans. Certain elements of Black Live Matters rhetoric make his shoulders rise in apprehension. Like Logic, he’s able to see both sides of the equation and attempting to juggle both can be exhausting.
The one thing I try to keep in mind is Logic truly lives and breathes his art. His work tends to be structured around themes and storylines. In another clip, he explains what drove each of his first LPs and the driving force behind the next project. The first album was his story as Little Bobby, while his sophomore release captured where he was in life at the time. According to him, this third album will be him rapping from outside of himself, taking on the personas and perceptions of “all these bi-racial people in the world.”
Previously, he previewed a portion of a verse for Rolling Stone where he tried to put into words the tension that makes up his world.
“I feel the Aryan in my blood is scarier than a Blood
Been lookin’ for holy water, now I’m prayin’ for a flood
Feel like time passin’ me by slower than a slug
But my beautiful black brothers and sisters wanna act like I’m adopted
Go back in time when my n**** daddy impregnated my cracker momma and stopped it”
https://twitter.com/TheRattPack301/status/783040099768471552
It’s not a pretty picture. But, neither is Logic’s personal history with his parents, specifically his mom, which he’s talked about in depth in previous material.
In my mind, Logic’s attempting to speak for people like himself and my friend. The ones who have a more colorful family tree than the rest of us. It’s a tree whose branches don’t always grow and exist in harmony. There are a lot of people who consider themselves bi-racial and studies show that number is increasing yearly. And, maybe in their case, no one really is articulating their American experience.
I don’t know if Logic can be the one to put their experience into words but I’m keeping an open mind and ears to hear what he has to say because the the 26-year-old MC usually manages to make a point with every body of work he produces. That said, he should focus on making his statements in his bars and hooks instead of trying to pass off an album title that has people already judging a book by its cover.
