All you’ve gotta do is ask! Logic stopped by the studio on Tuesday, October 2, to celebrate the release of his fourth studio album, YSIV, and dished on everything from reuniting the Wu Tang Clan on the album and more.
YSIV, which stands for Young Sinatra IV, dropped Thursday and includes headline-making track “Wu Tang Forever,” which features all Clan members RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, Cappadonna and Jackpot Scotty Wotty. The collab has been a dream of Logic’s since he was a kid.
“They’re the Clan: They ride and do their thing, but they all have their separate independent [projects], so for me, it was amazing that they would come together [for this],” Logic shared with Ryan of reuniting the icons. “I contacted RZA and said ‘Hey man, what do I have to do?’ And he’s like ‘Just ask’ And I was like, ‘Well, I’m asking!’ And he’s like, ‘Well, alright, it’s done!”
The inspiration for the album comes from Logic’s love for all things Sinatra.
“For me, I always loved Sinatra and the black-and-white films and his songs and albums and everything he embodied as a man and entertainer and pop star and I thought how cool it would be to bring that suave debonair classic style to hiphop?” he explained. “… This was years ago so back when we had mixtapes … I came up with this idea to do a slew of mixtures of Young Sinatra as a series … [and with YSIV], I just wanted to kind of bring it back to the roots and be like ‘Yo, we’re going to rap right now.'”
The album also features fan-favorite hit “One Day” featuring Ryan Tedder.
“Ryan’s the bomb,” Logic shared. “We did that song in 20 minutes the first time we met.”
And there’s more to come — Logic shared that he is constantly working on different albums, including another project with Tedder.
“I’m working on a few albums — that’s how I always work — simultaneously, but I pace myself. For example, I had a lot of these songs for YSIV done before Bobby Tarantino II was done … like ‘Ordinary Day’ with Hailee Steinfeld is over three years old. … I truly want to be known and remembered as one of the most diverse artists of my generation," he added. "I want to work with a lot of people. I was talking with Ryan Tedder — we’re working on something I won’t get too into it — but there’s a lot of artists and writers and singers and pop producers and people I want to work with.”
Sisanie also had to ask — how the heck does he pull off those insane raps flawlessly on the fly?
“Here’s something that’s really weird that I noticed,” Logic shared. “… The first time I did Ellen [DeGeneres’ show], I was like freaking out and my mouth would be really dry, but that makes it easier to rap, but … I’ve been doing this for so many years now … so truly having a mouth full of spit [is what messes me up]. I know that sounds weird … but that’s one thing that can really mess with it.”
He also has another trick up his sleeve: safety vocals.
“You want to know something? A fun secret? I’ve never told anybody this,” Logic teased. “… Basically what I do is, I’ll rap and in the in-ears very low, tucked, are what I call ‘safety vocals.’ So basically you have tracks which have all the music on it playing on the computer and one of the tracks muted to the audience, but that I can hear, … so that if I’m going and rapping and rapping and fumble or I mess up or somebody in the crowd passes out, I can hear that and listen for a millisecond and know where I am.”
There you have it!
Listen back to the full interview in the audio above.