0:00
I've literally attained and accomplished any everything that a musician could dream to attain and so I had to look myself in the mirror and say why.
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And I've purposefully slowed down so that I can focus on my mental and physical health, so that I can focus on being there for my child and my wife and that I can love and enjoy this life and this house that I have spent the last 17 years of my life building and it is terrifying, Jay.
0:32
Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world thanks to each and every single one of you that come back every week to listen, learn and grow.
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Now this has been a year where we've been so fortunate to sit down with some incredible artists to share their stories and they've opened up vulnerably and you've responded as a community by sharing those episodes, loving those conversations and today's guest is someone that I've wanted to speak to for a long time.
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I've been fan of his music, been a fan of his flow, been a fan of his lyrics and today we're talking about his brand new book which I'll introduce you to in a moment, but I'm talking about none other than Bobby Hall aka Logic, a Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling recording artist, author, actor, streamer and film producer.
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In addition to his three number one albums, 10 platinum singles and billions of streams, Hall's debut book Supermarket made him the first hip-hop artist to have a number one New York Times best-selling novel and today his new book that we're talking about is called This Bright Future by Bobby Hall.
1:33
Bobby, thank you so much for making the time.
1:37
Dude, that was the coolest intro ever. I feel so cool now. Thank you. That's very kind.
1:42
It was I mean it's a great intro because it's all true and so I feel like if the intro was cool then the life must be really cool because you had to live it to make it real. For sure.
1:53
But we were just we were talking about this before.
1:55
The only time we've ever met is when we bumped into each other at an airport, which I loved because I saw you.
2:01
I already knew who you were, and so when you came up to me, I was like, "This is so cool, man.
2:04
Logic stopping me at an airport."
2:06
Uh, but you can finish the rest of the story. Yeah, dude.
2:08
Uh, I thought it was really awesome, and uh, and my security guard is also he's just a huge fan of yours. His name is Pepe.
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He's literally freaking out right now over here. Say, "What's up?" What's up? Yeah, that's Pepe. What's up? Yeah. Oh, man, he's so hyped. He loves you, man. Who doesn't?
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And so, yeah, I just I just saw it as a really cool opportunity to say hello, and then use him as a scapegoat to also say hello.
2:33
So, it's really It was really cool. No, that's awesome, man.
2:35
And lots of love to Pepe, but also I I was a huge fan, and so it was nice to always just It's always nice to just bump into someone in a very, you know, natural way.
2:45
This was obviously pre-pandemic when when we were all flying and moving around, but I wanted to start off just by asking you like, what what's this time been for you?
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Has this been a time of deep creativity and exploration? Has it been relaxing?
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I know you just became a father as well last year.
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Like, what what's this time been like for you personally?
3:02
It's kind of been a combination of all those things, for sure.
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So, I had planned to take off 2020 anyway, just to be there for for my baby, cuz that's when he was born in February, and my wife, and just really for the first time in my life kind of slow down, which I'd never done in my entire career.
3:21
Um, so I got a little lucky in that sense, where I didn't have some big tour planned and have to cancel it and financially be dealing with, you know, situations that I'm glad I didn't run into.
3:32
Um, so that was nice, but also at the same time it's like, yeah, I've I've constantly working.
3:36
I was literally like they were like, "Okay, you got 4 minutes."
3:39
I'm upstairs like polishing the script that I'm going to shoot um, uh, next year, which I'm really excited to to work on.
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And so, I'm I'm constantly working.
3:49
Uh, my biggest thing is balance.
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I think, you know, searching for balance and trying to find balance is Well, it's impossible, right?
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Cuz it's it just is what it is.
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But, I think the search is very important and that's where I've been.
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And, I kind of need to relax more, but my mind is always going crazy.
4:05
But, yeah, it's been full of creativity, working on music, um books, you know, just And but my big thing is with my family.
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I just love spending time with my family cuz obviously I didn't really have one growing up.
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So, yeah, that's that's been my pandemic.
4:18
Yeah, I definitely want to talk about that.
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And, you know, for anyone who's listening right now, we are going to dive into Bobby's new book, This Bright Future.
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Uh but, I I just recently found out that you can solve a Rubik's Cube while freestyling.
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And, I was just like, that is the craziest multitasking opportunity I've ever heard of.
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Like, I've never thought of two things that are two diff so different.
4:41
Tell us about how you even discovered that you could do that.
4:44
Well, I remember it was 2014 and it was uh Thanksgiving.
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And, I was 24 and I was in my room and I was looking at this Rubik's Cube and I feel like everybody has had a Rubik's Cube at some point.
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It's just kind of like a fun thing you have either when you're a kid or older and you throw it on a shelf.
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And so, uh I really wanted to learn how to do it.
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So, I took to YouTube and looked up a tutorial on all the algorithms.
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It's I swear to God, this is random that I have one here right now.
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Like, I promise you and I'll probably really butcher it while I'm telling the story.
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But, uh yeah, basically what I wanted to do was is I wanted to learn how to do it. And, I'm a freak.
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Like, anything that I want to get into, no matter what it is, whether it's acting, whether it's music, um I I mean, just even video games.
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Like, I love mastering things or at least trying to, doing my best to.
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And, um so, I sat down and I literally just studied this algorithm.
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And, I mean, at this point it's like I was working on things until like these algorithms until my freaking fingers felt like they were going going off, which was insane.
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And, like 10 hours later, however long it was, I I I did it and then I I learned how to do it without actually having to look at the algorithms or how they were done.
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So then it had become muscle memory, which was really awesome.
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But it was a very uh it was intense and uh pretty crazy.
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And then I got into like speed cubing and different things like that, which is also very nerdy but also very fun. And yeah, man.
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So it was basically Thanksgiving and before I knew it, I had learned how to solve it and then I just kind of did it constantly.
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And uh one day I was like, all right, I'm going to take my nerd sci-fi raps on the radio with Big Boy's Neighborhood and I'm also going to do a Rubik's Cube while I freestyle.
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And it could have ended badly cuz I could have been so nervous, which I was, that it didn't work out, but it did and that was really cool.
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I swear that's just right here next to Dude, just hold that up again because that was incredible. That was amazing. Thanks, man.
6:42
That That was phenomenal.
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I mean, like for anyone who's listening and not watching the podcast, he just solved Bobby Hall Logic just solved a Rubik's Cube while explaining how he freestyles on Rubik's Cubes at the same time.
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So, for anyone who didn't get to see that, please go over to YouTube or Instagram and watch that part because that was pretty epic.
6:59
But I love that you know, I love the idea of mastery.
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That's something that's always been fascinating to me as well and I can geek out about mastery.
7:08
But when I look at your childhood, which I got to explore through this book, you describe yourself as an orphan with parents.
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And I think right now in society, we're at this time where a lot of people have started reflecting more on their childhood and how it formed their habits, their behaviors, their ideologies.
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What are some of the before we dive into your childhood specifically, or let's actually let's dive into that orphan with parents.
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And then I what I really want want about is what were the ideologies that were created from that that you found what healthy and then ones that you found that were unhealthy.
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I want to hear about both.
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So, so tell us about growing up as an orphan with parents.
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Yeah, my dad's black, my mom's white, but I'm the only one who looks white.
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Um but I it was like it's my culture, it's my people, so I fit in.
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It was it was never an issue, it was never anything. It just was what it was.
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It wasn't really more so until I got into entertainment and hip hop that people wanted to kind of put you into this box.
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My father uh was addicted to crack cocaine.
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Uh my mother had also done various drugs.
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She fell into prostitution when she was young. Um alcoholic.
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It just really wasn't a good a good thing.
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She was very mentally unstable, bipolar.
