Gang Related (song)

Logic conceived the song after watching the film Boyz n the Hood. He wrote and recorded the first verse that night. After completing it, 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. Logic considered the song "a gangster record" that subverts the glorification of violence common in hip-hop by describing the criminal activities and corresponding violence that had surrounded him as a child, while showing that he chose a different lifestyle. He chose to sample KRS-One's "Mad Crew" because he felt it would be "respected and revered" by people living in the streets and suburbs.^[1]

Logic raps from his own perspective as a child in the first verse, describing the crimes (notably drug dealing) and violence (mainly concerning guns) in his home that he grew up witnessing^[1][2][3] but how he never became involved in them, unlike other family members.^[3] In the second verse, he raps from the perspective of his older brother and explores him being drawn into gang activity due to challenges in their home environment,^[1][3][4] recounting that he was selling crack to their own father.^[2][5]