We’ve Got A File On You features interviews in which artists share the stories behind the extracurricular activities that dot their careers: acting gigs, guest appearances, random internet ephemera, etc.

Bobby “Logic” Hall, 34, has carved out a unique path as one of hip-hop’s most doggedly individual and trend-averse stars over the last 15 years. The biracial son of an alcoholic and a cocaine addict, Hall grew up in Gaithersburg, Maryland and was expelled from high school in the 10th grade. He uploaded his first mixtape to the internet as a teenager, and within a couple years, his Young Sinatra mixtape series attracted a devoted online following, dubbed the RattPack. Logic signed to rap’s most storied label, Def Jam, and even without any radio airplay, 2014’s Under Pressure and 2015’s sci-fi concept album The Incredible True Story both debuted in the top five of the Billboard 200 and eventually went platinum.

Logic made the jump from a cult artist with a large, passionate fanbase to a major star in 2017 with the release of his third album Everybody. The single “1-800-273-8255,” featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid, was named after the phone number of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Peaking at #3 on the Hot 100, the unlikely pop radio smash was written from the perspective of somebody wrestling with suicidal thoughts, and was nominated for two Grammys. Everybody was the first of three Logic albums to top the Billboard 200, and he scored another major Hot 100 hit by holding his own with Eminem on 2019’s speed-rapping showcase “Homicide.”

Becoming a major-label rapper who made earnest songs about mental health issues and his own racial identity turned Logic into a crossover star with many famous fans, as well as a divisive figure on the same rap internet where he’d built his career. A few years ago, Logic decided to log off from the internet permanently and let his management update his social media channels when he releases music. “There was a point where I was getting like a million views per Instagram story and posting like 10 of ’em a day, just going going going, feeding the beast,” Logic says. “And then I realized it was extremely exhausting, and it also wasn’t worth it.”

In 2020, Logic released No Pressure, a sequel to Under Pressure that he said would be his final album. His retirement didn’t last long, and he resumed releasing albums and mixtapes just a year later. But Logic moved to Oregon, where he now lives with his wife and two sons, and remains prolific and unplugged from the internet. 2022’s Vinyl Days was his final album for Def Jam, and he now releases music independently through his own Three Oh One Productions, named for Gaithersburg’s 301 area code.

The first time I interviewed Logic was in 2017. We spoke on the morning that Everybody was released, just before his career entered the fast lane. At the time, Logic had planned for his next album to be Ultra 85, continuing the futuristic narrative about astronauts Thomas and Kai that had been introduced on The Incredible True Story and Everybody.

This week, I called Logic at home in Oregon and we caught up for a We’ve Got A File On You just as he was about to finally release Ultra 85, several years after shelving the project. (It’s out this Friday.) After riding a rollercoaster of fame, Logic is living a simpler life but still rapping and embarking on ambitious ventures in film and publishing. “I’m talking to you on 80 acres in the middle of nowhere,” he says, “happy as fuck.”

Ultra 85 (2024)

So the last time we talked was the day Everybody was released. And I believe that in that album’s liner notes, you had a coded message that announced that the next album would be called Ultra 85 and would continue the story.

LOGIC: Yeah, in the Ulterian language, yes.

So we’re just now finally getting Ultra 85 seven years and several albums later. Why did it end up taking so long?

LOGIC: I think I just didn’t feel like it. I was gonna do it, and then it just became this thing where I was like, “Y’know what? I don’t think I wanna do that next, I think I’d rather do more of a concept of the state of mainstream media in hip-hop.” So if you listen to the album that came after that, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, that was fun, because I was kind of playing different characters. And then after that, I ended up doing No Pressure. And so somewhere in between all of that shit, I’ve been working on Ultra that whole time. But then I think it became this lore for my fans, it became even bigger than what I had thought, y’know, where they were expecting it and they wanted it.

And then in my mind, I was like, “Well, shit, I don’t wanna do it.” I don’t wanna do something just because people want it, which I know sounds crazy, and I don’t mean that in any negligent way as far as my fans. But if I’m not ready to put my all into something, then why would I do it? And I really love this album, because it’s a true farewell to this era in my life. From the kid that was coming up in the basement to this. This is the most Logic album you’re gonna get from me. If you love Logic you’re gonna love it, and if you hate Logic you’re gonna hate it. It’s almost like opening up a journal of the last 15 years of my life, basically, and kind of putting a button on all the things, a button on the story of Thomas and Kai. After this, I’m just gonna be making beats and just doing whatever. I’m working on an album with Seth MacFarlane so that’ll be fun. But yeah, so long story short, why did it take so long? Because I didn’t feel like it [laughs].