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Um I'd like to think borderline schizophrenic.
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Which was really crazy, too.
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Um and yeah, I mean, I was surrounded by drugs and violence and guns and shooting guns and cooking crack and my brother's selling crack to my dad and them running around in the street and it was just a really not like a good uh place to be.
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But the craziest thing is is I am the only child between my mother and father.
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So, I was like an only child.
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Um although I have eight brothers and sisters, which is really crazy, on both sides.
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But we were never together.
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It was never like a family situation.
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Um and yeah, I mean, growing up, I think I I'd like to you know, people say, "Oh, well, how did you how did you make it out of that?
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How are you who you are today?"
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And I always say it's like God and common sense.
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And I will further go on to say like, "I'm not really a super religious guy, but I also don't I don't hate on religion.
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I don't hate on people's faith.
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I think it's very important. I think it's beautiful.
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Um I don't see it as like sky dad, like some white guy with a beard sitting on a cloud.
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I don't really I don't know.
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I don't know if it's a it's a guy, it's a girl, it's a this, it's a that, but I do believe in something.
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I believe in a higher power.
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And I think that mixed with common sense was like, "Oh, maybe don't smoke crack.
9:34
Oh, you know, seeing my mother being beaten and bloody by men.
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Oh, don't put your hands on a woman.
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It was just a weird thing where another any other child or most other children would see these things and go, oh, this is this is life. This is what it is.
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You yell at a woman, you hit a woman, you do this, you do that.
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I was like, no, don't do that.
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And I don't know how or why, but I'm here and I'm definitely not smoking crack or beating my wife.
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So, I think I'm doing all right.
10:02
I I think that makes a lot of sense.
10:03
That that resonates with me deeply.
10:03
I always feel like you know, if someone grows up with alcoholic parents, if you had twins, one of them could become an alcoholic and one of them could never drink alcohol, right?
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It's like you you get to make that choice when you have an experience.
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You made certain choices.
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Was there any lessons that you learned early from either of them?
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Do you think there was something that kind of gave you this desire for mastery, gave you this desire for figuring things out, for living life in a specific way, or or actually was a lot of it just survival and and having to find your own way at 17 years old when you, you know, finally left?
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It's funny that you asked that because I I I when it comes to mastery, yes, like I absolutely do love making something my everything.
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Like just utterly allowing it to just engulf me.
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Um and I think maybe a lot of that is because my parents didn't necessarily do that.
11:02
You know, my mother, she had a lot of uh hobbies and things that she was into.
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She was into writing, she loved music, she loved dance.
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She did love a lot of things, but she never really focused on one thing, um with the exception of I guess like reading the Bible.
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But she was also very hypocritical when it when it came to religion.
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Um and I'd also just like to say, it's very important that I say this.
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Um when you hear me talking about my family, I want you to know that in no way is it with malice or hatred or anger.
11:29
Uh you know, I've forgiven these people for what they've done and I look at them especially now, I look at my son and I'm like, I couldn't I don't know how, you know, somebody could do this to a baby or a child, the things that I went through.
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You know, my mom called me and the rest of her kids the N-word with a hard R, and I remember people saying like, oh, that doesn't really make any sense.
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Like, that can't be true, that doesn't make any sense.
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And it's like, one, first of all, don't dismiss my truth, and second, of course it doesn't make any sense, and I've spent my entire life trying to make it make sense, and then realizing, oh, it just doesn't.
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This is a mentally ill, broken person.
12:01
This person is lashing out not only at her children, but at people around. I mean, think about it.
12:05
It's it's kind of weird that my mother is systemically racism racist, and yet all of her children are with black men because she finds black people so beautiful, which really just stems from her bling bringing a a young black man home when she was a teenager and saying, this is my boyfriend, and then her parents being like, we don't mix with their kind.
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It's all really insane, and there's levels of that. But, back to mastery.
12:26
Sorry, you'll find I go on tangents. I apologize. the tangent. I love the tangent.
12:30
I think the fact that she never necessarily focused on one particular thing made me want to focus on one particular thing.
12:36
And when you're a kid, you try different things.
12:39
You play basketball, baseball, you draw, you dance, you this, you that, but there was always something about music, and I wanted to really make it my life.
12:50
So, I think yeah, those examples that she kind of set or necessarily didn't set made me want to do that.
12:53
Yeah, how do how do you get to that point, Bobby?
12:57
When I'm hearing you talk about your family, and I loved what you said that, hey, I'm not, you know, I'm not putting that dirty laundry out there, I'm not trying to put them down, I'm not being critical, I'm just sharing because I want to be vulnerable and share my truth and the experience.
13:11
I think it would be very natural for people to have resentment, for people to have bitterness.
13:17
You said, I've got to a place where I've forgiven them now.
13:19
I want to hear, how did you get to that What I loved was something that you did there, which was so beautiful, was you were able to disconnect her behavior from it being personal to you.
13:30
You were like, "This is just how she was with everyone because this was a condition she was struggling with.
13:36
This wasn't about me, Bobby the kid, being a loser, being useless, being bad."
13:41
How How were you able to get to that process of forgiving some of these experiences that you had?
13:50
Uh I mean, definitely just maturity, growth, and I think my own personal journey as a as a young man, um and realizing, um what dysfunction is and was.
14:01
So, it's like I I was able to realize this is a sick person.
14:05
I once again, God, common sense, I don't know, but I just knew, "Oh, this isn't right, you know?"
14:11
It's like, you know, I only had a few places of, I guess, neutrality, we could call it, where I would go to like the skate park, and I would just see your normal average person, right?
14:19
And that has nothing to do with wealth or money or this or that, but just your normal kind of regular run-of-the-mill kid and his parents. And I go, "Oh."
14:29
Like Like I would I was realizing like, you know, that Like my mother never really came to the skate park to watch me skateboard.
14:34
And then this kid, you know, has has his parents coming of all races and colors and and and people and they're just there.
14:42
And I just saw this, and I was like, "Oh, this isn't right." But I also understand.
14:46
Now, don't get me wrong, there was times when I was angry, of course. Like, I'm angry.
14:50
Like, I had to learn how to ride my bike by myself.
14:54
I remember one of my earliest memories is is choking on a sandwich and my mom then scolding me that I had thrown it up because I couldn't breathe, and she made me clean it up.
15:03
And I'm like, five years old.
15:05
Like, no, I Like, you clean it up, and then console me and hug me and tell me everything's going to be okay, you know?
15:10
Like, I didn't have that.
15:10
But I think while I was going through it, even though there was that anger, there was this this these moments of like understanding, "Oh, there is something wrong here."
15:21
And for a long time I I was angry at her and her mental state and her this and her that, but then as I started to experience anxiety and, you know, just normal things that you do as you grow and age and mature, I realized, oh, wow, like this isn't really her fault.
15:36
So, it's but I'm also not here to excuse her actions by any mean.
15:40
I mean, my mother she almost she almost killed me when I was about 7 or 8 years old.
15:43
She almost strangled me to death.
15:45
Um and then stopped in the middle of what she was doing and realized what she was doing and I remember very vividly looking at her and seeing like oh, so much anger.
15:55
And I didn't really do anything.
15:55
I was just bouncing off the walls like a kid having fun, you know, I wasn't No matter what, a child shouldn't be met with almost being, you know, essentially strangled an inch from their life.
16:05
And I remember crying and having tears in my eyes and it was almost like I was looking at her, you know, through like underwater glasses.
16:13
And then she stopped after realizing what she was doing and I just told her, I said, "It's okay, Mommy. Like I love you. Like it's okay."
16:17
And I look back at that now and realize that, but I'm more sad for her than me because I made it out. I made it out.
