Atmosphere

Imagine how many cigarettes, beers, tour dates, international flights, all-night drives, backstage shenanigans, countless hours in a van, low-budget hotel rooms, notebooks filled with lyrics and endless hours of recording sessions have been consumed, experienced and sustained by Atmosphere over the course eight years?

Let’s count to eight.

Remember 1997, the year beginning the next phase of independent rap artists and a new era of imprint-based record labels with the major label exploitation; the dividing period of: Mos Def, Jay Z, Company Flow and 2 Pac. Our story begins at this time in Minneapolis, MN. Eight years ago, when Atmosphere released their debut album Overcast!, on the artist’s collectively owned Rhymesayers label. Slug, Ant, with then member Spawn, delivered the premier staple album defining Minnesota Hip Hop. It would introduce a small audience to Midwest rap, not music from New York or California, but Minneapolis, MN. Atmosphere, a group built on Hip Hop principles influenced from the pioneering years of rap music, but with their own personal, honest and original mid-western contribution.

A year had passed and Atmosphere’s song, Scapegoat, received national play on college radio and mix tape support in: Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Atmosphere was becoming discovered outside of the Twin Cities; the secret was out. During this time, both Slug and Ant were also involved in one of independent rap’s first underground super groups, The Dynospectrum (Slug, I Self Devine, Ant, Musab, Gene Poole), and had featured tracks on Industrial Warfare (volume six of the legendary Headshots four-track cassette series). For Atmosphere, 1998 was a year of collaborations (including recording Deep Puddle Dynamics) and a year well spent crafting their live performance at venues like First Avenue’s 7th Street Entry.

In 1999, a year that brought one of Prince’s songs back heavily on the airwaves and made Eminem a rap icon, Atmosphere created the final Headshots cassette, Headshots: SE7EN. The four-track recorded tape contained, Abusing The Rib- Atmosphere’s classic ode to Hip Hop. The fan base slightly expanded throughout the central time zone, with Atmosphere beginning to tour (with DJ Abilities and Eyedea) to: Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, Missouri, Kansas and Texas.

Ford One and Ford Two, the vinyl singles released through Fat Beats, included such songs as, Party For The Fight To Write, Woman With The Tattooed Hands and Nothing But Sunshine. With these two pieces of wax, Atmosphere began to break down the regional Midwest barriers. It was in the year 2000, that Atmosphere increased their travels with the twenty-date Ford One Tour that brought them to the East coast for the first time. Without a solid distribution system, and remaining on the independent path with their co-owned Rhymesayers label, Atmosphere’s approach to bring their music to the people was decided- in a van, on the road, one show at a time selling the music hand to hand.

In the winter of 2001, the Ford EP’s were combined to create the second official Atmosphere album, Lucy Ford, the only Slug and Ant album with external production: El P, Jel, Moodswing 9. This was the year Atmosphere took to the road heavier than ever performing on three separate tours: Ford Two Tour, Who Killed The Robots Tour and Fill In The Blanks Tour (with Mr. Dibbs for the first time). Atmosphere had now performed throughout North America and Europe. The circle was developing steadily and album sales increased with endless time spent living in a van. It had been four years, but kids were starting to know the words to the songs.

The sixth year of Slug and Ant’s career produced, God Loves Ugly, the third Atmosphere album. God Loves Ugly, which was licensed through Fat Beats, would go on to sell over 130,000 copies in the U.S. Festivals in England, Denmark and Sweden, tours as far from home as Japan, sold out release parties coast to coast and their biggest tour to date (sixty shows in seventy-one days), Atmosphere finally had distribution to support their exhaustive touring schedule. This was 2002, a year that brought: Interscope, Sony, Warner Brothers and a slew of other major labels to the table offering anything and everything to Atmosphere. There’s a rule that states, it takes five years to become successful. For Slug and Ant, it was becoming a well-earned reality.

The year was now 2003, and Atmosphere released their third album in three years, making the conscious decision to remain independent by licensing the album through legendary punk label Epitaph. The album, Seven’s Travels would go on to sell over 150,000 copies in the U.S alone, putting Atmosphere at the top of the niche underground-independent rap genre. From all-night drives to play in front of only twenty- five people, to multiple sold outs shows at: First Ave. in Minneapolis, MN, The Fillmore in San Francisco, Chicago at The Metro, Irving Plaza in New York, Emos in Austin, TX, Seattle, WA at The Showbox and Los Angeles at Henry Fonda Theatre, Atmosphere has continued to grow, staying true to early indie, D.I.Y ethics and their original grass roots approachj.

