Atmosphere

Editor's Review:

Atmopshere - a.k.a. rapper Slug and whoever happens to be DJing or producing for him at any given time - has been honestly holding down Midwestern hip-hop for as long as Eminem has been selling himself to angry young suburban white kids. Unlike MTV's bleach-blonde bad boy, however, the enigmatic Slug is a Minneapolis, MN rapper who has the ability to make a point that goes far beyond anything meant simply to shock listeners. At the same time, while this Midwestern MC has been embraced by the so-called backpacker hip-hop movement - often unrealistically staunch, independent rap music that is "abstract" in nature and carries with it a certain dingy superiority - Slug's style and skills on the mic far transcend the aesthetic of stereotypic, wack freestyle ciphers that hooded backpackers throw down on city street corners in front of indie record shops.
God Loves Ugly, Slug's latest collection of what's being branded by some as emo-rap, finds this prolific and driven MC still riding his own self-consciousness, asserting his prowess on the mic ("Atmosphere / and maybe you don't like us / but of the all stars in the sky / believe we're one of the brightest,"), professing his disdain for what seems to be an addiction to love - or the idea of love; or maybe it's just lust - and throwing down on wack MCs. And while Slug's lyrical fare is pretty standard (and, of course, dope) it's Ant's clean and consistent production that makes this Atmosphere's best sounding release to date.
- Max Sidman


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Record Label Rhymesayers Enterpainment / Fat Beats Released June 2002

Tracks Onemosphere The Bass and the Movement Give Me Fuck You Lucy Hair God Loves Ugly A Song About a Friend Flesh Saves the Day Lovelife Breathing Vampires A Girl Named Hope God Love Ugly Reprise Modern Man's Hustle One of a Kind Blame Game Shrapnel