16:29
So, I I I don't know how I did, but this woman still has to live with herself.
16:34
And I I wish I could have a relationship with her so bad and I'm kind of on and off with my dad.
16:39
Like one of my dad's last request was $800,000 so he could buy himself a studio for him and his band some house.
16:47
Like it's just like it's ludicrous.
16:47
It's like, "Hey, Dad, can I maybe like can we just talk about life for a second?"
16:52
Every time I talk to my father, it's always music this and music that.
16:55
But I also realize that very much so like my mother, with my dad, that's all he knows.
17:00
So, he talks to music about music to everybody, not just me.
17:04
But I just think it's funny that I started to get a lot more phone calls once once the name Logic started getting bigger.
17:09
I thought that was weird.
17:09
But when it comes to forgiveness and having this sight, um I I don't know, man. I don't know.
17:18
And writing this book was very cathartic and very beautiful and it allowed me um to forgive even more.
17:25
But I I I know I'm sorry cop out. I just don't know.
17:28
That's that's not a cop out.
17:30
I I appreciate the honesty and uh I I love what you said there because when you look at forgiveness, it doesn't excuse the other person of their behavior.
17:38
It just exits you from the baggage of carrying it.
17:40
And so, you know, I I think that distinction's really important that you made there that hey uh you know, I was put in pain. I was almost killed.
17:49
This is as bad as it went, but I don't want to carry all of that with me.
17:53
And I think the zooming out and the broader perspective of hey, this is just how they're they're interacting with everyone. It's not just me.
18:02
I think those are really practical steps actually that whether you took them knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or unconsciously, they're they're really powerful things for everyone to take away.
18:12
I I wonder now as a father, you know, you've you've got your adorable son.
18:15
We see a picture of him in the back of the book. Yeah, little Bobby. Yeah.
18:19
Uh I I wonder now when you're as a father, which is such a amazing step and you said it was February last year.
18:25
So he's like what, 18 months old now? Yeah, 19 months, yeah. Yeah, 19 months old.
18:31
Uh tell us about how you're approaching parenting.
18:36
I want to hear about as a father how you're thinking about it.
18:39
What are some of the values or principles that you're hoping to teach him or he or you're hoping that he'll learn?
18:47
My biggest thing is communication.
18:47
I think it's so very important to be able to communicate with uh with your children and also not getting amnesia.
18:54
My godmother Mary Jo who took me in for a nice uh time in my life when I was a teenager, she told me that.
18:58
Like you can't get amnesia.
19:00
you can't get amnesia. Like you can't forget that like kids do stupid things or kids, you know, like even just I don't know, if you're in seventh grade and your heart gets ripped out by some boy or some girl that you were dating
19:12
for like eight days and it feels like the end of the world and they they broke up with you just before the school dance and your life is over and it's like as an adult it's so easy to brush that off and be like oh shut up you're fine you'll be fine shut up. But it's like
19:22
you'll be fine shut up. But it's like even though that's true and even though you should say that maybe not as callous you know but it's like don't forget man don't forget that you were there and that seventh grade is your child's entire world so it's kind of having those things in my mind while moving forward are are very important spending time with him is very important
19:47
and yeah but I think communication really is the biggest thing you know a lot of people will just get mad when like he's he's in a slight hitting phase right now where he'll kind of like if he's frustrated he'll throw something but it and and somebody could be like no you know you don't throw things you don't do but it's like he's so frustrated because he he has he
20:05
he he lacks the ability to be able to communicate with us so it's like okay stop pause let him know no we don't do that like you don't throw things no you can say it sternly but not choking them to death like I think I think that's what's really important and and once again just seeing this little beautiful perfect slate of a human being is I just don't know how people can do some of the things that
20:31
they do to children or that have been done to to me it's kind of very sickening but I believe that it's up to me to to break that cycle and be one of the first people in my family to do so not the only one there's some great people in my family who have made it out but yeah so when I look at him I think about that love compassion communication and not getting amnesia. Yeah yeah I like that point about not
20:51
Yeah yeah I like that point about not gaining amnesia and and the idea of I feel like one of the biggest mistakes we all make as humans is that we keep communicating people with people from where we are not where they are and so we forget that we were where they are right now and if we just talk to them recognizing that that was us 10 years ago, 20, 30, 50, whatever it is, that that would make all the difference.
21:13
And now you have a vocabulary for it. We do.
21:18
We understand mental illness better.
21:18
We understand mental health.
21:19
We understand these terms a bit better. We're getting there.
21:23
How How did When was it when you first started realizing that this was mental illness, this was mental health, this was uh their conditioning and challenges that were on a deeper level as opposed just more than just their addiction?
21:38
I think just simply, like I said, by being able to make the uh connection or lack thereof between a friend of mine's parents and my parents.
21:46
Like just seeing your kind of normal person who can go and hold a job.
21:50
I think my mom only ever had like two jobs.
21:52
I think she worked at a supermarket for a little bit.
21:53
And she worked at Chick-fil-A, and she could not stand people telling her what to do. And I realized that.
21:59
And yet then she would tell me what to do.
22:01
And yet I had to just suck it up and take it.
22:04
Um And then even even with myself, like I said, me going through anxiety was like a big eye-opener.
22:11
And I remember my first panic attack. I was like 13 years old.
22:16
And um it was really scary.
22:16
And my mom had gone away.
22:20
Well, she I mean, she just went to the store for like an hour.
22:21
But I had this panic attack.
22:22
And I started to realize I was I was dealing with like separation anxiety from my mother.
22:29
And that a lot of our relationship was more uh based on brainwashing, which sounds crazy, but the the having this feeling that I needed her and that if she wasn't there, like my entire world would crumble.
22:40
And I didn't know how to deal with anxiety.
22:41
Um and and it honestly, I only really learned how to deal with anxiety much later in life, like in my late 20s. I'm 31 now.
22:47
And even right now, Jay, like I'm I'm pretty anxious right now. I don't know why. It's really weird.
22:54
I felt fine before I got on in in front of the camera.
22:57
And even right now, like I have this like feeling of anxiety.
23:01
And maybe it's a number of things.
23:02
Maybe it's uh uh I'm recounting my childhood.
23:05
I just I have a book that's come out.
23:08
Uh you know, so many things that are going on in my mind. I'm fine. I know I'm fine. I'm drinking water.
23:14
I'm talking to an amazing human being. I'm Everything is okay.
23:18
And yet, internally, there is still is a part of me that feels a little jittery and a little nervous and a little this and a little that.
23:25
And um I've learned how to deal with that.
23:27
And instead of like freaking out, I just go, "You're fine. It's okay.
23:32
Feeling this way is normal."
23:36
Um I I remember speaking with my therapist and she told me um I was like, "I hate the fact that I feel anxious."
23:42
I was like, "There's people out there that don't really you know, they they just have kind of general anxiety, but they don't have that anxiety where it can also affect them physically, where they feel weird or they feel like they could pass out or this or that." And she was like, "Yeah.
23:56
Uh and then sometimes it happens to them like Tony Soprano when they're when they're 50s trying to feed the ducks in you know, in their pool and then that's just their life after that.
24:03
And she said, "The thing is is not like you you have to accept that that's just who you are and that's the way your life is now and do the best that you can to combat and deal with that anxiety and those emotions in the most positive uh manner possible."
24:19
So, it wasn't until I started truly understanding what anxiety meant and how much it can affect your day-to-day personal and professional life that I I even grew more sympathetic towards my mother and all the things that she was dealing with.
24:32
Yeah, well, I I want to thank you for sharing that.
