Under Pressure

	Under Pressure
	Studio album by Logic
Released	October 21, 2014
Recorded	2013-14
Studio	4220 and Logic House (Los Angeles, California)
Genre	Hip-Hop/Rap, R&B/Soul
Length	56:23; 1:07:34 (Deluxe)
Label	Visionary, Def Jam
Producer	Logic, 6ix, No I.D., Alkebulan, Arhtur McArthur, DJ Dahi, DJ Khalil, Dun Deal, Frank Dukes, Jake One, M-Phazes, Rob Knox, S1, Skhye Hutch, Swiff D, Tae Beast
Voice Actor	Anna Elyse Palchikoff: Thalia
Stream	Apple Music, Google Play,SoundCloud, Spotify
Price	$5.99; Deluxe: $9.99
	Logic chronology
	Under Pressure Deluxe Edition cover
	Cover art for songs from Under Pressure
	1; 2; 3; 4; 5;
	Singles from Under Pressure
	"Under Pressure"; Released: September 15, 2014; "Buried Alive"; Released: October 14, 2014;
	view • edit

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Under Pressure was Logic's first studio album. The development and composition of the album began in 2013, with the recording process taking place during a two-week span at the beginning of 2014. Production was primarily handled by No I.D., with the smaller contributions coming from 6ix, DJ Dahi, DJ Khalil, S1, Jake One, and Dun Deal.

The standard edition of the album had no guest appearances whatsoever, while the deluxe edition featured Big Sean and Childish Gambino on the tracks "Alright" and "Driving Ms. Daisy", which were present on the preceding EP -- While You Wait -- which was released earlier in 2014.

Background[]

Between 2010 and 2013, Logic released four free mixtapes (Young, Broke & Infamous, Young Sinatra, Young Sinatra: Undeniable, and Young Sinatra: Welcome to Forever) online and funded his own tours, through which he built a fanbase and reputation. According to Logic himself, the largest contributing factor in his rise to stardom was that he "hit the road and actually saw his fans face to face and shook their hands." He signed on with Def Jam five months after the release of Young Sinatra in 2011; the deal was kept secret until 2013, because he "didn't want the fans to be like, 'Oh he's going to change!'"

Logic has metaphorically described Def Jam as his "bank", which didn't interfere with his creative control or deal much with his publicity. Visionary Music Group, an indie label run by Logic, managed and funded his audio mixing, mastering, touring, and commissioning of album art.

Logic moved to LA in 2013 to work on Under Pressure with No I.D., who he later compared to Yoda. Several folks advised him to make the album more personal than his mixtapes, writing about his difficult upbringing in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Logic took the advice of Don Cannon, and omitted guest appearances in order to maintain the album's personal theme. The title of the album reflects the challenges of Logic's private life and rap career, while also referencing his belief that the album is "his diamond", as diamonds are formed by pressure.

His previous mixtapes dealt with his biracial heritage, but he changed his focus from race to culture on Under Pressure. Instead of going the radio route, he wanted to create a classic Hip-Hop album similar to the style of Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest, Big Daddy Kane, Kanye West, and Big L.

Logic tried to make Under Pressure more consistent and more quintessentially hip-hop than his mixtapes, which he found incohesive. Although he admitted to emulating other rappers on his earlier releases, he believed that the album would finally crystallize "the sound of Logic".

Music and lyrics[]

Growing up there were guns in the house, my brothers were out selling crack. I grew up on Section 8 housing, food stamps, welfare, and dealing with social services. I never had a Christmas, I never had a birthday.

Under Pressure details Logic's life story beginning with his childhood in Gaithersberg, Maryland, and as he described its content as "extremely, extremely dark." Logic conceived "Gang Related" after watching Boyz n the Hood. Logic considered it to be "a gangster record" that subverts the glorification of violence in common hip hop by describing criminal activities and corresponding violence that had surrounded him as a child, while showing that he chose a different lifestyle. After completing the first verse, he was blocked on the lyrics for ten days, until he thought to rap from the perspective of his brother who had dealt drugs in Logic's youth. His brother agreed to the idea and provided him with stories from the period.^[1]

While on tour with Kid Cudi, Logic received numerous voicemail messages from his family, which he "transcribed damn near word for word" and converted them into song lyrics. As a fan of hip hop braggadocio, Logic was initially uneasy about the results, but he chose to push forward with the idea. "Never Enough" was written as an "ignorant" track with a hidden meaning: it discusses the pleasures of "money, bitches, drugs [and] partying" but declares them insufficient for living a fulfilling life. Logic wrote "Till the End" about his difficulty breaking into the mainstream.^[1]

CD and Vinyl[]


The tracklists for the standard and deluxe editions. The original tracklist (shown above left), is the standard edition, which ends like a Young Sinatra album (with "Till the End"). The tracklist for the deluxe version (above right) contains three tracks from While You Wait. Unlike most deluxe versions, the three tracks fit with the theme of Under Pressure.