I like that the album opens with a nine-minute song, “Paul Rodriguez.” It feels like you didn’t hold anything back, it’s very unrestrained, you just go for it.

LOGIC: It’s cool that you think that, too, because there was a part of me that was like “Shit, is this too much?” And then I was like “Man, who gives a shit?” That’s really where I’ve been at mentally, and as an artist. Like what does it matter? I’m the artist, here’s the art, you like it, you don’t, you take it, you leave it. Once you put your art into the world it’s not yours anymore, and you have to accept that. It took me a very, very, very long time to not just accept but to understand that.

The song “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” uses the question of what’s your favorite Tarantino movies to talk about your own life, and you’ve referenced his work a lot over the years along with the Bobby Tarantino mixtapes series. Have you ever met Quentin Tarantino?

LOGIC: Nah, I’ve never met him, I’ve never heard from him. On The Incredible True Story, the prequel to this, Thomas and Kai are having conversations, and one of the things they ask is, “What do you think Logic’s favorite Tarantino movie is?” And that in and of itself has become this big question, for 10 years, everywhere I go, every concert, every backstage, every Comic-Con I go to, fans are always like “What is it, which one is it?” So it was really awesome for me to finally give them this.

Acting In Kevin Smith’s The 4:30 Movie And Making His Own Directorial Debut, Paradise Records (2024)

Kevin Smith is kind of a contemporary of Tarantino, and he put you in the movie he has coming out in September, and is producing your directorial debut. How did you get to know him?

LOGIC: He followed me on Instagram in like 2019, and that was the year I got off the Internet. Three years later, I switched management and one of my managers went through my DMs, basically dusted off the cobwebs, and was like, “Yo, Kevin Smith DMed you and sent his number, look what it says.” And it was him basically being like “Yo, I want you in the new Jay and Silent Bob movie.” And I was like “What?” and I had like a panic attack, I couldn’t believe it. I was like fuck, I missed that opportunity, what the fuck. And then I texted him, and then we just became homies. On my last album I did a song called “Highlife” and sent it to him, it’s basically about smoking weed. I jokingly was like “You should do the music video,” and he was like “I’m in!” And then the next thing I knew we’re on set.

We just would talk and really connected on mental health and personal happiness and growth. And then before I knew it, he called me and was like “You wanna be in The 4:30 Movie?” And I was like “Okay, yeah, I would love that, Kevin Smith, fuck yeah.” And then I went and I did it, and it was a really wonderful experience, and I’d always wanted to get into film. And then one night after we filmed for 4:30, he was like, “Yo, man, you should do this. You’re really good at it. Just do it yourself, man. Put the money in it, star in it, write it, direct it, just do it.” And I was like, “You know what, if Kevin Smith is telling me this shit, I should probably do it.”

And Kevin Smith was one of the main guys in independent film in the ’90s who really inspired a lot of other people with the idea that they could just get a camera, get their friends together and make a movie. So it’s perfect that Kevin Smith was personally the guy that encouraged you to do it.

LOGIC: I agree. I’m jokingly saying it’s “half-Black Friday.” It’s called Paradise Records, and it’s about a guy who is losing his record store and owes the bank and has to figure out how to save his shop. It’s very dialogue-driven, but there’s also some really awesome intense scenes, a bank robbery, shootouts, crazy shit, I got a really wonderful cast of people. I’ve had a wild rolodex my whole career, and I’ve never asked anybody for nothing ’cause I just don’t. It was Kevin Smith that had to kick my ass and be like, “Just ask your friends to be in your movie, the worst case is they’ll say no.” So I was like, okay, so I just called a lot of heavy hitters and they all said yeah, and I can’t believe it, so it’s really awesome.

Partnering With Rubik’s Cube (2023)

You’re famous for being able to solve a Rubik’s Cube while rapping, there’s a whole bunch of viral videos and interviews where you’ve done this over the last 10 years. You officially became a brand ambassador for Rubik’s Cube last year, and I’m surprised that didn’t happen sooner. I assume you were on their radar well before that?

LOGIC: Y’know, I actually don’t know, I never asked them that. That’s a good question. I just think it’s really cool that they just saw that I genuinely love this thing from my heart. That’s why I thought it was such a cool partnership. When I was 24, I sat in a room for 14 hours until I learned how to solve the cube. There’s been a lot of things like that — I just did this Cowboy Bebop collaboration with the original artist who designed the whole show and all the characters, and it’s like, I just did that because I loved it. Back when I was coming up in hip-hop, people would say Rubik’s Cubes are lame or anime’s wack. And I was just like, alright, well fuck, I don’t care, I’m just gonna do what I love. It’s really kinda wonderful all these years later seeing those same people that I love and appreciate reach out and wanna work with me.

