Atmosphere

For The Record...

Members include Sean Daley (a.k.a. Slug), vocals; Anthony Davis (a.k.a. Ant), producer. Former members include Derek Turner (a.k.a. Spawn), vocals. Group formed in Minneapolis, MN, c. 1998; became co-owners of record label Rhymesayers Entertainment; released debut album Outcast!, 1999; released Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs, 2001; God Loves Ugly, 2002; Seven's Travels, 2003; You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having, 2005; When Life Gives You Lemon, You Paint That S--t Gold, 2008. Addresses: Record company—Rhymesayers Entertainment, 2411 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55404, Web site: http://www.rhymesayers.com. Publicist—Biz 3 Publicist, 1321 N. Milwaukee Ave., #452, Chicago, IL 60622.

Rap duo

As co-owners and lead figures of the Minneapolis-based hip-hop label Rhymesayers Entertainment, the indie hip-hop group Atmosphere have formed a style that is uniquely Midwest and completely contrary to the MTV-friendly hip-hop of guns, bling, etc. With the duo of Slug on the microphone and producer Ant making the beats, Atmosphere has been courted by the major labels, but in alliance to their music and themselves, they have stayed on their own small but growing label. Slug's rhymes have often been emotional and personal, and Atmosphere has been written about more in indie rock magazines than in ones that cater to rap, which has little to do with the color of their skin. "Slug has a way of drawing out the universal in the intensely personal, and his gaze into the mirror reveals two faces: his and ours," wrote Christopher Bahn of The A.V. Club. Atmosphere has been labeled emo-rap, underground, or indie hip-hop, with its self-deprecating lyrics. Ten years into the group, Atmosphere has continued to break new musical ground with each release. "One can feel Atmosphere loosening modern hip-hop from its moorings and yanking it into some weirder and far more interesting place," wrote Rolling Stone's Pat Blashill, in a review of the group's 2003 album Seven's Travels.

Growing up in Minneapolis, Sean Daley was always a bit different from the other white kids in his neighborhood. When he was a teen, his parents (his father was African American and his mother was white) divorced, and Daley immersed himself in the graffiti culture of break dancing and hip-hop music. Daley started off break dancing, but discovered he was better at drawing and graffiti. He had to try his hand at everything, and after dancing and graffiti came spinning records. Emerging as a talented DJ, Daley dubbed himself Slug, and with his high school friends Stress (Siddiq Ali) and Spawn (Derek Turner), they formed The Rhyme Sayers Collective. Early live performances by the group had Slug on vinyl, making beats while Spawn MC'd. Slug and Spawn began working with other likeminded musicians who were making the kind of underground hip-hop that Midwesterners could relate to. One such peer was producer Ant (Anthony Davis). In 1998 Spawn and Slug rhymed on a record produced and made by Ant. They dubbed themselves Atmosphere and released their debut, Overcast!, on a label they co-owned, called Rhymesayers Entertainment.

Atmosphere began playing live shows around Minneapolis and the Midwest, and by 2000 Spawn had the group down to a duo. They started the Sad Clown EP series, and that year they released (now out of print) Sad Clown Dub II. A handful of singles and EPs were released as the band toured around the United States, and in 2001 they compiled 3 EPs and released them as one album. In 2001, in a distribution deal with Fat Beats, Atmosphere released Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs on Rhymesayers. Village Voice writer Christian Hoard called Slug "the most openhearted MC in history." All of the songs from the EPs were written about Slug's ex-girlfriend and his broken relationship. "Lucy Ford served up an everyman persona equal parts lovelorn poet, peripatetic slacker, drunken bar regular, and class clown," wrote the Voice's Michaelangelo Matos.

Because Ant often did not tour with Atmosphere, and Slug was the front man, the rapper started getting more attention than the group, most of it based on his bare-boned emotional rhymes. In 2002 Atmosphere released their breakthrough album God Loves Ugly. The album, via distribution with Fat Beats, went on to sell more than 130,000 copies in the United States. Matos wrote that the album "feels like hip-hop: the brusque party cuts, the embattled puffed-up defensiveness, the slightly stagy sense that Slug's soul-baring tendencies have taken on now that he's gotten our attention without having to fight quite so hard for it."