The seventh year of Atmosphere’s career (2004) was once again spent on the road; a live television appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, an interview on the nationally syndicated radio program Love Line, a live performance at the Coachella music festival, European tour spanning across the continent, spot date performances throughout North America and Van’s Warped Tour for the second year in a row. When it was all said and done, there were well over two hundred tour dates performed for the Seven’s Travels album. This would be the first autumn Atmosphere would take off since 1999.

In January of 2005, Rhymesayers reissued Headshots: SE7EN on CD and vinyl, seven years after its original cassette-only release. Atmosphere celebrated this re-release with eight shows at the 7th Street Entry. In the eighth year of their career, Atmosphere sold out all eight shows in a row beating the original (five) sold out shows held by the Replacements in 1986. Just days after the Entry performances, Atmosphere toured with the Big Day Out festival in New Zealand and Australia. Starting March 1 in Madison, WI Slug hit the road in the U.S for their two-month tour that sold out forty-nine of the fifty-two shows. The summer months of 2005 were spent putting the final touches on the new Atmosphere album, You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having, Slug and Ant’s greatest recorded effort to date.

On this album, Atmosphere's Slug and Ant have upped their game yet again and brought their music back to where they drew their influences from in the first place. While the previous Atmosphere outings have carved them a niche of their own, this album is simultaneously a progression and a throwback. Slug's rhymes on this record have more in common with old LL Cool J and Run DMC than they do with some of Atmosphere's contemporaries to whom they are often compared. Ant's production on this record is by far his most complex and powerful work to date, creating a solid and cohesive overall album. Paying tribute to those that influence you, while evolving the art form at the same time is a difficult task, one in which Atmosphere pulls off without a hitch, without a hint of irony or a trace of insincerity.

How much fun has Atmosphere had over eight years time? Imagine all the cigarettes, beers, tour dates, international flights, all-night drives, backstage shenanigans, countless hours in a van, low-budget hotel rooms, notebooks filled with lyrics and endless hours of recording sessions to get here. Imagine hearing the album on October 4, 2005. Now the fun begins… you can only imagine…

Sean Daley, Slug - Lyrics
Anthony Davis, Ant - Production

"Fuck a classic album, give my life five mics" -Slug of Atmosphere.

"One can feel Atmosphere loosening modern hip-hop from its moorings and yanking it into some weirder and far more interesting place." - ROLLING STONE

"This Minneapolis indie rap hero has potential to spare, delivering taut, complex rhyme narratives with everyman earnestness." - ROLLING STONE

"Like it or not, Slug is reluctant king of emo-hop, the emerging alt-rap scene."
- BLACKBOOK

After their last album went indie triple platinum, these guys got offers from every major label in the business, but the chose to sign to Epitaph just to prove how punk rock they are. Ant's got beats, Mr. Dibb's got skills, Slug's the nicest guy in the world and the ladies, they love him. - Vice


With passionate inflection and pristine delivery, Slug toggles neatly among the poetic, preachy, and provocative, sometimes hitting all at once.
- Entertainment Weekly

"In this era of the hip hop anti-hero, there's no more unlikely candidate for universal stardom in the rap game than a gangly kid from Minneapolis….Slug is bringing a new DIY spirit and, gulp, emotional vulnerability to a hip hop scene currently orbiting out of control in a materialistic galaxy." - XLR8R





Atmosphere (formerly Urban Atmosphere) is an American hip hop group that was formed in 1994, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Contents

Members

Slug (Sean Daley)

After Atmosphere was formed in Minneapolis, Slug was a member of a loose group known as The Rhymesayers Collective. Its other members were Stress (Siddiq Ali) and Spawn (Derek Turner). Slug DJed behind the scenes and let Stress and Spawn handle lyrics. Later calling themselves Urban Atmosphere and garnering some underground notoriety, the group eventually formed a strong relationship with Ant (Anthony Davis) and began collaborating on music. Slug then appeared on the rare underground tape series HeadShots (1-7) (see Discography below). Every HeadShots volume allowed a member of the clique to showcase their talent, and HeadShots Vol. Seven was Slug's tour de force.

Ant (Anthony Davis)

Ant produced his first CD, an album titled Comparison, for Musab (formerly known as Beyond). He has contributed to every Atmosphere album and has also produced albums for several members of the Rhymesayers Entertainment label. The only Atmosphere album featuring guest producers, including Jel and Moodswing 9, was Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs. More recently, Ant released a two-part mixtape series titled Melodies and Memories featuring remixes of songs made in the late '70s and throughout the '80s.

