Sayonara

Ayo, for real, look, let me just say this
I wanna say I love Def Jam, Def Jam changed my fuckin' life
There's definitely some fuckboys in that building
Some suits wearing ties and shit

But it's some real good-ass fuckin' people, man
Steve Bartels, Faisel, Jeff
Fuckin' Justin Duran, Dave Bell
Chris Atlas, David Amaya

I could fuckin' go on bro, Lory, Peter, Kate and Gabe
We gon' get into the rest later, man, but I fuckin' love y'all
Let's get to this shit, here we go

This my Friday Night Lights, track ninеteen
From major to independent, as sightseen, my Ultralight Bеam
I ain't finna go into the discrepancies of my deal
Like the millions that y'all owe me, I gotta audit y'all for real
But you changed my life, that's my word
Took a young kid out of Gaithersburg, and you'll never know
What it means for a kid in his teens and his entire team
To go from open mics to actually livin' they dreams
This a "Thank you" to the people in the building
For helping me build the empire that I'm still building

Diddy said a rapper only gets five years, we double that
Independent now, won't double back
I rep the BMG, yeah, I'm the Big Money Getter
Fuck the pop shit, remember Logic as a spitter
Just a kid havin' fun when I step to the mic
That's why I never understood the hate I get when I write
Back when posting new songs on Internet rap forums
All the way to talkin' shit the first night I sold out The Forum
But they hated Jesus, homie

I ain't comparing, I'm just reasoning, homie
I'm just tryna set an example
I went pop and made millions, now all I do is chop samples
Egon's finest, peanuts after like I was Linus
Followed by that College Park next, that's the line-up
First album, the EP was No I.D
Last album, the executive producer is me, I'm set free
Sayonara

So the crazy shit is right, like, when we was shopping deals
Mike, Mike Caren over at Atlantic, he offered me a deal for thirty grand
I was like "Fuck no", hahaha
Shoutout Mike, though

Some independent label offered us one-point-five, and we was like "Nah"
But Def Jam hit me up, you know what I'm saying?
Noah pressed my A&R for ten fucking years, bro
He linked me with No I.D., man, and I was like, "Yo, No I.D.?"
"That's Ye, that's Jay, that's Common, homie - how could we not?"
And we signed a deal, we inked that shit up, bro

Maurice Frazier, Lisa Bronson, Jason Peerless
Fuckin' Liza, Nakeisha, Mario, Ryan
Cordon, I could go on
Lynn Gonzalez, yo, Lynn Gonzalez
Ian, you motherfucker with the samples
Ian be listening to shit that ain't even a sample
He's like, "This shit's a sample"
I be like, "Ian, shut the fuck up, bro"

I love y'all, Antoinette, Donna, Jamie, Stephanie
Jenny, Paul, all you motherfuckers know who y'all at
And legal, man, album delivery, I fuckin' love y'all
Everybody in fuckin' A&R, admin, samples
PR, marketing, the execs, fuckin' Barry White's old ass
That motherfucker took care of me, man, he signed me

I remember seeing a Britney Spears fuckin' plaque
She went fucking diamond
I asked Chris Zarou, my manager at VMG
I said, "What the fuck is diamond?", he said, "Bro, ten times platinum"
I'll never forget I said never, bro, "Never, I'm not gonna go diamond"
"1-800" almost diamond, what up? Haha, billions of streams

Everybody in sales and commerce, DDC, Marcus
Scott, Bobby, fuckin' Theta, Mac, Eric, Fred Thomas
All y'all, sorry for the first name basis but I fuck with y'all
Everybody at Radio, man

First of all, let me start this shit off with Noah Sheer, Gaithersburg's own
We went to fuckin' Summit Hall Elementary School, bro
I mean you like ninety years older than me but it's all good
Nicky Farag steppin' up in the ranks, I love you shawty
Lory LaMattina, Keith Rothschild, fuckin' Rick Sackheim the God

Mundo Garcia, boy
Get a bigger pair of pants, your shit look like it's painted on
Sonny D, my fuckin' brother, Britney, Scott, Chico, EP
Like, Rodney, Rosie, Rozzy, Brian, International, Mike Alexander
Marissa, Mira, Art
Ty, that's all I gotta say, Ty Lindsey, that's it

