Logic’s “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” Falls Short of Expectations

On Friday, May 10, Maryland rapper Logic dropped his fifth studio album titled “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.” It detailed the effects of social media and fame on today’s society. While this premise sounds promising and would deliver an interesting perspective, the album unfortunately falls short of this. Logic’s lyrics rarely go beyond scratching the surface of how social media affects people and does not bring up too many new ideas. Lines like, “All these comments got me lost in my mind / all these comments that I’m having are not mine / I always post that I’m having a good time / So my life looks perfect online,” certainly ring true for many people but are very simple and surface level. Additionally, lines like these are about as deep as Logic goes into the topic of social media influence which makes for underwhelming and disappointing songs.

Logic is definitely at his best when he talks his fame and life as a public figure. Typically, artists in the hip hop genre are widely known for talking about their fame and wealth in boastful manner, Logic is certainly not an exception to that with lines like. “Ain’t God, but I’m rich and I think that I am.” However, Logic also provides a very refreshing and very authentic perspective about what it is like to be famous and constantly be in the spotlight on the main single, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.” Logic raps about how it feels to have his work torn apart every time he releases a project and the pressure of constantly searching for hits. He cautions those hoping for fame that being famous is not everything it is cut out to be. Logic also connects the negative attention to the widespread problem of drug abuse, specifically among rappers, saying how many turn to self-medication when dealing with hate gets difficult. Logic’s lyrics really seem to come from the heart on this song and paint a powerful and realistic picture of what it is like to be famous. The track, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” is definitely the stand out track from the album, but unfortunately does not represent the rest of album well.

Many of the songs on the album lack real substance and feel like rushed attempts to get a hit song. The fact that Logic was able to make songs with genuine and thoughtful lyrics makes the other weaker songs all the more disappointing. Songs like “Still Ballin,” “Icy,” and “Commando,” sound so generic and they almost feel like parodies of rap. Additionally, they do not really have that strong of a melody or catchiness to them. The inconsistency in the album is the main drawback of the project and makes it difficult to determine what Logic was trying to create. At times, it seems that Logic is making a genuine attempt to make serious songs about mental health and social media whereas other songs feel like careless attempts to popular hit song. This project had the potential to be a significant album that stood out from the rest and dealt sincerely with mental health. However the end result was an album that came out as just mediocre. The quality seems to reflect rushed work on Logic’s part. Given the artist already recently released an album back in September 2018 and finished a novel along with a soundtrack for the book in March, it seems like Logic’s attention and energy were divided elsewhere. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was a rather disappointing album, but was not completely void of certain enjoyable parts and was at least a step in the right direction for talking about mental health.