Spawn (Derek Turner)

Spawn, now known as Rek the Heavyweight, left the group following the release of Overcast!.

Mr. Dibbs

Mr. Dibbs (never officially a part of Atmosphere) is the off-and-on touring DJ for Atmosphere.

Touring
Pour Me Another Tour (2005)
Pour Me Another Tour (2005)

As of 2005's 'Pour Me Another' tour, Atmosphere is accompanied by a live band, featuring Nate Collis on guitar, Brett Johnson on bass, Erick Anderson on keyboards, and Brian McLeod on drums. Slug talks about the live band in terms of a 'challenge', wherein he has to 'do more vocally'.[citation needed] The live setup brings a jazzy, more improvisational feel to Atmosphere's sound. Along with the band, Mr. Dibbs is listed as touring DJ, but Ant is also touring for the first time in Atmosphere's history.

Lyrical content

Slug raps in an intensely personal, often introspective style, acting as a kind of storyteller relating his own experiences to his audience. Many of Atmosphere's recordings are considered to be "conscious rap" and "emo hop", although the latter term specifically has been criticised by Slug as a lazy shortcut to describing the band's music. Slug's songs often deal with his difficult and destructive relationships with women, whom he generally labels "Lucy".

Slug also raps about "slice of life moments", where he documents a police man's struggles with power (Lucy Ford's "Between The Lines"), a worker in a convenience store tired of the 9-to-5, and sexual deviance and intrigue turned awry (Lucy Ford's "The Woman With The Tattooed Hands"). Slug has said that he has never, and will never, lie in his songs, but that there is a difference between lying and telling a story [citation needed]. This refers to the song Nothing But Sunshine, a first person account of a young man whose parents died at an early age. At the time, many fans believed this to be Slug's own life story, and responded with uproar when they discovered it was not.[citation needed]

Collaborations

Slug has also released two albums with Murs from the westcoast Living Legends group. The idea for Felt: A Tribute to Christina Ricci, their first album as a duo, came about while on tour [citation needed]. The two decided to see if they could garner some extra media attention for Ricci by dedicating their album to her, although according to Slug, Ricci has never responded to this or contacted the band [1]. This debut studio album was produced by The Grouch from Living Legends.

Their second collaboration, Felt Vol. 2: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet, produced by Ant, was released in 2005.

Slug has also been featured on albums by Brother Ali, Eyedea & Abilities, Aesop Rock, Unknown Prophets, Oddjobs, Sage Francis, Vakill, DoseOne, Jel, P.O.S., X-Ecutioners, Kanser, Blueprint, Heiruspecs, Jean Grae, Static & Nat Ill, Booka B, Minnesota indie rock band Lifter Puller, several Living Legends albums as well as Living Legends solo projects such as The CMA.

Discography

Studio albums
Album cover Album information
Overcast!

* Released: October 10, 1997
* History: Overcast! was Atmosphere's first LP. Before Overcast!, Atmosphere recorded on several of the rare HeadShot cassette tapes. At Overcast!'s release, Atmosphere's members were Slug, Spawn and Ant. It featured guest shots from Beyond. The Overcast! EP contained several tracks not featured on the CD. Most popular, "God's Bathroom Floor", available only on the EP and cassette release of Overcast!, was not included on the CD. A live version of the track can be found on Sad Clown Bad Dub and a studio version can be found on Sad Clown Bad Dub 7. At that time his new producer was razor blades.

Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs

* Released: September 17, 2001

God Loves Ugly

* Released: June 11, 2002
* History: GodLovesUgly, a return to Slug's typical themes of women and life, featured a mix of aggressive, angry songs ("F*@ck You Lucy") and fresh, more structured songs, featuring prominent choruses and catchy hooks, such as in "Modern Man's Hustle", which was also releases as a single. This single increased Atmosphere's appeal into the 'mainstream' hip hop market, reaching #18 on Billboard's 'Hot Rap Single' chart. [2]

Seven's Travels

* Released: September 23, 2003
* History: Seven's Travels was released on Epitaph Records, a major punk label. This is one of the band's more approachable albums, mixing mostly optimistic rhymes from Slug with more catchy hooks produced by Ant. Most of the songs on this album had been featured on mixtapes and as such this exists as a loose collection of songs about touring. "In My Continental", "Los Angeles", "Reflections", and "Say shhh..." are songs that appeared on various Sad Clown Bad Dub releases. Slug has referred to this album as his "De La Soul record" because of its narrative songs and its relative optimism [3].

