Logic opens up on how nerd culture helped him re-shape hip hop: “Anime saved my life”

American rapper Logic can’t overstate the importance of anime in his life. It’s common knowledge that he was raised in a rough environment, witnessing domestic violence, substance abuse, and growing up living in abject poverty. But, he was saved by an anime series that’s become a staple in the genre as a time-honored classic: Cowboy Bebop.

The 2001 anime follows bounty hunter Spike Spiegel and the crew of the spaceship ‘Bebop’ as they traverse the stars kicking bad-guy butt and growing closer as friends. It’s cemented itself as required viewing among anime fans over the years due to its beautiful animation, jazzy soundtrack, and beloved characters like Faye Valentine and Jet.

For Logic, watching Spike and his group of buddies travel the cosmos opened up a whole new world, offering him a much-needed escape from his chaotic upbringing. In fact, Logic credits the show for literally “saving his life,” and told us as much in an exclusive interview at Anime Expo.

“Cowboy Bebop was the first anime that I was ever introduced to when I was about eleven years old,” Logic said. “It showed me that there was more out there than what I was born into — poverty and guns, drugs and violence in the household and parents that were addicted to substances and a father that was never around, yada yada yada, quintessential hip hop.

“But anime — Cowboy Bebop in particular — showed me that there was so much more outside of that world, and that there were other worlds to explore. And I did. Anime saved my life, genuinely. Like, I would have nothing if I hadn’t had this beautiful door opened up to allow me to not feel confined to the cards I was dealt, if you will, and it showed me that I could draw my own cards.”

Logic is a die-hard anime fan, something he hasn’t been shy of sharing throughout his career as a Grammy-nominated artist. When we asked him to give us his list of top five anime, he was quick to respond, saying “Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Samurai Champloo, FLCL, and Lupin the Third” are his favorites.

While Logic is known for his love of all things anime, gaming and sci-fi, it wasn’t always “cool” to be loud and proud about these things. Now, names like Megan Thee Stallion are putting out songs like ‘Otaku Hot Girl,’ where she directly references Jujutsu Kaisen (and even got one of the show’s voice actors on the track’s intro).

Logic credits himself for, in large part, kickstarting this trend in the rap genre. He’s more than excited to see his fellow artists flying their nerd flags high now that the landscape of hip-hop has changed.

“I would say I was a pioneer of that, and I’m not even trying to sound any type of way,” he admitted. “In hip hop, it was not cool in the ‘mainstream’ to like video games or this or that, and I was like, ‘F*ck that. I’m gonna always be myself.’ And I got a lot of backlash for it. You know what I mean? People were saying, ‘You’re super nerdy,’ and it’s already a thing that I look white and not mixed. So then it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s the white boy.’

“No. I’m half Black, and anime’s awesome. I felt like I had to fight. And now as I’m older, I’ve come to the realization that one does not need to fight for their identity at all. All they must do is just exist. Unapologetically. And so, having gone through that, and now seeing how open it is, and how hip hop and music as a whole is kind of blending all these different worlds and cultures, I think it’s wonderful to see. I think it’s really incredible.”

Aside from his love of anime, Logic’s also a pretty avid gamer. In fact, he signed a “seven-figure” deal with Twitch back in 2020, where he played with some of the internet’s biggest personalities and content creators. However, he disappeared from the streaming platform in 2021 — something we asked him about during our conversation.

“It was fun,” he told us. “You know what I’m saying? Twitch gave me a million bucks. It’s really great when you can take the art and things that you love and also make money doing it, and properly, too, because I always hate when people are trying to take advantage of a situation. For me, it felt really great.

“I love video games, I love playing COD, I love Uncharted, The Last of Us, Diablo. I started doing conventions and a lot of people were like, ‘What? Like, Logic, isn’t he a rapper?’ For one, I’d like to think I’m so much more than that, but yes, I am, and I’m also a giant nerd, and I wear it proudly. It’s a really wonderful thing.”

Logic felt that his time on Twitch was a crucial part of him becoming more accepted in the community, to growing outside of the rapper label many put on him without knowing the man behind the music.

“I believe the reason I can do these conventions and be accepted is because so many of these people are already my fans because we speak the same language. I’m here because I want to be here. That time on Twitch in particular was wonderful because it wasn’t about the money, it was about the opportunity to work with and play with so many incredible and influential people in that world.”

Logic’s discussion with us comes hot on the heels of his collaboration with Crunchyroll, where the two unveiled a merchandise line in partnership with his favorite anime, Cowboy Bebop. This collab is truly a dream come true for the rapper, who’s still in a ‘pinch-me-so-I-wake-up’ phase of excitement about the whole thing.

“It was a true partnership,” he said about working with Crunchyroll on the project. “It didn’t feel like some corporation. I don’t view Crunchyroll like that at all. I feel like they really understand the culture and the people. And so, for me, it was really cool to just feel heard and seen.

“And they were like, ‘As a fan, what would you want to do?’ And I was like, ‘I want to do this and this and this.’ I was like a kid in a candy store. Or the toy store, because I was very poor and I never had money for toys. So, this is like every toy I could have ever wanted as a child,” he explained.

“To be honest, I couldn’t believe that it was real, because I was like, ‘Oh yeah, okay, sure. Because they hit me, I was like, oh yeah, we’re gonna do this collab, and Kelby and Bebop, we’re gonna draw you, and I was like, ‘Yeah, sure! Okay.

“I just didn’t believe it, because it was like the golden ticket, you know what I mean? And Willy Wonka was like, there’s no way. And they’re like, it’s happening! And I’m like, okay, yeah, you use these designs. And then next thing I know I wake up and I’m here talking to you at this incredible convention. It still doesn’t feel real. I can’t believe we’re having this conversation right now. So I’ll get back to you when I know for sure.”