24:36
And also just to say that I I do think it's natural and extremely brave when you're sharing such personal accounts of things in your life and you're putting them out there.
24:45
And we we know the world we live in where everything we say is you know, it's natural for you to feel that way.
24:51
So, I I really appreciate you even opening up and sharing that.
24:53
And I just want you to know that I think you're sharing your story not just on this interview but in this book in a way that is going to help so many people with their perspective.
25:04
So, I want you to know that and I also want you to know that we Yeah, we all have anxiety.
25:07
I I officiated someone's wedding this weekend, the wedding that the weekend that just went.
25:13
And my wife said it to me.
25:16
She was like, "Jay, I've never seen you this anxious or stressed in your life with anything you do."
25:20
And I was like, "Because it's someone's wedding day."
25:24
I was like And people were like, "Oh, but you've done this a million times and you've done And I was like it doesn't matter how many times I've done it, it's someone different and it's their wedding day.
25:32
And this is an important moment for someone.
25:34
And what I've realized and I love what you said there because I do something similar, I've redefined my relationship with anxiety that I feel like anxious when I care.
25:45
So, I know that when I'm feeling anxious, it's because it's something good about me is that I care.
25:49
I'm a human that loves and cares and is compassionate and wants to serve these two beautiful people that I wedded that I love and that love me and I have a relationship with. It's because of that.
26:02
I'm not scared about what someone thinks about it or how it goes.
26:04
I'm I'm anxious because I care about these two people and I feel they deserve something special.
26:10
It's funny you say that because another thing that I had dealt with for I mean, I everybody deals with it is intrusive thoughts.
26:16
You You're aware of this, right? Intrusive thoughts.
26:18
So, it could be the craziest thing.
26:19
It could be your baby falling to its death.
26:21
It could be you I don't know, punching a store clerk and you're just like, "Oh my god, why would I think that?
26:27
How could I think something so despicable or whatever the case may be?" These dark thoughts.
26:33
Um and I remember talking to my therapist and she was like, "Well, one, those aren't really your thoughts.
26:37
You're not thinking that."
26:37
She was like, "That's kind of douchebag brain." As she put it.
26:40
She was like, "It's just these thoughts that pop into your head and you need to understand that that's that's also um like conscious.
26:46
Like your your your conscious recognizes that and and is then terrified.
26:53
And so I think when it comes to anxiety and the things you care about it's like, "Oh my god, if I think about my baby dying, it's because that's the most precious thing to me.
27:00
If I think about, I don't know, like I said, punching some clerk in the face, it's like violence. I hate violence."
27:05
So it's these things that my brain is doing that that I'm kind of then freaking out about, but it's about how we deal with that.
27:12
If we then focus on it too much and obsess, "Why would I think that? Why would I think that? Why would I think that?"
27:18
Then every time you we're in a situation where that thought is then triggered, then it just becomes more intense.
27:23
And the real the key there is to not really focus on it.
27:27
It's to really not think about it, understand that it's a thought.
27:29
It's a disgusting thought that you didn't even think in your head.
27:32
It just somehow popped in and you were like, "Oh my goodness, you know, to hell with you."
27:37
And that's also how I feel about anxiety.
27:39
I think there's a difference between legitimately like, "Oh, I'm starting to see stars."
27:42
or I feel like I I need to sit down.
27:44
Like that could be different.
27:46
Even though it may be anxiety, but it's like ask yourself, have you been working really hard?
27:50
Have you drank enough water today? Have you eaten? Have you this? Have you that?
27:53
And having the the the mind the mindset to be able to just ask yourself what is going on.
27:58
And that was something I couldn't do for a long time.
28:02
I was very unhealthy, both physically and mentally.
28:06
Um and once I really learned how to utilize these tools, uh my life became better.
28:10
But I mean, I still get anxiety. Like it sucks. But it also is great.
28:16
I mean, I'm not going to say anxiety's great.
28:18
Anxiety just sucks, but but it's Look at this great conversation we're having because of it.
28:25
I've made songs about it.
28:25
I've written parts in scripts about it.
28:27
I've like I get it and I understand it.
28:29
And because of that, it's actually allowed me to connect with people um on such a deeper level and being willing to go cuz I'll I'll tell you this, man. I love rap. I love hip-hop. It's a beautiful place.
28:42
It's also a negative place, just like the the is.
28:45
And but I have met a lot of rappers where I try to have like deeper conversations with them and they just don't do it because I think they're also scared and to internalize how they're feeling.
28:56
But I did have one guy and he I'll never forget he was like, "Bro, I wish I could be you."
29:00
And I was like, "What do you mean?
29:01
I'm like the nerd rapper who solves Rubik's Cubes and wraps about sci-fi."
29:04
He's like, "You're that dude, you know, you got the cred."
29:07
Even though low-key I have shotguns and cook crack.
29:08
So I guess I have the cred as well, but I don't really perpetuate that life.
29:12
And he was like, "Look, man."
29:15
He was like, "I'm scared."
29:15
He was like, "That was so long ago.
29:16
That's not who I am anymore."
29:18
He's like, "I like video games. I like this. I like that.
29:20
I wish I could just be myself."
29:22
And when he said that to me, I realized that all the years and time that times that I'd been made fun of in hip-hop or this or that, well, at the end of the day, I may have been made fun of by a certain sect or quote-unquote cool group or the jocks of rap, but at least I was always myself and never had to pretend to be somebody I was not.
29:41
And then that led to, you know, just saying I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not, which I think like Kurt Cobain or somebody said. Yeah. But yeah, there it is.
29:49
Yeah, no, that's a beautiful message, man.
29:51
I think that's something everyone can relate to.
29:52
And what you were speaking about there about the douchebag brain, uh in in a in the monastery we used to call it the monkey mind and the monk mind.
30:00
See, you have the monkey mind that's, you know, saying all these intrusive thoughts as you said, saying all these self-doubt, anxiety.
30:05
And then you have the monk mind, which is the the calm, the still, the balanced.
30:09
And to bring that monkey mind back under control.
30:13
And so But yeah, for me that was always uh that was always a fun way of thinking about it.
30:18
It's just like, "Oh, I've just got this monkey that's jumping from branch to branch in my head and, you know, it doesn't know what it wants and it's confused and it's moving fast, but the monk mind can kind of ground it."
30:28
So that that aligns very strongly.
30:30
I've always I always saw this guy who looks like I want you to imagine like a cartoon.
30:34
There's this episode of Futurama, it's one of my favorite cartoons. But um So, the episode.
30:38
But there's like this liquid guy, and he's like blue, and he looks like just kind of moving water, and his head's all back, and he looks kind of cool.
30:47
I imagine that guy in a in a leather jacket sitting on a uh uh um like a a beach chair in my brain, and he's responsible for these thoughts.
31:01
He's like you said, the monkey mind.
31:02
It's like this monkey, but it's like that's how I see this guy.
31:03
And I've actually had conversations with this guy.
31:07
Like, get out of here, dude.
31:07
Like like what's like chill. Like, stop.
31:09
And then he'll say something to me that I hear.
31:12
And it almost sounds like I'm crazy, right?
31:13
Cuz it's like I'm having a conversation with myself in my head.
31:17
But, I have had this, and I'm like, "No, like not today, man."
31:19
And sometimes he really he'll he'll hit me with some crazy images or me freaking out or going to the emergency room or just all these things cuz I'm always constantly thinking about my health.
31:28
And um I have to have those conversations and tell the water blob or monkey man or whatever to calm down and and do my best to be in control, which is actually really funny because I'm not in control.
31:42
We're not really in control, and I think accepting the fact that you're not in control in some weird way gives you a bit of control at the same time. But, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
31:49
It definitely It gives you more control over what you can control if there's any of that that you can do.
