Sayonara

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

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

I could fucking go on bro, Lory, Peter, Kate and Gabe
We gon' get into the rest later, man, but I fucking 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 living 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 having 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 talking shit 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
Fucking 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 fucking love y'all
Everybody in fucking A&R, admin, samples

PR, marketing, the execs, fucking Barry White's old ass
That motherfucker took care of me, man, he signed me
I remember seeing a Britney Spears fucking 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, fucking 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 fucking Summit Hall Elementary School, bro
I mean you like ninety years older than me but it's all good
Nicky Farag stepping up in the ranks, I love you shawty!
Lory LaMattina, Keith Ross, fucking Rick [?] the God
Mundo Garcia, boy

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

Finance, fucking 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 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 fucking love you, Deborah
I don't even gotta say your full name, you are a goddess
Nicole Pastine (And of course the homie Xavier)
Rapping 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 getting sued by some fuckboy
And y'all was tryna get me to change my name and shit

I spent my whole fucking career, this who I was
Y'all trying get me to change my name
Y'all wasn't trying to 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 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, 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 fucking 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 fucking 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 of dollars for y'all, hahahaha
And we've had some good memories
I love you, I fuck with you
My only regret is I ain't really get to fuck with [?] like that
Yo man, you're a fucking G bro
Much love to Lucian

I appreciate all the fucking millions of dollars that you gave me to make these records, hahahahaha
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 we really know 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 what

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