Making Instrumental Albums Under The Alias Peanuts (2022-Present)

You’ve always been involved in the production on your albums, usually with co-producers. But in just the past two years you’ve released six beat tapes as Peanuts. Did you just get really heavy into digging for samples and making loops?

LOGIC: I love to just sample, man. It’s really special, it’s something that’s allowed me to really just love music, because writing raps and shit all the time is kinda draining. I was just talking to J. Cole, that’s why I was a little late to this meeting, I apologize. We were talking about that love of hip-hop and reigniting that. And I found that in making beats. And I think there’s just something to be said about audio, you know what I mean? Telling stories through sonics and emotions and keys and frequencies that can make you literally feel something. So Peanuts has been a really really really special time in my life, and I’m also producing a few different people’s albums, some as Peanuts, some as Logic. Juicy J, one of his next albums, I produced the whole thing, and it’s basically some Dilla/Tribe vibes, but it’s just Juicy being Juicy, it’s like a really wonderful collision of worlds.

Juicy J’s “What Juicy Say? He Be Like ‘Shut The Fuck Up!'” Producer Tag (2019-present)

Speaking of Juicy J, he’s been using your voice as a tag on dozens of songs he’s produced over the past five years. I saw Juicy explain in an interview that you just said it in the studio one day while the mic was on and he just grabbed that clip and started putting it at the beginning of all these hit songs.

LOGIC: Yeah, I was just being funny one day, we were doing a song together, and he thought it was cool. I always love those stories when shit is just organic and you’re not trying and things just happen.

Yeah, the public hears rappers interact on record, but we very rarely get a window into what actually happens in a studio session. And no one would necessarily think you and Juicy J are good friends and have inside jokes, it’s fun to hear about.

LOGIC: Let me ask you a question, and I do not mean this any way, I genuinely would love to hear, because I agree with you: What would make you say that nobody would think that me and Juicy J are friends?

Well, he’s, what, 10 or 20 years older than you, and he’s from Memphis and you’re from Maryland, so you’re from different regions and different generations. And what’s cool about the producer tag is that it’s on all these records by people you haven’t worked with, so your voice is on a Young Dolph song, your voice is on a GloRilla song and a lot of Megan Thee Stallion songs, so he’s kind of put your voice in a new place.

LOGIC: I’m smiling so big, I love it. And I love how you see it, because I agree with you, but I just wanted to know your perspective.

And Three 6 Mafia were doing this dark aggressive crunk music so long before other people. So Juicy J is a cool rap uncle like Snoop, anybody could picture themselves hanging out with him, but you don’t necessarily think about who’s actually friends with Juicy J in real life.

LOGIC: I one thousand percent agree. That’s why it was so wonderful to do the album with J, because it was kind of like a love letter, in a way, to his career, because I’m sampling shit and doing shit that he wouldn’t necessarily do. So yeah, I’m excited for you to hear that.

South Park’s Parody Of “1-800-273-8255” (2017)

Obviously, “1-800” was a big moment for you. You performed it at the Grammys and the VMAs, and it was also parodied on South Park. I was a little surprised when I first watched it, because they can obviously go pretty dark with their humor, but it wasn’t that mean by their standards. It’s interesting to see what jokes people make when a song like that becomes a part of pop culture, and being made fun of on South Park is almost like an achievement in and of itself because they’ve roasted so many big stars.

LOGIC: Oh, I completely agree. I will say, that was one thing that kind of bummed me out, not that I got made fun of, I love that. I just felt that it was such a sensitive topic that I couldn’t necessarily rejoice in the fact that South Park made fun of it, just because at the time, it can be perceived as this extremely possibly insensitive gesture from me, if I was to be like “Oh my God, I’m on South Park!” and Cartman’s talking about killing himself. Now me personally, I think that’s even more awareness, you know what I mean? They’re kind of parodying it, it’s a joke about Cartman. But we don’t live in a rational world with people who can clearly understand jokes, because everybody wants to get pissed off at everything. So I was like, “I’m just gonna sit this one out,” if I’m being real with you. I really wanted to be like, “This is amazing,” but I care about this shit so much that I didn’t want it to be perceived [negatively].

When I spoke to you just after Everybody came out, we talked a bit about the fact that you’d had a couple of albums sell well without having a radio hit. And it didn’t seem like you had any idea that one of the songs on the album was going to be a big hit. You talked about being proud of touching on topics like suicide in the album, but it was not clear to you or me or anyone at that point that that song was going to be a breakthrough moment.