A hidden track on the disc, "Say Shhh...", is a tribute to Minnesota and the Midwest. Originally featured on the mixtape Midwest Broadcast, it was used as the track that launched Minnesota Public Radio's contemporary music service The Current on KCMP 89.3 FM in the Twin Cities in 2005.

"Trying to Find a Balance" from Seven's Travels was featured on 2004's Tony Hawk's Underground 2 video game.

* #83 US

Headshots: SE7EN

* Re-released: January 4, 2004
* #165 US

You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having

* Released: October 4, 2005
* History: Atmosphere released You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having on October 4, 2005. Ant brings more rugged production to this effort, drawing stylistically on some of Slug's early influences, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, and De La Soul. Slug has clarified that the title of the album is not a sarcastic statement; that he and his "friends" are having the happiest times of their lives [citation needed].

* "That Night" is about a girl who was raped and killed after an Atmosphere show.

* The lead single from the album, "Watch Out", was featured in a national And1 commercial that aired briefly during NBA and NCAA broadcasts in Winter 2005-06. The second ad in the campaign used the images and voice of Marcus Camby backed by the first instrumental from Rhymesayers labelmate and underground hip-hop heavyweight MF DOOM's song "Change the Beat" (released under DOOM's alias Viktor Vaughn on the album Vaudeville Villain).

* The first track from the album, "The Arrival", was featured on 2006's EA Sports Fight Night Round 3 video game.
* #66 US

* This album was awarded Hip Hop Recording of the Year at the 2006 Minnesota Music Awards. The track "Smart Went Crazy" was awarded Song of the Year.

EPs

* Overcast! EP (1996)
* The Lucy EP (2001)
* Ford 1 (2001)
* Ford 2 (2001)

Instrumental albums

* God Loves Ugly (Instrumentals) (2002)
* Seven's Travels (Instrumentals) (2003)

Sad Clown Bad Dub series

* Sad Clown Bad Dub (1999)
* Sad Clown Bad Dub II (2000)
* Sad Clown Bad Dub 3 (2002)
* Sad Clown Bad Dub 4 DVD (2002)
* Sad Clown Bad Dub 5 (2003)
* Sad Clown Bad Dub 6 (2003)
* Random Vol. 3/Sad Clown Bad Dub 7 (2003)
* Happy Clown Bad Dub 8/Fun EP (2006)

HeadShots [cassette tape]

* Vol. 1: Wbboy Sessions (1993)
* Vol. 2: Arrogance (1994)
* Vol. 3: Compensation (1995)
* Vol. 4: History (1996)
* Vol. 5: Effort (1997)
* Vol. 6: Industrial Warfare (1998)
* Vol. 7: Se7en (1999)

Singles

* "They Lied" (1998)
* "Uptown Jesus" (2002)
* "Modern Man's Hustle" (2002)
* "GodLovesUgly" (2002)
* "Cats Van Bags" (2003)
* "Trying To Find A Balance" (2003)
* "National Disgrace" (2004)
* "Watch Out" (2005)
* "Say Hey There" (2006)

Collaborations

* Dynospectrum (1998)
* The Taste of Rain... Why Kneel, Deep Puddle Dynamics (2002)
* Felt - A Tribute to Christina Ricci (2002)
* Felt, Vol. 2: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet (2005)

Bootleg

* The Lost Live Cuts

Unofficial

* God Loves Touring
* Homework Vol. 1
* New, Unreleased, and B-Sides (2004)
* New, Unreleased, and B-Sides Vol. 2 (2005)
* New, Unreleased, and B-Sides Vol. 3 (2005)
* Sean Likes Ugly Girls Disc 1
* Sean Likes Ugly Girls Disc 2
* Sean Likes Ugly Girls Disc 3
* Sean Likes Ugly Girls Disc 4
* Sean Likes Ugly Girls Disc 5
* Satan Hates Beauty
* Slug Is My Hero Vol. 1
* Slug Is My Hero Vol. 2
* We Really Freestyle (Slug & Eyedea)
* Live @ "It's Brothers" Eau Claire, Wisconsin
* Live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
* Live in Richfield, Minnesota

Songs in media

* "Trying To Find A Balance" - Tony Hawk's Underground 2
* "The Arrival" - Fight Night Round 3
* "The Keys to Life vs. 15 Minutes of Fame" - Need for Speed: Underground 2