31:55
So, no, I I like that, and I love the Futurama reference or all the Futurama references.
31:59
Uh What What's was What would you say was your early You referred to this earlier, so I'm I'm bringing it back.
32:06
What would you say was your earliest memory of becoming aware of racism uh and and experiencing it for yourself or trying to understand it as a young person who obviously has a very diverse childhood, but people not being able to understand, contextualize.
32:20
I I want to know what that's like from your perspective.
32:26
It Like I say I say in the book that that racism for me when I first experienced it wasn't outside in, it was inside out, right?
32:31
Because it was my mother um who used this word.
32:32
I mean, it's really disgusting.
32:35
But, but the way she would she would do it she would do it in a in a way where uh it it's just whatever would cut deep, you know?
32:43
Like, if you were a fat, she'd call you fat.
32:46
If you're ugly, she'd call you ugly.
32:46
If you were black, she would, you know, use these slurs.
32:50
Anybody, any race, any this, any that.
32:52
Which I always just thought was so disgusting because she would like say this and then next week she'd take me to the library and we'd be getting like Black History Month like DVDs and VHS and she's like, "You need to be proud of your of your heritage."
33:04
And I'm just like, "What's wrong with you?" So, like there was that.
33:07
Um and then the crazy thing about racism is like, okay, first of all, it's 100% it exists, it's a real thing.
33:13
But, like especially kind of like in the hood and where I grew up, it's just different.
33:16
It's like the white boys are hanging out with the brothers and and and, you know, the Mexican cats and everybody we're all just hanging out together.
33:24
Like, unless it's like gangs who are like just don't mess with a certain demographic of other people, but for the most part, man, like all everybody was just hanging.
33:32
It wasn't really like that.
33:34
And then once you start growing up is where you realize like these sects and these like this division really comes in.
33:42
So, for me it was very weird to to enter hip-hop, a place that I love and loved and um is built on on positivity and all the way from Sugar Hill Gang and KRS-One and, you know, it's it it is built on a message.
33:58
Run-DMC, like be yourself.
33:58
And it was also a lot of fun braggadocio.
34:00
But, for the most part it was like, you know, this is the story that we're here to tell.
34:06
Um And so, for me I was like, "Oh, wow, I can tell my story."
34:11
So, it's I was like there in these last 10 years at the cusp of hip-hop becoming like low-key the most popular genre of music.
34:18
And the more quote-unquote pop that it got, the more attention was brought on all of the people who were heading it at the front line and I being one of those people um received a lot of hate that was basically all based on my uh race.
34:33
Which was very difficult because um it was like a a double-edged sword and there was really no winning.
34:37
You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't.
34:39
I go in an interview and they'd say, "Okay, yeah, so we hear with this with this rapper named Logic.
34:43
So, what's it like being white in hip-hop?" And blah blah blah.
34:46
And I have to go, "Well, first of all, I'm not I'm black and white. I'm so I'm mixed."
34:49
And then And then that turns into comments on the internet like, "Why is he always got to be proving himself?
34:55
Why is he always got to explain?
34:56
Why is he always getting" It's like, "Well, one, I'm just telling you who I am."
34:59
So, first and foremost like, you know, you're for you to look at me and just claim that I'm one thing.
35:06
No, I I am proud to be this thing.
35:06
Which the double-edged sword is then, what if I never said it?
35:10
And then you find out that my dad's black and then a year later you're like, "So, what?
35:14
You were ashamed to be black?
35:15
You trying to use this whole white thing to get" And then it's that.
35:18
And you know, you have incredible artists like Kendrick Lamar, J.
35:21
Cole, Killer Mike, Black Thought from The Roots talking about they're black in every song.
35:26
How they're they they're they're happy to be black, they're proud to be black. I'm black. I'm black and I'm black. I'm the blackest.
35:30
And then for the first time in my career on my third album after constantly being called this thing that I didn't necessarily identify with, on three songs I go, "Hey, I'm biracial. I'm mixed.
35:42
I'm actually black and white."
35:43
And they And they turned it into this like biracial meme.
35:45
And then I have white kids and black kids and brown kids and all these other people trying to tell me what I am or what I'm not.
35:51
And it was a very difficult time in my life until I realized it's literally just a meme.
35:57
It has nothing to do with anything. The music is so good.
36:01
The music is getting billions of streams. The music is platinum. The da da da. I'm in arenas. I'm selling out.
36:06
Oh, this is just a talking subject.
36:07
It's It's low-hanging fruit.
36:10
It's easy for these people to try to identify me for what they claim me as, put me in that box, and leave it at that.
36:16
And that was a big part of me stepping away from the internet and realizing, oh, it doesn't even matter.
36:22
Yeah, and it's almost that it's almost like you were repeating what you had to do as a child.
36:25
Like as a child you had to be like, okay, this is not my mom, this is a realness, this is her challenge, it's not about me.
36:30
And so now it was like, mom is kind of like the internet where it's like, okay, well right?
36:36
Yeah, like whoa, actually.
36:36
Like the way you say it's kind of insane.
36:42
Because yeah, I then had this like very negative, but also beautiful relationship at the same time with the internet and social media and all this, which in many ways was constantly berating me and harassing me and yelling at me and screaming at the same way my mother did when I was a child.
36:57
Wow, nice pool, you're a genius.
36:58
No, yeah, no, it's just I just I love seeing how like patterns repeat in people's lives and how we have to it's almost like you you've overcome the first challenge of the upbringing and then it's like, well, here's the escalated challenge of it with now like millions of people who don't know you.
37:15
And then as you said, you're selling out arenas, people love the music, the music's awesome.
37:20
Uh, you know, you you're getting to see the real version of that.
37:21
Tell us about how you, with all of this that we've already talked about, and I saved this for this part of the interview, and you write a book called This Bright Future, which is your memoir, and I'm like, I love that.
37:33
Like I just I want you to know how much I love that.
37:35
Like how do Tell us where that title comes from and why this bright future when uh, was that a I'm I'm asking this, was that an imagination, was that a vision?
37:47
Where Where did that come from?
37:49
Um, so there's a there's a band called Manfred Mann's Earth Band and um, they have a song I've actually had tried to sample them for years and years and years cuz they they they have some really cool stuff. No I. D.
37:59
sampled who who I'm homies with sampled them for a bunch of Kanye West songs and things like that back in the day, Beautiful Twisted Fantasy.
38:10
And so I'd been searching and searching and searching and finally in 2020 I found this sample.
38:16
And it's called uh, Lies Through the 80s.
38:19
And there's this lyric and it goes, "I saw a boy with no smile on his face today.
38:24
Where is my bright future in this world?" Or whatever.
38:30
So, I loved that, and I sampled that and chopped it up for a song called Heard 'Em Say on my last album, No Pressure.
38:40
And that to me is like the epitome of what the book is about, my place in rap is about, hip hop.
38:45
Like, it kind of sums that up.
38:47
And then we just had this idea, like, "Wow, what if what if that was the title?"
38:51
And I love it because if you look at the cover, you'll see it's it's actually So, the Under Pressure Excuse me, the No Pressure cover is me kind of levitating in a basement that's breaking up into space.
39:05
Now, nine albums before that was my debut album, Under Pressure, and that was me in a basement, in my homie Lenny's basement, when I was broke in College Park just trying to get a record deal, which I eventually got, and we all moved to LA, and that was awesome.
39:18
So, when you're looking at the No Pressure cover, you'll see I'm facing you, and I'm levitating, and you see my feet in the air.
39:27
For this bright future, the memoir cover, you'll see it's actually from the back of my legs, and then it's a reflection.