Atmosphere, with a full live band, toured across the globe to promote God Loves Ugly. More than a handful of major labels tried to entice Atmosphere to join their rosters, but the group wanted to stay true to their roots, and continued to build their own Rhymesayers community. As for the title of the record, God Loves Ugly, Slug felt it was up for each listener's interpretations. "To me, it was just a basic, broad statement," he told Synthesis writer Max Sidman.

Rhymesayers signed a new distribution deal with punk label Epitaph for their 2003 release Seven's Travels. The record was hailed in popular music magazines and newspapers as heralding Atmosphere's distinctive style, and it sold more than 150,000 copies in the United States. Blashill wrote that the group made "overeducated nerd rap: self loathing, navel-gazing and occasionally hilarious," and added that "the grooves are dusty and tasteful, and Slug's words are those of a smart guy who's tired of being nice." Ant's production of jazzy and old R&B samples didn't go unnoticed either. "His dusty grooves are hooky and R&B-informed, and even when they back up Slug's most manically depressed rhymes, they never feel heavy handed," wrote Hoard, of Ant's contribution.

Front man Slug gained a lot of attention for using rhymes that seemed heartbreakingly autobiographical. Like most songwriters, though, Slug wanted listeners to know that not everything was a personal diary entry, and that his lyrics were up for personal interpretation. Slug admitted to The A.V. Club, "I grew up on Slick Rick, who could tell any story he wanted, and you never stopped and wondered if that really happened. And rap has turned into such a literal thing. … Kids actually think that rappers do these things. It's like, I got news for you, Lloyd Banks has never shot anybody, and I've never done heroin. But at the same time, I'm not going to change my technique because I'm worried about whether people are interpreting it right or wrong."

In 2005 Atmosphere issued You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having, which debuted at number one on the Billboard Indie Chart with 19,000 copies sold in its first week. Performances on Late Night With Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live widened the group's audience to thousands of urban and suburban teens. Throughout You Can't Imagine, Slug raps about politics, murders, rage, and personal problems. "This all could have been a drag in the hands of a rapper with less self-awareness or sense of humor, or without access to the deft production skills of Atmosphere beatmaster Ant," wrote Christopher Bahn in The A.V. Club.

The Sad Clown series that the group began several years back kept Atmosphere busy. In July of 2007 it was Sad Clown Bad Summer, in November, it was Sad Clown Bad Fall. In December of that year, via free download on their Web site only, Atmosphere put up a new record aptly titled Strictly Leakage. In April of 2008, Atmosphere released the much-anticipated album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That S--t Gold. The group embarked on a tour with their backup band that included Erick Anderson (keyboards), Nate Collins (guitar), Brett Johnson (bass), and Brian McLeod (drums).

Selected discography
Overcast!, Rhymesayers, 1998.
Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP's, Rhymesayers, 2001.
God Loves Ugly, Rhymesayers, 2002.
Seven's Travels, Rhymesayers, 2003.
You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having, Rhymesayers, 2005.
When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That S--t Gold, Rhymesayers, 2008.

Sources
Periodicals
Village Voice, June 26, 2002; November 3, 2004.

Online
"Atmosphere: Seven's Travels," Rolling Stone, http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/atmosphere2/albums/album/300124/review/5943244/sevens_travels (February 10, 2008).
"Atmosphere: You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having," The A.V. Club, http://www.avclub.com/content/node/41761 (February 10, 2008).
"The Fifth Element of Hip-Hop," Synthesis, http://www.synthesis.net/music/interview/item-2368/2002-09-17-the_fifth_element_of_hip-hop (February 10, 2008).
Rhymesayers Entertainment Official Web site, http://www.rhymesayers.com (February 10, 2008).
"Slug," The A.V. Club, http://www.avclub.com/content/node/57340 (February 10, 2008).