''Everybody'' (stylized as ''ΞVERYBODY'') is the third studio album by American rapper
Logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
. It was released on May 5, 2017, by
Visionary Music Group
Visionary Music Group is an American independent record label & management company, founded by Christian Zarou. The label's roster includes Logic and Jon Bellion, among others. In 2018, Visionary Music Group partnered with management company Mut ...
and
Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop.
The ...
. The album features guest appearances from
Killer Mike
Michael Santiago Render (born April 20, 1975), better known by his stage name Killer Mike, is an American rapper, actor, and activist. Mike made his debut on Outkast's 2000 LP ''Stankonia'', and later appeared on their Grammy-winning single " ...
,
Alessia Cara
Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara (), is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in Mississauga, Ontario, to Italian Canadian parents, she began posting covers of songs on YouTube at age 13. After uploadi ...
,
Khalid
Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal", and it also appears as a surname. ,
J. Cole
Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained recognition as a rapper following the release of his d ...
,
No I.D.
Ernest Dion Wilson (born June 23, 1971), professionally known as No I.D. (formerly Immenslope), is an American hip hop and R&B producer from Chicago, Illinois. Wilson is also a disc jockey (DJ), music arranger and former rapper, having relea ...
, and
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson ( or ; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. From 1991 to 1994, he was a po ...
, among others. The production on the album was handled by ten producers including
6ix and Logic.
''Everybody'' was supported by three singles: "
Everybody", "
Black Spiderman
"Black Spiderman" is a song by American rapper Logic featuring singer Damian Lemar Hudson. It was released on April 13, 2017, by Visionary Music Group and Def Jam Recordings, as the second single from his third studio album '' Everybody''. It ...
" and "
1-800-273-8255". The album received generally favorable reviews from critics and debuted at number one on the US
''Billboard'' 200. It is Logic's first number-one album on the chart.
Background
On October 3, 2016, Logic revealed a working title of the album to be called ''AfricAryaN'', stating the title was due to "being black and white, and seeing life from two sides.
t's aboutcultural evolution
ecausewe all have so many different ethnicities in our blood, no matter how pure we think we are." The album's title received controversy upon release, with many voicing their displeasure at Logic's inclusion of the word "
Aryan
Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...
", and the
historical connotations regarding the word. This rationale supposedly caused Logic to alter the title of the album, although, he retained the name for the final song on the album. The album's cover art was painted by Sam Spratt, who used ''
The Wedding at Cana
''The Wedding Feast at Cana'' (''Nozze di Cana'', 1562–1563), by Paolo Veronese, is a representational painting that depicts the biblical story of the Marriage at Cana, at which Jesus miraculously converts water into red wine (John 2:1–11). ...
'', painted by
Paolo Veronese
Paolo Caliari (152819 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( , also , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of religion and mythology, such as ''The Wedding at Cana'' (1563) and ''The ...
as an example.
Logic also conducted a contest for a fan to be painted on the album cover, which was won by a fan named Josh suffering with
osteogenesis imperfecta
Osteogenesis imperfecta (; OI), colloquially known as brittle bone disease, is a group of genetic disorders that all result in bones that break easily. The range of symptoms—on the skeleton as well as on the body's other organs—may be mi ...
.
Logic further elaborated on the album's concept in a subsequent
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
video, revealing astrophysicist
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson ( or ; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. From 1991 to 1994, he was a po ...
would star as God, and former San Francisco radio personality Big Von would play the protagonist Atom. It is explained that Atom dies in a car accident, and speaks with God upon arrival to Heaven. God informs him the only way he can move into the afterlife is if he can complete reincarnation into another life, to which Atom agrees. Later, he finds out that the deal involves living the lives of every single human being, to move on to the afterlife. This concept was inspired by the short story "
The Egg" by
Andy Weir
Andrew Taylor Weir (born June 16, 1972) is an American novelist and former computer programmer. His 2011 novel '' The Martian'' was adapted into the 2015 film of the same name directed by Ridley Scott. He received the John W. Campbell Award fo ...
, with the interlude track "Waiting Room" retelling this narrative.
Promotion
The album was announced on March 29, 2017, with a promotional video that has been uploaded to YouTube, revealing the album's release date of May 5, 2017.
After the album's artwork was revealed, rapper
Freddie Gibbs
Fredrick Jamel Tipton (born June 14, 1982), better known by his stage name Freddie Gibbs, is an American rapper from Gary, Indiana. After initially being signed to Interscope Records in 2006, Gibbs recorded his debut studio album under the label ...
accused Logic of making a trailer and album cover similar to his album ''
You Only Live 2wice
''You Only Live 2wice'' is the third studio album by American rapper Freddie Gibbs. It was released on March 31, 2017, by ESGN and Empire Distribution. The album includes eight tracks with no guest appearances.
Background
In June 2016, Freddie Gib ...
''.
On May 12, 2017, Logic announced Everybody's Tour, a summer concert tour in support of the album. Logic headlined alongside frequent collaborator Big Lenbo and rapper
Joey Badass
Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott (born January 20, 1995), known professionally as Joey Badass (stylized as Joey Bada$$), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. A native of Brooklyn, New York City, he is a founding member of the hip-hop collective Pro ...
.
Singles
The album's
title track
A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title.
Title track may al ...
was released as the lead single on March 31, 2017. The track was produced by Logic, longtime friend
6ix, and PSTMN.