39:35
So, I'm this grown man kind of like rising and heading in towards towards the light, you know, not the darkness.
39:42
And then you see a child falling into darkness, which to me kind of represents my birth and where I spent my entire childhood, but somehow falling into darkness, I levitated into lightness, and I don't know or into the light, excuse me, and I have no idea how that happened, but that's what that all means to me. I love that.
40:01
I want I want people to see that cuz I I do think it's it's beautifully artistic, and uh Thank you.
40:08
and and absolutely stunning, and and I wanted to hear you describe that to everyone because yeah, I just love symbolism, and I love visuals that can make you feel something, and I think when you see this, everyone can I'm looking at it right now and I'm I'm going I I can relate in my own way to what it feels like to be that kid that's falling and I can relate in my own way to what it feels like that person that's elevating.
40:32
And I I wonder this, you know, when I speak to you logically, I want to read the book, Bobby.
40:35
It's like you have such a great understanding of psychology, thought, the mind.
40:41
I want to When did you get fascinated with how this all works? What were you reading?
40:46
What were you listening to?
40:48
Who were you speaking to that helped you understand that the way you speak is so structured and thought out and you recognize where things sit and how they are.
40:56
Where did that come from?
40:58
Where did it get nourished and and how did you grow that? Um well, thanks, man.
41:05
You make me sound like smart or something.
41:06
Dude, you're very I I mean it. I really mean it. I really mean it.
41:10
Um I I think I've always loved language and I think it's a beautiful thing.
41:16
Um I wish I had a a doper vocabulary like Neil deGrasse Tyson or something.
41:21
I was hanging out with Neil deGrasse Tyson and he was like saying equivocal or what I was just like, I need to step my game up.
41:26
When I was younger though, I I saw the power of words and I would study the dictionary and I would study the thesaurus.
41:31
Um I also wanted to separate myself from any, you know, of my contemporaries or even my predecessors in in hip-hop as well.
41:40
Now, I'm not saying that I think I'm this like, you know, oh, I use words they don't use not at all.
41:44
You take somebody like Nas.
41:45
I mean, this dude was doing the same thing back in the day in the projects in on Queensbridge and he was using like the he was using words like cerebral.
41:54
Like nobody would say that.
41:55
Like he would be the other guys were just like, yeah.
41:59
You know, take a gunshot to the head.
42:00
He'd be like, take a gunshot through the cerebral cortex in the spine and and I'm just like, yo, this is so cool.
42:04
Um I I also have always just been so inspired by Quentin Tarantino and you know, he didn't go to film school. He just did it.
42:13
And he was like he he made movies his life.
42:16
He studied film in a way that you just couldn't even do at film school.
42:22
He learned things like on the street.
42:24
And that's how I felt when it came to um I guess just my mentality about life.
42:31
Like I looked at people like Alan Watts who has one of the greatest quotes I've ever heard personally.
42:35
Says anything you can be interested in you will find others who are.
42:38
And that in and of itself alone is what inspired me to be me.
42:43
Is to be this guy who did yes, has come from being surrounded by drugs and guns and violence, but wanting to rap about anime and sci-fi.
42:50
And I think studying great minds and reading and I'm mainly a visual audio person honestly.
43:00
But yeah, taking the time to read and just study um is what helped me grow as a man and a musician.
43:09
I mean, I didn't even graduate high school, man. I got kicked out.
43:10
So it's like um I I think formal education is awesome and it's important depending on where you know, the trajectory of your life and where you see your path going and your career. Um but not for me, man.
43:22
School of hard knocks, dog.
43:25
Like I don't know how it worked, but I'm glad it did.
43:27
But I also think that it's like I'm just like a regular dude who made some kind of okay decisions.
43:33
And I also love that you know, I I always hated teachers who spoke down on you.
43:40
That that like when you ask a a question they they almost made you feel stupid for doing so.
43:43
So it's like I'm a professional at my craft.
43:45
I'm a master at what I do.
43:47
But in no way do I ever want anybody to feel either intimidated or like I think I'm so knowledgeable in my world that they feel like we can't even have a conversation.
43:58
So I think there's levels to also the vocabulary that you use when having conversations with people because it's like dude, you want to be down-to-earth.
44:06
You want to be regular, but you also want to let people you know know that you know what they're talking about." So, Yeah, for sure, man.
44:11
It's so it's it's a great I was literally just about to ask you about school after when you mentioned it.
44:16
I was going to say if you felt like school gave up on you.
44:18
And and I think there's a lot of young people that feel that way where school gave up on them.
44:23
And I loved what you said, you're not discouraging anyone from following a traditional school pattern or whatever it may be.
44:28
But when you when you think about school, I wonder if if if Logic was to set up a school and inspire a school, what would be some of the exciting classes and lessons that would go on in that school? Video game testing. That's the number one. I'm serious, man.
44:46
Cuz think about how long all these parents were always like, "Video games will rot your brain. There's no future."
44:51
And now you got pro video gamers making millions, hundreds of millions of dollars playing video games and having fun and and doing this thing.
44:58
So, it's like I sucked at math, but me and these teachers, we didn't speak the same language.
45:03
You know, these are people who like want to make a difference in a kid's life, but has no idea that his mother is suffering from this insane mental illness or how to deal with that.
45:11
It's like there was no real line of of communication and understanding between me and these people who were supposed to essentially teach me not only about, you know, academics, but life in many ways.
45:20
So, I wish I had somebody who spoke my language.
45:23
I wish I had somebody who understood, "Oh wow, like this kid really likes video games.
45:31
Have you ever thought about coding video games? What do you mean?
45:32
What are you talking about coding video games?
45:33
Well, creating this world.
45:34
What are you What are you talking about? Well, it's all binary. It's ones and zeros. It's math.
45:39
Yeah, but if you actually focus on math, you could engineer an entire world that a video game takes place in." Well, you don't say.
45:46
Like it's like and I never had that conversation.
45:48
It was just do algebra or drop out.
45:50
And that was very difficult.
45:54
Yeah, I think that's smart. I couldn't agree more.
45:56
I think I I always grew up thinking I didn't know that any other industries existed from medicine, law, and finance.
46:03
Like beyond that, I didn't even know there was a potential to have another job because I didn't meet anyone outside of those industries, and I didn't know anyone who had been accomplished or successful outside of those industries.
46:17
And so, you end up just going, "Well, well, then these are just my three options."
46:20
And and I think there is such a limitation placed on that because you're just unaware.
46:25
When you think about now, obviously you have made it in an industry which is highly competitive, it's difficult, it's saturated.
46:33
It's like every kid's dream to want to be a rapper, have their music or their song be heard. Yeah.
46:43
When you go back to the days when it wasn't working musically, what was the thing that kept you going?
46:51
Was it that you were chasing a deal or a hit, or was it that you just loved it so much that you just believed anyway? Where Where was that? What kept you going? Uh probably craziness.
47:06
Cuz it's like you have to be crazy to think, "Oh, I'm going to make it as a rapper."
47:11
But the difference with me though is like I looked at it from a business standpoint.
47:15
Like I was like, "Okay, if I could take a brand, myself, be myself, be honest, I feel like there's not really a lot of me in rap, and there's not really a lot of me in major rap or major music, mainstream music.
47:26
So, I want to fill that void.
47:29
Um and as I started to write these songs where I'm like, "Believe in yourself.
47:34
Peace, love, and positivity. You can do it.
47:35
You can be whatever you want."
47:37
Like people started engaging with that and were like, "Wow, this isn't just the traditional what is rap or what is this or that or whatever the case may be."
