Get our latest book recommendations, author news, competitions, offers, and other information right to your inbox.
Table of Contents
About The Book
The instant New York Times bestseller and “inspiring and vulnerable” (Trevor Noah) memoir from Bobby Hall, the multiplatinum recording artist known as Logic and the #1 bestselling author of Supermarket.
This Bright Future is a raw and unfiltered journey into the life and mind of Bobby Hall, who emerged from the wreckage of a horrifically abusive childhood to become an era-defining artist of our tumultuous age.
A self-described orphan with parents, Bobby Hall began life as Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, the only child of an alcoholic, mentally ill mother on welfare and an absent, crack-addicted father. After enduring seventeen years of abuse and neglect, Bobby ran away from home and—with nothing more than a discarded laptop and a ninth-grade education—he found his voice in the world of hip-hop and a new home in a place he never expected: the untamed and uncharted wilderness of the social media age.
In the message boards and livestreams of this brave new world, Bobby became Logic, transforming a childhood of violence, anger, and trauma into music that spread a resilient message of peace, love, and positivity. His songs would touch the lives of millions, taking him to dizzying heights of success, where the wounds of his childhood and the perils of Internet fame would nearly be his undoing.
A landmark achievement in an already remarkable career, This Bright Future “is just like the author—fearless, funny, and full of heart” (Ernest Cline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ready Player One) and looks back on Bobby’s extraordinary life with lacerating humor and fearless honesty. Heart-wrenching yet ultimately uplifting, this book completes the incredible true story and transformation of a human being who, against all odds, refused to be broken.
This Bright Future is a raw and unfiltered journey into the life and mind of Bobby Hall, who emerged from the wreckage of a horrifically abusive childhood to become an era-defining artist of our tumultuous age.
A self-described orphan with parents, Bobby Hall began life as Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, the only child of an alcoholic, mentally ill mother on welfare and an absent, crack-addicted father. After enduring seventeen years of abuse and neglect, Bobby ran away from home and—with nothing more than a discarded laptop and a ninth-grade education—he found his voice in the world of hip-hop and a new home in a place he never expected: the untamed and uncharted wilderness of the social media age.
In the message boards and livestreams of this brave new world, Bobby became Logic, transforming a childhood of violence, anger, and trauma into music that spread a resilient message of peace, love, and positivity. His songs would touch the lives of millions, taking him to dizzying heights of success, where the wounds of his childhood and the perils of Internet fame would nearly be his undoing.
A landmark achievement in an already remarkable career, This Bright Future “is just like the author—fearless, funny, and full of heart” (Ernest Cline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ready Player One) and looks back on Bobby’s extraordinary life with lacerating humor and fearless honesty. Heart-wrenching yet ultimately uplifting, this book completes the incredible true story and transformation of a human being who, against all odds, refused to be broken.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
Okay, BITCH! I got another one of your FUCKIN’ numbers! I’ve already got seven! No, this ain’t the number, call the other number! You call the other fuckin’ number and you gotta wait for another fuckin’ number! Then call fuckin’ Baltimore! Then find out what state you’re in. Then call THAT fuckin’ number! And then find out they didn’t take the fuckin’ Medicare!”
My mom was on the phone again.
“Now, cunt Mary motherfuckers of the planet, YOU do this shit! All this shit! Every fuckin’ time for TWENTY YEARS I have called these motherfuckers it’s like this! Don’t know what the fuck you’re talkin’ about!”
I was around fifteen years old, just getting into hip-hop and recording everything I could all the time, songs off the radio, stuff off the TV, my friends goofing around. So one day I decided to record one of her phone calls.
“Fuck it! I’m a psychopathic, cocksuckin’ fuckin’ sinner! Jesus, if you’re going to do something to me, then DO IT! I can’t fuckin’ take it!”
What you can’t hear on the page is that she’s screeching so loud the neighbors can hear it in the next apartment, and what you can’t see is that she’s frantically pacing back and forth, chain-smoking, slamming her fists on the kitchen counter, and throwing shit at the wall, like a child having a tantrum because she’s been put on hold for the millionth time.
“Yeah, you stupid cunt, it’s correct! Fuckin’ bastards! Fuckin’ swine! Fuckin’ motherfucker! Are you gonna fuck with me or help me?!”
It was like this every day, and this was mild.
“Fuckin’ bitch! Fuckin’ knows how to fuckin’ tell me how to fuckin’ CALM DOWN! She can’t even fuckin’ see the name of the fuckin’ benefits!”
She was calling some government agency about her medication, whichever pill she was taking that month to balance her brain. Zoloft, maybe. I can’t remember them all. One day it was her medication, the next day it was welfare or food stamps.