"
Black Spiderman
"Black Spiderman" is a song by American rapper Logic featuring singer Damian Lemar Hudson. It was released on April 13, 2017, by Visionary Music Group and Def Jam Recordings, as the second single from his third studio album '' Everybody''. It ...
" was released as the album's second single on April 13, 2017. The song features a
guest appearance
In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other p ...
from Damian Lemar Hudson, with Logic and 6ix, who also produced the track, alongside
DJ Khalil
Khalil Abdul-Rahman Hazzard (born October 16, 1973), professionally known as DJ Khalil, is an American music producer and DJ from Los Angeles. He is the instrumental half of the hip hop duo Self Scientific (along with rapper Chace Infinite) an ...
.
"
1-800-273-8255" was released as the album's third single on April 28, 2017. The track borrows its name from the phone number for the
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) is a United States-based suicide prevention
Suicide prevention is a collection of efforts to reduce the risk of suicide. Suicide is often preven ...
. The song features guest appearances from singer-songwriters
Alessia Cara
Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara (), is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in Mississauga, Ontario, to Italian Canadian parents, she began posting covers of songs on YouTube at age 13. After uploadi ...
and
Khalid
Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal", and it also appears as a surname. , with Logic and 6ix, who also produced the track.
Critical reception
''Everybody'' was met with generally favorable reviews. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 65, based on seven reviews.
Andy Kellman of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
stated that "Keeping track of whether Logic's writing from his own or someone else's vantage can be a challenge, but one doesn't need to be that familiar with his work to realize that this contains some of his most personal rhymes."
Andrew Gretchko of ''
HipHopDX
''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group.
...
'' saying "Hip Hop's gatekeepers will say that timing and the repetitive nature of Logic's lyrics hurts ''Everybody'' but for Logic's younger core fan base, especially those going through struggles of their own, his latest work will be the catharsis to keep them from plunging off the deep end."
Writing for ''RapReviews'', Sy Shackleford concluded, "However he chooses to create his albums, both Logic's talent as an emcee and his insightfulness can't be denied."
Preezy, an author for ''
XXL'', said, "Complete with unbridled lyricism, top-notch production and conceptual brilliance to tie it all together, ''Everybody'' is a hallmark release that further solidifies Logic solid standing in hip-hop."
In a review from ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'', Clayton Purdom noted that ""Amiable" is sort of the operant word for ''Everybody'', which, like Joey Badass' ''
All-Amerikkkan Badass
''All-Amerikkkan Badass'' (stylized as ''ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$'') is the second studio album by American rapper Joey Badass. It was released on April 7, 2017, through Pro Era Records and Cinematic Music Group. The album features guest appearances ...
'', strives to create a trenchant pop-rap polemic for the Trump era, but unlike that record—or any other record ever, for that matter—frequently gets lost in minutes-long spoken-word segues in which Neil deGrasse Tyson speaks as a benevolent god about the nature of self-worth."
Sheldon Pearce of ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'' said, "Aside from its more sociopolitical shortcomings, ''Everybody'' refuses to stop and evaluate why it exists in the first place. A lot has been made of Logic's technical skill, but it can't really be considered proficiency if it isn't efficient."
Commercial performance
''Everybody'' debuted at number one on the US
''Billboard'' 200 with 247,000
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...
s, of which 196,000 were pure album sales in its first week.
It is Logic's first number-one album on the chart.
The album also set the record for largest second week drop of all time, as pure sales fell 96% to just 8,000 copies. On March 26, 2018, the album was certified
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) for combined sales, streaming and track-sales equivalent of a million units in the United States.
Track listing
Credits were adapted from the album's liner notes.
Notes
* "Everybody" features background vocals from Damian Lemar Hudson, Diondria Thornton, Christopher Thornton, William Wells and Lucy Rose
* "Confess" features background vocals from Lucy Rose
* "Black Spiderman" features background vocals from Dylan Wiggins, Patrick Starrr, Christopher Thornton, William Wells, Jessica Hall and Chris Zarou
* "AfricAryaN" features an uncredited verse and production by
J. Cole
Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained recognition as a rapper following the release of his d ...
Sample credits
* "Hallelujah" contains a sample from "Flying High", performed by Travis Scott.
* "America" contains an interpolation of "Live at the Barbeque", written by Kevin McKenzie, Shawn McKenzie and Paul Mitchell.
* "Ink Blot" contains a sample from "Kodomo", performed by Carmen Maki.
* "Mos Definitely" contains an interpolation of "Maybe Tomorrow", written by
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...
,
Alan Bergman
Alan Bergman (born September 11, 1925) and Marilyn Keith Bergman (November 10, 1928 – January 8, 2022) were an American songwriting duo. Married from 1958 until Marilyn's death, together they wrote music and lyrics for numerous celebrated telev ...
and
Marilyn Bergman
Alan Bergman (born September 11, 1925) and Marilyn Keith Bergman (November 10, 1928 – January 8, 2022) were an American songwriting duo. Married from 1958 until Marilyn's death, together they wrote music and lyrics for numerous celebrated telev ...
.
* "Anziety" contains elements from "Color One Tear Black", performed by Double O's Demingo's.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
2017 albums
Albums produced by C-Sick
Albums produced by DJ Khalil
Def Jam Recordings albums
Concept albums
Logic (rapper) albums