47:45
And I don't say that in any with any negative connotation or anything, you know?
47:49
It's like literally there's a bunch of rap that's kind of negative.
47:52
There's rap that's really good, but I felt this kind of nerdy, sci-fi me could break through.
47:59
I don't know why, but I think it was insane that to to even begin to think that.
48:03
But it was just like week by week, little by little, things were improving.
48:07
Whether it was 10 extra followers on Twitter, I was also utilizing and using social media in a way that these platforms hadn't known about it or they weren't ready for what was coming.
48:19
Because it was cats like me, Kendrick Lamar, J.
48:21
Cole, Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, we were utilizing this as a space where we didn't need a major label.
48:26
And if we put out a song that was catchy enough, people could decide what they wanted to listen to.
48:33
And so radio was dying, MTV, all that stuff was kind of out of there, and there was just this pocket of where you have these um like blogs, like This Song Is Sick and Two Dope Boys, and people could go to a blog to find what they want and what they love.
48:50
And that allowed me to shine um and do it.
48:56
And the bigger I got, yeah, there were certain things that I was chasing.
48:59
I was chasing being able to go on tour by myself, being able to make a lot of money, hopefully having a hit record. But it's funny.
49:06
I had a very slow-burning career, and I amassed a lot of fans.
49:09
I was I was playing arenas before I ever had a hit song with 1-800.
49:14
Um and it's funny because when I gave up trying to chase the hit, I ended up making the song from my heart.
49:24
The last Nobody Trust Me.
49:26
Nobody was like in the studio like, "Yeah, song about suicide about to take over the club, dog."
49:31
Like nobody was thinking that, okay?
49:32
So I made this thing from my heart and it blew up.
49:34
And then after that, I was just kind of like, "Well, I'm here.
49:38
I made $30 million that year.
49:40
I was doing records with Marshmello and Eminem."
49:42
And I was just like, "Let's go, go, go, go, go."
49:44
And then I realized after over a decade I was on this hamster wheel and I was doing it and it's like, "How many number ones can you have?
49:50
How many platinum plaques can you have?
49:51
How many this can you have?
49:53
How many that can you have?
49:54
I have literally attained and accomplished any everything that a musician could dream to attain with the exception of winning a Grammy, which is merely just a glorified pat on the back.
50:05
And so I had to look myself in the mirror and say, "Why?"
50:06
And I have purposefully slowed down so that I can focus on my mental and physical health, so that I can focus on being there for my child and my wife, and that I can love and enjoy this life and this house that I've spent the last 17 years of my life building.
50:22
And it is terrifying, Jay.
50:25
I'm just going to be me and do me.
50:32
And it It's not about the money.
50:32
It is about value over fear.
50:34
And I used to value money and success and being that guy um over my health. Mhm.
50:44
And I will never do that ever again. That's beautiful, man. Well-said.
50:48
I actually I'd picked out a few of your lyrics that were my favorite. I want to read this one.
50:52
It's from uh Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.
50:55
You said, "Searching for bliss only led me to searching for hits.
50:57
Only led me to battle depression.
50:59
I done learned my lesson cuz fame never lessen the pain."
51:03
And and you know, that lyric for me uh is is so powerful to what you just said right now and I think, you know, for someone who has had so much success it's it's incredible because I feel, no matter how many times you hear that, you have to go do it for yourself. Right?
51:18
No matter The all the successful people I speak to in the world, I'm like, every one of them feels exactly how you do, but every one of them will say, "I had to go there to be able to accept it."
51:28
Uh but it seems like you've really allowed yourself to accept it genuinely and your family's become such a focus.
51:36
I want to hear more about What is What does it feel like to you to to be a husband, to be a father?
51:41
Like We We started there when we were talking about your child.
51:46
How have you prioritized that relationship in your life?
51:49
Like, what does that mean to you to, you know, be in a relationship in a way that you'd never seen before growing up?
51:56
Well, if one, I just want to say you quoted one of my favorite albums and an album that was actually commercially my least, {quote} {unquote}, successful album because of the things I was discussing on that album and yet it's still to this date my most popular album.
52:10
It's really funny how it works.
52:11
So, I just want to say that.
52:13
Um my relationship with my son and my wife, just family, it it's the greatest thing in the world because when I was going through things or or feeling a certain way, you just look at this child and you go, "My kid is healthy.
52:30
So, so what if somebody on the internet's like, 'You're not black?'" You know what I mean?
52:37
It's like, "My my wife is is happy.
52:39
So, what if somebody on the internet's like, 'You suck at rapping?'"
52:43
Like, it's these things are so minuscule and they don't matter and I'm looking at what actually matters.
52:51
But, it is difficult, once again, to know and what it comes down to value over fear.
52:55
There is fear that me stepping away, I may not be as big because I'm focusing on my family and my my personal mental and physical and mental health.
53:06
Um but, I value that so much more than the fear of what could come.
53:08
I mean, I I I've been on the internet in 2 years and I've only ever jumped in if I like grab my assistant's phone just to like tweet something and I I could tweet something and as soon as it goes up, I get like auto responses and a couple weeks ago I was posting um cuz I did the I narrated the entire uh book, This Bright Future, and I posted something and somebody immediately was like, "You fell off hard."
53:34
And I'm in my head like, "I just dropped an album last year and it sold 250,000 units in a week. Is that falling off?
53:43
Like, you know what I mean?
53:45
And And then I remember what the what the internet does to you, and it makes you question yourself and second-guess yourself.
53:49
And it's also very pay-to-play.
53:50
The less time I spend on Instagram, if I have 6 plus million followers, every time I post, I don't see the same amount uh of love or this or or or or or likes or views that I used to because I'm not constantly on it anymore.
54:05
So, now I literally either have to pay for ads and space to get all this.
54:10
It's It's just kind of like a sick thing where if you pull away, you can't leave where you kind of left off.
54:18
Um but once again, I look at my boy, and I realize that it's the Matrix, man.
54:24
Like, none of that matters.
54:24
Also, I'm excited for that new Matrix movie coming out.
54:29
Yeah, shout-out to the Matrix movie.
54:29
Uh but no, I I I really appreciate I really appreciate hearing that from you because I think as creatives, whatever space we're in, everyone everyone focuses focuses on that feeling of being becoming irrelevant.
54:44
And I personally believe that the time you take out to rediscover yourself allows you to reinvent who you are and your new creativity and define a genre and change a genre and upgrade and I feel like it's all levels, right?
54:58
Like, you can have someone who does the same thing every day all day every year.
55:01
Or you see those people that have been relevant every decade because they took it to another level, right?
55:10
They did something different.
55:12
They did something more innovative.
55:14
They did something surprising.
55:15
And both of them I respect both of them.
55:18
I'm not saying one's better than the other.
55:19
But what I am saying is I want the latter, man.
55:21
I want I want to be Bowie and Queen.
55:23
Like, I don't want to just You're right.
55:25
Like, I don't want to just be out here like working myself to death.
55:29
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but I just so I agree with what you're saying.
55:35
But it's just so scary, especially in rap, where it's like you're either on all the time or you're not.
55:38
But, I'm going to be honest, Jay, like I haven't I'm not excited.
55:42
There's no There's not an ounce in me that feels like touring right now, that feels like really going hard and like promoting an album.
55:49
Like, I don't want to do that.
55:51
And if I don't want to do that, then I shouldn't.
55:52
I should wait until the music is there, I am excited, and I cannot wait to go out and do it.
55:59
And I think I've dropped up one minimum, sometimes two projects a year for the last 12 years of my life. Wow.
56:08
I'm I'm think I'm going to chill out a little bit. Yeah.