Finance, fuckin' finance, Jen Hersh
Melissa Bernal, I love y'all
Tour Marketing, Albert, Albert Cook
Shervah Edwards, video, oh, Millie, gotta love Millie
Millie was always on the, on the sets like
"Alright, make sure the Red Bull can is exactly in front of the shot"
I was like, "Millie, get the fuck out of here"

Remy, Carolyn, Yolanda, Nadeen
And of course, of course
Deborah at the sample team, I fuckin' love you, Deborah
I don't even gotta say your full name, you are a goddess

Nicole Pastine (and of course the homie Xavier)
Rappin' is my passion, I love y'all, man, look
This what I'ma say about Def Jam, look, man

We had some ups and downs, you know what I'm saying?
My first album, I was gettin' sued by some fuckboy
And y'all was tryna get me to change my name and shit
I spent my whole fuckin' career, this who I was
Y'all tryna get me to change my name
Y'all wasn't tryna put out my album so we did the "While You Wait" shit
We went on tour, you know what I'm saying?
But eventually, shit worked out
But even with that, you motherfuckers
You know, you under shipped me and shit

And that's what I'll say
I don't, I really wholeheartedly don't believe that was none of the people I just named either, man
Everybody, I fuck with y'all, I rock with y'all
Any other fuckboys behind the scenes, y'all could suck a dick
Eat my whole fuckin' ballsack, man

This industry is fucked up
The wildest shit, is I'ma say this, man
This whole industry is musical chairs, yo
Cats like Steve Bartels, Faisel, Jeff Harleston, man
They, they the real ones, you know what I mean?

But like motherfuckers be so in-and-out, that's why I didn't stay with Def Jam
I went to Def Jam after ten years on the label, because I owed them that
I was like, "Okay, so what's up? We signing another deal?"
They ain't even get back to me in time
So I went somewhere else and I don't know who butthurt or what
I could give a fuck, man

All I'ma say is I love y'all who rock with me
I love y'all who take care of me
I love y'all who fuckin' drove me from New York to Boston to do
Radio interviews and shit man
Appreciate y'all
It's been a, it's been a dope time on this major label shit, you know what I'm saying?
I've made millions and millions and millions of dollars for y'all, hahaha
And uhh, we've had some good memories

I love you, I appreciate you
My only regret is I ain't get to really fuck with Tunji like that
We doin' this last album, you know what I'm sayin'?
But Tunji, man, that's the God, he's here for the culture
Yo man, you're a fuckin' G bro
Much love to Lucian

Appreciate all the fuckin' millions of dollars that you gave me to make these records, hahaha
Independent shit next
VMG, VMG, Bobby Boy
Sayonara

Logic as a rapper is an anomaly, a person who is out of time
Living in the present, you know, rooted in the past
But a traditionalist who believes in the future
Who believes in what hip-hop was and can still be
So we're here in this modern time
Thinking about and listening to the development of hip-hop and it's future all at once
I think that a lot of people in the modern sense of the word get caught up in how fleeting time is
And they believe that what's happening right in front of them
Is the most immediate thing and it's the most meaningful thing

And they have to engage what's happening in the moment
Because the moment's gonna be gone and then they're not gonna care
Or no one else around them is gonna care
And I think we forget that great experiences in the, in humanity
Go on for decades, centuries, sometimes millennia
Before anybody even really knows how to make sense of them
And so, in the same way that the monks in the dark ages were keeping records and saving books
You know, it is important for us to really make sense of one of Americas great folk musics, and that's hip-hop
And there's very few people who care enough to actually keep the form going while trying to push it forwards

Logic's one of those dudes
And the reason Madlib and I decided that we wanted to work with him
Is because he came through with a true sincerity and appreciation for the form
And for all of the people who make it
And like a true understanding of craft and like, who's doing what
And how their technique is either important, relevant
Something that needs to be preserved or not
And I remind myself that even though hip-hop seems to me
In my mid forties to be an old thing because it's been around since the early '70s
It's actually just in its infancy

And if it's not for people like Logic trying to keep this tradition alive
We're not really gonna know even shortly after, what's supposed to come
This hopefully is an art form that's gonna outlast
All these art forms that preceded it and formed it
And we're only gonna know that if people who truly have the passion, belief
And the proficiency, the musical acumen
To hold the form, hold it dear
And at the same time, not be so reverent to it and push it forward
Are there to show us the way
So hopefully he's one of these dudes, I have that belief