Above are the images of the deluxe edition vinyl for Under Pressure. The first two images are what the vinyl looked like wrapped. The last vinyl disc shows the backdrop of the standard edition cover; the second to last image is of a Mac keyboard (this is of the keyboard from the laptop on the cover for the standard edition cover -- Macs are a favorite of musicians in the music industry due to sound quality). Below are the images of the standard edition vinyl, which shows Logic recording the album through a series of photos taken throughout the album's creation. One of the images (first image below) is of Logic as a Futurama character. The final image is the last disc for the vinyl, with Logic sleeping on a couch, likely exhausted from the hours upon hours of work he put into this album, which is currently (as of 2022) nearing 1 billion streams on Spotify.

Track List[]

Under Pressure
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	Intro (feat. Patty Crash & The Frontrunnaz)	Sir Robert Hall II, Arjun Ivatury, Norman Whiteside	6ix	3:03
2.	Soul Food	Hall II, Khalil Abdul-Rahman, Alkebulan Williams, Ivatury	Alkebulan, DJ Khalil, 6ix	4:53
3.	I'm Gone (feat. Jessica Andrea)	Hall II, Ivatury, Arthur Ross, Leon Ware, Jacob Dutton	6ix, Jake One	4:42
4.	Gang Related	Hall II, Ivatury, Lawrence Parker, Praveen Sharma, Travis Stewart	6ix	2:47
5.	Buried Alive	Hall II, David Cunningham	Dun Deal, Logic	5:38
6.	Bounce	Hall II, Larry Griffin, Jr., Mark Landon	S1, M-Phazes	4:05
7.	Growing Pains III	Hall II, Donte Perkins, Adam Feeny	Tae Beast, Skhye Hutch, Frank Dukes, 6ix	4:07
8.	Never Enough (feat. Patty Crash)	Hall II, Dacoury Natche, Feeny, André Benjamin, Patrick Brown, Raymon Murray, Antwan Patton, Rico Wade, Scott Mescudi, Evan West, Michael Stroud	DJ Dahi, Frank Dukes	4:23
9.	Metropolis (feat. Jessica Andrea, Patty Crash & The Frontrunnaz)	Hall II, Robin Tadross	Rob Nox, Logic	4:55
10.	Nikki	Hall II, Ivatury, Narada Walden	Logic, 6ix	3:24
11.	Under Pressure	Hall II, Minta Notini, Rob Kinelski, Adam Gusterson, Robert Mellin, Guy Wood, George Clinton, William Collins, Lorenzo Patterson, Abrim Tilmon, Bernard Worrell, Eric Wright, Andre Young, Steve Wyerman, Claire Courchene, Kevin Randolph	Logic	9:20
12.	Till the End (feat. The Frontrunnaz)	Hall II, Griffin, Jr., Landon, Diondria Thornton, Christopher Thornton	S1, M-Phazes	5:12

Deluxe edition (bonus tracks)
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	Driving Ms. Daisy (feat. Childish Gambino)	Hall II, Ivatury, Donald Glover, Pharrell Williams	Logic, 6ix	4:01
14.	Now	Hall II, Ivatury, Jeremy McArthur, Steve Thornton	6ix, Arthur McArthur, Swiff D	3:33
15.	Alright (feat. Big Sean)	Hall II, Perkins, Sean Anderson, Antony Ryan, Robin Saville	Tae Beast	3:38

Tracklist visual[]

Sample credits[]

Personnel[]

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.^[2]

Instrumentation[]

Kevin Randolph - synths (tracks 1, 2), bass line (track 1), pads (track 2), piano (track 11)
Steve Wyreman - guitar (tracks 1, 5, 9, 10-12), piano (tracks 1, 3, 11), organ (track 1), lead guitar (tracks 1, 3), synth (track 2), bass line (tracks 2, 3, 5, 9), bass (track 11)
Tom Lea - violin (tracks 1, 5, 9, 10-12), viola (tracks 1, 5, 9, 10-12)
Claire Courchene - cello (tracks 1, 5, 9, 10-12)
Dylan - synth (track 1)
Terrance Martin - saxophone (tracks 7, 10)