DOC D: Planetory Destruction Album Review

By Jesse Rodriguez
Music Journalist

Planetory Destruction is the debut album by Docter Destruction A.K.A “DOC D.” The album comes to us 70 years before its release as DOC D has built a time machine and is creating and releasing the mixtape as he’s simultaneously destroying the universe in the future. At least, that’s the story of this album.

But who is DOC D in the real world? DOC D is no other than sci-fi-loving, movie buff, recently retired rapper extraordinaire himself, Robert Hall, or most famously known as Logic.

Planetory Destruction comes to us just 7 months after the release of Logic’s (supposed) last studio album No Pressure. But has Logic come out of retirement? Well, not exactly. Logic has reinvented himself as the universe-destroying villain, DOC D, and has created a concept album that tells the story of the universe’s near destruction. After a string of hits and misses over the last few years, it feels like Logic has been able to finally experiment and be as free as possible with the new Doctor Destruction alias. Planetory Destruction was released for free via DatPiff and is also streaming on SoundCloud, the sites that Logic primarily used to release music on during his “Young Sinatra” days. This is most likely because his earlier mixtapes were filled with samples and Planetory Destruction definitely feels like a callback to the Young Sinatra era in that way.

In the album, Logic brings in characters through skits (during and in between songs) such as DJ Buck Naked and Kyle who co-host a radio show together known as “Cosmos 105.7.” They nonchalantly interview DOC D on their show giving the audience minute-to-minute updates on the destruction that DOC D is causing all while bringing you “the soundtrack to your inevitable destruction.” It is in these skits where we learn that the year is 2097 and DOC D is destroying the universe because his girlfriend “Sharon” broke his heart.

The album’s storyline is classic Logic and is very reminiscent of the concepts in his previous albums The Incredible True Story and Everybody. Especially, The Incredible True Story as that album is what introduced Logics knack for sci-fi driven concepts. Unlike the previous albums, Planetory Destruction is strictly boom-bap and sample-driven, with samples ranging from film dialogue, sci-fi vocal one-shots, and 70’s soul music such as “We Almost Lost Detroit” by Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson. The amalgamation of samples and Logic’s villainous character makes for a very Madvillain-inspired project.

The intro of this mixtape starts off with a sample from Keith Mansfield’s “Funky Fanfare” which is a song that’s most famously used in the “Astro Daters” series of theatre snipes in the late 1960s. This sample sets a theatrical tone for the project, but it also pays homage to Quentin Tarantino since he uses the Astro Daters snipes in his films such as “Kill Bill” (volumes 1& 2), “Death Proof,” and his most recent film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” The “Funky Fanfare” sample is just one of the many examples of Logics’ way of introducing his own personal interests into this album. “Intro” sinks you right into the world of Planetory Destruction because it serves as a template for how the rest of the project sounds: smooth rapping, boom-bap, and samples-galore.

This album delivers a handful of features, highlights include features from long time friends and collaborators Big Lenbo, Castro, 6ix, and DJ Retorik. They can be found scattered on tracks from the Young Sinatra days to Logics last album No Pressure, especially 6ix who produced a lot of Logics music.

Rap legends Del The Funky Homosapien and Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang Clan make an appearance on “Bounty Law” which sounds like a track straight from the mid 90’s golden age of Hip-Hop.

The song “Butt Naked” features Black Chocolate and my favorite feature of the entire album, the legend Marc Rebillet who delivers hilarious and soulful vocals over a funky 80’s R&B inspired instrumental.

Planetary Destruction is jam-packed with nostalgia, pop culture references and of course, a hilarious and creative stor, The inspirations Logic is pulling from is very apparent and that makes listening to the album much more fun and intriguing. Logic’s debut album as DOC D feels very true to his style and serves as a very promising look into a future of inventive and creative projects.