As far as contemporary hip-hop goes, the plethora of sounds finding their way to speakers across the country have been heavily influenced by Chicago artists. While credibility can at times be fleeting, hometown act Logan Loren is out to set the record straight with his latest project, Fake Deep that simultaneously serves as a re-introduction to an artist we’ve been paying attention to for some years now.
The name itself operates as a double entendre, pointing to the open-air feel of making a true mixtape without diving too much into heavy subject-matter and also an underlining of the inevitable street credibility that Loren’s music is backed by. Acts like XXXtentacion, Trippie Red, Lil Pump and the rest of the crop from Florida and the internet at large have made large steps forward with brooding, eom-leaning hip-hop that’s big on shock-value and lacking in real life understanding. Loren’s music is almost the complete inverse, and he tells his story in ways that prove true lyrical ability beyond the flavor-of-the-month sounds from down south.
The project also serves an ushering in of a new era for the Brighton Park native. After going through several name changes since emerging in 2013 with the “Logan” moniker, he’s since been Logan, Loren, Logan Cage and different variations. To ease the confusion and start on a new foot, he’s now emerged as ‘Loren’, his given first name anyway.
Regardless of the motivation behind the project or the name he uses, it serves as a welcome segue to his long-awaited Today & Tomorrow and follows a lengthy promotion run that saw a slew of singles and videos that have admittedly been tough to keep up with. I caught up with Logan for a couple of beers in the West Loop recently to get the further story on Fake Deep, which you can catch later this week. For now, get into the album above.