LOGIC: Nah, man, never in a million years did I think that that song was going to do what it did. And I’m actually really proud of it. Like you said, I’d had successful albums before, and for me, it was along the lines of, “I’m a hip-hop artist, I have some really loyal amazing fans, this is great.” I’d always hoped I’d have a hit. It’s funny, it was everything I wanted, but it wasn’t when or how I thought it was gonna happen.

And that opened the door and put so many eyes on me. So then I had more number ones, and a song with Eminem, and all this stuff, and it was great, but it was because of that. I’d actually gave up on playing that game. I tried, I’d gone to radio stations, I’d do all these things trying to pop, because I’m a kid who just wanted to be accepted and loved and be a superstar. And then literally, at the time, I was like, “I ain’t doin’ none of that shit.” And then the song comes out and it’s around the world.

Growing up in Gaithersburg, Maryland And Coming Up In The “Blog Era” Of Hip-Hop

Let’s talk about the beginning of your career, because you grew up in Gaithersburg, Maryland, a place no famous rapper had every come from before you. And you built your fanbase online through blogs and mixtape sites at a time when a whole lot of rappers were starting to do that, from Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller to Wale and J. Cole. Now that people actually talk about the late 2000s and early 2010s as “the blog era” and are nostalgic about it, do you look back and feel like it was a special thing to be part of as an artist?

LOGIC: Oh, without question, yeah. I was at the forefront of the internet. There’s a whole generation, kids who are now in high school, that were babies, literally, when me and those guys were doing all that shit. And I got the best of both worlds. I know what it’s like to take two buses in the snow and walk half a mile to an FYE or a Target to go buy an album. I know what that’s like. And with the more direct-to-consumer aspect of mixtapes back in the day, where [fans] can venture out wherever they wanted and they go and they find it, me and cats like Wiz and Mac were able to do via mixtape hosting websites.

So yeah, I am so lucky to know that feeling of what that was like, man, to be there and crash a website. That shit was like such an amazing feeling. And now it just doesn’t happen anymore, and now so much music is coming out where you can have dedicated diehard fans who don’t even know you’re dropping an album.

What are some albums that you remember needing to head out to the store and buy the first day it was out?

LOGIC: J. Cole, his first album, that was super important. Like I said, I was just talking to that motherfucker. Back in Maryland, he played this spot called the Forum in Silver Spring. And I went to the mall and bought a CD, and he was there signing CDs. And I remember being in line, and then people were coming up to me, and being like, “Oh shit,” when I was a nobody local artist. And I remember seeing J. Cole kinda look over and be like, “Who the fuck is this, what the fuck?”

And then I saw him perform that night, and I’ll never forget, he was like, “Yo, we got the number one album, y’all!” He was so excited, it was a 2,000-cap [venue]. That’s another thing, everything’s on steroids, bigger, better, faster, stronger now. It’s like, yo, do you know how many fucking people 2,000 is? That’s a lot of people, but we’re in this day and age where it’s like, “Oh, that’s a smaller artist.” No it’s not! What are you talking about? But I digress. I went and I saw him. And I’ll never forget that the next year, on a mixtape, I sold that fuckin’ place out. And it was, mind you, [my] hometown, but it was really something special.

Your College Park album looks back at those early days of your career. You collaborate with a few Maryland rappers, and the skits are framed around you performing at University of Maryland College Park. Is that based on a specific show you really did?

LOGIC: Yeah, the first show, which was like the one that set it up for me, which is really cool.

Living in Oregon now, do you come back to Maryland often aside from touring? Do you still have a lot of friends and family here? What is your relationship to Maryland now?

LOGIC: My relationship to Maryland is that I keep up with the artists and show a general love and support for the music scene. But I live in Oregon, this is where I live. I spent 23 years of my life in Maryland, it’s really beautiful and I love it and it’s incredible. I really don’t have that many friends left, y’know, a lot of people died. Drugs, guns, this, that. My family’s there, any time I’m there, I visit my family, take care of them. And that’s about it.

Becoming The First Rapper With A #1 Novel On The New York Times Bestsellers List With Supermarket (2019)

So, a lot of rappers and musicians have written memoirs and non-fiction books, but writing a novel is a lot less commonplace. Supermarket made you the first rapper with a #1 novel, and you’re releasing an Ultra 85 novel in September. What made you want to write fiction on a bigger scale than just the narrative skits on your albums? Where did that passion come from?

