Slug and Ant of Atmosphere respect their audience. They’re not going to spurt bodily fluids onto their sweaty fans, rap about Kanye-esque bloated consumerism bullshit or waste time small talking over the mic. They will satiate your hip-hop hunger with heart- pumping rhymes about people you will never know, walks of life you will never encounter and scare the shit out of any coulrophobics in the audience.
Atmosphere hails from Minneapolis, Min., and has been rapping about fucking Lucy since I was working on staying inside the lines in kindergarten (circa 1993). They don’t hit the stage to be entertainers – they come to spit something controversial and let it sink in. Hip-hop has gotten a bad rap as being mindless and misogynistic, but Atmosphere’s lyrics are heated and thought-provoking. Their music is a deeply personal compilation of stories spun into rhymes – parables for the musically inclined.
Their newest album, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint that Shit Gold, is a calculated mix of hip-hop and instrumentation, a stray from their usual freestyle jungle. Their music is an escapist version of reality – a way to piece together experiences and relationships gone awry. This duo can’t be accused of throwing down raps about nothing, or trying to just get a single out. Their fans relate to their frank lyrics and guileless beats.
Although Atmosphere has gained immense popularity in the past few years, their music has matured and thrived without striving to be impressive. They prove music isn’t shallow and naïve – they throw down hard lyrics and let their audience pick up the pieces. Finally a couple of guys who really knew what to do when life gave them lemons.
Spend your hump day with Atmosphere – if you can handle it. They’ll be gracing Canopy Club tonight at 9 p.m. with special guests Abstract Rude, Blueprint and DJ Rare Groove.