56:11
Well, I Well, I think that's the trade-off, right?
56:12
Like, when people hear that, if you're at the beginning of your journey and you're listening to Bobby right now and you're going, "Oh, yeah, he's right.
56:19
Let me just lay back and let me take my time."
56:21
That probably is bad advice because at that time in your life, at that phase, and I would say that to people, don't look at what people are doing at their stage, look at what they did at your phase.
56:30
Like, look at what they did Yeah.
56:32
in your in in when they were your age, when they were in your time, when they were just beginning, because you know, that's the difference that you've now earned a platform, you worked hard for that, you built that, and that now gives you the flexibility to adapt and reinvent and recreate and focus on your family.
56:50
Whereas, there was a time when all you had to do was give it all you had because you had to be present.
56:55
And so, I And I think the mistake is what you said.
56:57
It's almost like what you call like like broke mindset almost, where you continue to live like you don't have anything. Right?
57:04
And And if you continue to live that way, mentally, emotionally, financially, spiritually, then you can't sustain that.
57:12
And I think that's what happens is that when you're on that journey upwards, if you don't at one point realize, "Oh, no, now I do need to start investing in my health.
57:19
I do need to start investing in my mind.
57:21
I do need to start It's like athletes.
57:23
The athletes that have lasted are athletes that realized after they won everything that they needed to eat right, they needed to sleep right, they needed to change their fitness schedule and that's why they People like Tom Brady still playing, right?
57:35
Uh Cristiano Ronaldo in Europe, if you're a soccer fan, still playing at 36 at the top of the game.
57:41
So, I feel like that's what you see these shifts in in leaders, if that makes sense.
57:46
Yeah, you just snapped so hard.
57:48
That makes all the sense in the world.
57:50
Yeah, I I wholeheartedly agree with that statement. Uh thank you, man. Well, I appreciate you.
57:54
We're going to We're going to go to You've been very generous with your time.
57:57
Uh we end every Umpop with a segment with a final five.
58:00
So, this is a fast five rapid-fire round where every question has to be answered in one word or one sentence maximum.
58:09
Easy for a freestyle rapper and uh a musician.
58:11
Uh but and you can answer in lyrics if you like to.
58:16
Uh so So, the first question is what is the best advice you've ever received or given? Be yourself.
58:24
What is the worst advice you've ever received? Be yourself. I'm serious.
58:31
So So, that depends on who you are.
58:32
No, tell me tell explain explain the why it can be the worst.
58:36
I'll give you a more words.
58:38
Um I think it's the best and it's really incredible because you are not a fraud.
58:44
You are yourself undoubtedly.
58:47
You are you and that is amazing.
58:51
But also, when you are yourself, at least in my genre, and you put your whole life in a book and you put your whole everything that you are, your love, your passion into records and it's you. It's not a persona.
59:01
It's not You're not an actor playing uh you know, a role that just wasn't received well in this movie and you're Brad Pitt and you go on to make a bunch of other. Like you're you.
59:11
So, when your highs are high, they're high and when they're low, they're low.
59:15
And when you are yourself, you're not always loved or you might be kicked and, you know, pulled down to the pits of hell.
59:21
But at the same time, being yourself can open up heaven's gates.
59:26
So, it's it was I know it's crazy, but you set fire off rapidly.
59:30
Those two are difficult, yeah. It's great.
59:33
All right, question number three.
59:34
If you could have a dinner party with three other people dead or alive, who would they be? Be yourself. No, I'm just kidding.
59:42
It would be I would have to say Quentin Tarantino.
59:48
Um ooh, hold on, let me think. Dinner party? Um um Freddie Mercury. Oh, man.
59:58
I Dude, I'm so happy you said that.
59:58
I love Freddie Mercury and Queen.
1:00:00
I I was not expecting that. They're the best. And probably Carl Sagan.
1:00:10
Uh I want to I want to be I want to be a I want to be a fly on the wall at that dinner party.
1:00:14
Either Carl Sagan or Malcolm X.
1:00:14
That would be the most Yo, Tarantino and Malcolm X.
1:00:20
That's a wild conversation. Yeah. Anyway, sorry.
1:00:22
No, that'd be No, that'd be amazing.
1:00:22
I I I was asked that question this week by I was doing a corporate event Q&A with Target, and Reham from Target asked me that question.
1:00:33
And I was like, "Oh, that's a really cool question.
1:00:34
I want to know who else everyone would want to sit down with."
1:00:37
I said I said Steve Jobs, Einstein, and Martin Luther King. Those were my three. Wow.
1:00:42
Uh I was like, "Those those minds in the same room would be would be fascinating."
1:00:46
All right, question number four.
1:00:48
Uh what is the biggest lesson you've learned in the last 12 months?
1:00:53
Really being happy with yourself and and knowing like knowing your self-worth and just knowing what's important.
1:01:01
And that's what I've my my time, my family, my health.
1:01:06
That's what I've really, really learned in these last 12 months. I love that.
1:01:10
All right, and fifth and final question.
1:01:11
If you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be?
1:01:18
There's so many things, but honestly, the first one that comes is to just abolish guns.
1:01:21
I just wish guns didn't exist.
1:01:24
I wish I didn't need them.
1:01:24
I wish people didn't need them.
1:01:26
It would be amazing if they were just all gone.
1:01:27
It'd be a lot of stabbings, but at least there would you know, it wouldn't be like yeah.
1:01:33
So, I would that'd be great if all these mass shootings and things like that could stop and wars and but I mean it's a fairy tale, but that's what I would do. Amazing. Thank you, man.
1:01:44
Everyone, Bobby Hall aka Logic, This Bright Future. That's the book.
1:01:46
We're going to put it the link in all the comments, the captions.
1:01:49
I want you to go out and grab a copy. Read it, devour it. You're going to love it. It's it's poetry.
1:01:56
It's it's vulnerable and it's a a book that I truly think is going to change the way people think about parenting, relationships, and how they spend their life and their legacy and what they chase.
1:02:07
So, Bobby, I want to say a big thank you to you for not just doing this podcast, but for writing this book. I appreciate you.
1:02:12
I hope we get to bump into a few bump into each other a few more airports, but also some dinners and whatever else.
1:02:17
And give my love to Pepper and the rest of the team. And send me his address.
1:02:23
I want to send him something.
1:02:24
But thank you so much, man. I appreciate you. And Thank you. Thank you for this time.
1:02:29
want to say thank you for having me and thank you to everybody watching and listening. It means a lot.
1:02:32
Sometimes I wake up I can't believe that I even get to have conversations with people like you. I feel lucky.
1:02:38
I'm super blessed and I just want to thank you all, everyone involved, producers, people behind the camera, everybody.
1:02:45
Thank you so much for making this possible and I really appreciate So, hopefully we could do this again.
1:02:51
And yeah, man, I'd love to have dinner sometime.
1:02:53
Let's have Yeah, man, it'd be good to get together. Thank you so much.
1:02:55
Thanks everyone for listening.
1:02:56
I want to make sure that if you've heard anything from Bobby that resonated today, make sure you do tag us on Instagram and Twitter.
1:03:02
Let us know what connected, what resonated, any of the wisdom bites that he shared with you.
1:03:07
We'd both love to see Well, he won't see it, but I'll definitely see it.
1:03:11
I'd love to see what resonated with you.
1:03:13
Thanks everyone for listening on purpose.
1:03:14
We'll see you again next week.
1:03:16
If you want even more videos just like this one, make sure you subscribe and click on the boxes over here.
1:03:20
I'm also excited to let you know that you can now get my book Think Like a Monk from thinklikeamonkbook. com.
1:03:30
Check below in the description to make sure you order today.