LOGIC: You know, I really love Orson Welles and the radio plays that he would do back in the day. And I think what it really comes down to is: “Enough.” I was sitting down with Big Boy from Big Boy’s Neighborhood a couple years back, we were just talking on the phone. He would say things like “Y’know, this industry will tell you that you’re not enough, you’re not cool enough, Black enough, hood enough, whatever the case may be. I’m here to tell you that you are enough.” So for me, I think the world also told me, like, I didn’t have enough in me to be able to make a film or to write a book or this or that, or that I needed to keep everything in this kind of concise space because that’s all I could do. And I realized that’s just not true. Y’know, I have a universe inside of me, we all do, creatively and spiritually, to say whatever the fuck we wanna say. And so that’s why I did it. And when I wrote Supermarket, I’ve had people tell me it’s the best book they’ve ever read, I’ve seen reviews where people are like, “This is like a college essay.” And I’m like, “Man, that makes me feel good because I didn’t even graduate high school. So I already took a W right there.”

The YouTube Megamix Of Logic Saying “Goddamn” (2021)

I know you said you don’t use the internet much anymore, but somebody on YouTube made a montage of every time you’ve said “Goddamn” on a song, and it’s like 50 different songs, it goes on for three minutes. Have you seen this?

LOGIC: Oh man, it is so hilarious.

You think the concept is funny, or you’ve heard it?

LOGIC: I’ve heard it, it’s really funny. It’s called an ad lib. But I think it’s funny that they got the ad lib. They should do all the times a rapper has said “Yo.”

But you are using in rhyme schemes a lot, it’s not just something you throw on top as a sound effect.

LOGIC: Did you see it as like a redundant overuse?

I don’t know, I just saw someone tweeted it, and I went “Oh, I guess he does say that a lot, I hadn’t thought about it.”

LOGIC: Yeah, I do it on purpose. I guess it’s kind of like Wiz’s laugh, or Big Sean’s “boy,” that’s Logic’s “Goddamn,” that’s the thing. Like fans will even make shirts that say “God damn.”

Wow, really?

LOGIC: Yeah. Like when I was doing mixtapes, I literally sat down with my friends and was like “I’m just gonna say ‘Goddamn’ and make that my thing.” What, do you think I’d just say “Goddamn” all the time just because and not realize it?

Well, now I’m thinking you could get to the pearly gates and God will say “You know, you said ‘Goddamn’ a lot.”

LOGIC: And I’ll be like, “You’re Goddamn right!”

Retiring From Rap (2020-2021)

Let’s talk about the time you retired. No Pressure was going to be your final album, but you came back about a year later and went right back to releasing albums and mixtapes. I grew up as a Jay-Z fan, and even before The Black Album, he was constantly saying “This is my last album,” and then he only stayed retired for less than three years. So do you think you would ever retire again, or do you feel like you’re always going to be a rapper?

LOGIC: Yeah, never in a million years will I retire. But also, anything I say could be bullshit. I’m a human being, I could feel one way one day, wake up tomorrow, feel completely different. You know what? I might have retired like six times during this conversation. My reason for retirement was because I was sick and tired of the industry, and literally when I announced my retirement, I made like four albums immediately after. So what does that say? It wasn’t that I was tired or burnt out of the actual music or the art, it was the monotony of the industry.

So now that I’ve not done that and I’ve stepped away from the Internet and I’ve done all this other shit, I know in my heart of hearts, I’m never gonna not make music. So no, I don’t ever see myself retiring. And if anything, I really am retired right now from the bullshit. I’m just like, “Hey, let’s do the interviews I like, I’ll make the kind of music I like, whether it’s popular or not.” And I could have never imagined myself living the way that I am now as a kid just wanting to be the biggest thing, because once you become the biggest thing in the world, boy do you feel small. And you realize how unimportant all the things are that we’ve been told are big and valid and important.

I think people in show business do try to convince artists that it’s all-or-nothing, that if you want to be in the industry at all, you have to jump through every hoop. But once you achieve some success, you can decide what you want to do and what you don’t want to do, and I’m glad you found that you can pick and choose.

LOGIC: Thank you, yeah, I appreciate that. And look at Andre [3000], he’s the perfect example, he never said “I am retired.” He was just like, “Fuck y’all, I’ma play some flute.”

And people still argue about him and say, “He can’t be a top-five rapper, he doesn’t have a solo album,” but he doesn’t care about all that, which makes him cooler.

LOGIC: I agree. What you just said is exactly what I retired from. “You can’t,” “he can’t,” that right there. It really doesn’t matter.

Ultra 85 is out 8/9 via Three Oh One/BMG.