Logic and 90s Hip Hop

I appreciate contemporary musicians, but there's just something about that era [the 90's] that I really loved and still love. I think there's not a lot of people who can make music like that and do it well. Or at least care to in today's modern sound. And there's nothing wrong with that by any means ... I mean, I've literally made trap music and pop music and it's paid for my house, you know what I mean? So I love it and appreciate it, but I also appreciate a good return to form every once in a while. My last album, No Pressure, was also very hip-hop, but even though it had that homage to it, it wasn't like this. This is literally just vinyl, MPC, break beat, raps. Like, that's it!

-- Logic, NPR Interview (2022)

I'm still working through Rolling Stone's top 200 hip hop albums (today is #189: Crenshaw - Nipsey Hussle). Perhaps this feeling will change, but I think this is probably going to reinforce my love of 90s hip hop. There is just something about that era that the new stuff usually doesn't quite hit. Don't get me wrong, I feel the same as Logic here -- there's nothing "wrong" with the new stuff. But listening to Pop Smoke or Juice WRLD feels like listening to a different genre of music to me. And the truth is I don't find any kind of delight in that stuff the same way I love Illmatic or Black on Both Sides. Maybe I really am just an old-head like the guys around the office say.

Tagged: hip hop,