“All I want to know is if these GODDAMN people pay for this FUCKIN’ medicine! Because what am I supposed to fuckin’ do?! Go back to the fuckin’ doctor here? This medicine they don’t pay for. I don’t know… write me out another one! Okay, here, go to the pharmacy. Oh, they don’t pay for this. Okay, let me go back to the doctor again! Here, hmmm, let’s see… take this medicine!”
She was a sick person, and she was in pain, so she was lashing out at the people who were trying to help her. Which is pretty much the story of her life.
“Thanks! That’s all the FUCK I wanted to know! Why couldn’t I get somebody a fuckin’ half hour ago to say that! We’re dropping like flies ’cause we fuckin’ want to kill ourselves so they get a POPULATION CONTROL!”
Whenever I tell my story and I get to the stuff about my mom, part of me feels like a liar and a fraud, like I must be exaggerating this stuff to make myself sound tougher, because if I tell it this way, I’ve got one of the craziest American come-up stories in history. Then I go back and listen to this tape, and I remember: “Oh. Right. It was actually more fucked up than what I usually tell people.”
Still, as strange and fucked up as my life may have been because of her, her life was actually way worse than mine.
Okay, BITCH! I got another one of your FUCKIN’ numbers! I’ve already got seven! No, this ain’t the number, call the other number! You call the other fuckin’ number and you gotta wait for another fuckin’ number! Then call fuckin’ Baltimore! Then find out what state you’re in. Then call THAT fuckin’ number! And then find out they didn’t take the fuckin’ Medicare!”
My mom was on the phone again.
“Now, cunt Mary motherfuckers of the planet, YOU do this shit! All this shit! Every fuckin’ time for TWENTY YEARS I have called these motherfuckers it’s like this! Don’t know what the fuck you’re talkin’ about!”
I was around fifteen years old, just getting into hip-hop and recording everything I could all the time, songs off the radio, stuff off the TV, my friends goofing around. So one day I decided to record one of her phone calls.
“Fuck it! I’m a psychopathic, cocksuckin’ fuckin’ sinner! Jesus, if you’re going to do something to me, then DO IT! I can’t fuckin’ take it!”
What you can’t hear on the page is that she’s screeching so loud the neighbors can hear it in the next apartment, and what you can’t see is that she’s frantically pacing back and forth, chain-smoking, slamming her fists on the kitchen counter, and throwing shit at the wall, like a child having a tantrum because she’s been put on hold for the millionth time.
“Yeah, you stupid cunt, it’s correct! Fuckin’ bastards! Fuckin’ swine! Fuckin’ motherfucker! Are you gonna fuck with me or help me?!”
It was like this every day, and this was mild.
“Fuckin’ bitch! Fuckin’ knows how to fuckin’ tell me how to fuckin’ CALM DOWN! She can’t even fuckin’ see the name of the fuckin’ benefits!”
She was calling some government agency about her medication, whichever pill she was taking that month to balance her brain. Zoloft, maybe. I can’t remember them all. One day it was her medication, the next day it was welfare or food stamps.
“All I want to know is if these GODDAMN people pay for this FUCKIN’ medicine! Because what am I supposed to fuckin’ do?! Go back to the fuckin’ doctor here? This medicine they don’t pay for. I don’t know… write me out another one! Okay, here, go to the pharmacy. Oh, they don’t pay for this. Okay, let me go back to the doctor again! Here, hmmm, let’s see… take this medicine!”
She was a sick person, and she was in pain, so she was lashing out at the people who were trying to help her. Which is pretty much the story of her life.
“Thanks! That’s all the FUCK I wanted to know! Why couldn’t I get somebody a fuckin’ half hour ago to say that! We’re dropping like flies ’cause we fuckin’ want to kill ourselves so they get a POPULATION CONTROL!”
Whenever I tell my story and I get to the stuff about my mom, part of me feels like a liar and a fraud, like I must be exaggerating this stuff to make myself sound tougher, because if I tell it this way, I’ve got one of the craziest American come-up stories in history. Then I go back and listen to this tape, and I remember: “Oh. Right. It was actually more fucked up than what I usually tell people.”
Still, as strange and fucked up as my life may have been because of her, her life was actually way worse than mine.
About The Author
Courtesy of the Author
Bobby Hall, a.k.a. Logic, is a Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling recording artist, author, actor, streamer, and film producer. In addition to his three number-one albums, ten platinum singles, and billions of streams, Hall’s debut book, Supermarket, made him the first hip-hop artist to have a #1 New York Times bestselling novel.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (November 10, 2022)
- Length: 384 pages
- ISBN13: 9781982158255
Browse Related Books
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): This Bright Future Trade Paperback 9781982158255
- Author Photo (jpg): Bobby Hall Courtesy of the Author(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
