Here is a link to music videos for "Trying to Find a Balance" on Se7ens Travels (2003) and "Say Hey There" on You Can't Believe How Much Fun We're Having (2005):
http://music.yahoo.com/ar-283830-videos--Atmosphere?ovchn=GGL&ovcpn=MusicVideo&ovcrn=Atmosphere+music+videos&ovtac=PPC
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Fieldnotes
Interview 1:
Lauren is a 19-year-old art student living in New York. She was born and raised in the Minneapolis area.
When did you start listening to Atmosphere?
I was in 8th grade, 12 years old (2000).
How did you get into the group?
My friend Sam introduced me to the group. He got into through a skateboarding video or something, I think.
Did a lot of your friends know about Atmosphere then?
Not then. They started getting into Atmosphere during high school. Some of my guy friends started listening to it earlier, but it wasn’t widely known until high school.
How did your girlfriends start listening to Atmosphere?
Everyone started listening to it through word of mouth I think. I don’t know for sure, but I think in the beginning more guys than girls listened to it.
Has the group’s reach extended?
Yeah they have been touring more concerts in college towns. Tonight they are in Madison, WI, actually. I have friends from New York who like it now, too.
Why do you like the group?
The music is really good. It was always cool because [Slug] is so talented, but still likes smaller-scale audiences. I also knew where and what he was singing about in a lot of songs [because he makes references to Minnesota, Minneapolis, and the Midwest]. The beats are good and the lyrics are like poetry, not about money and hos like other rap music.
What is your favorite album?
My first album was Lucy Ford, but my favorite is Se7ens Travels. "Reflections" and "Trying to Find a Balance" are some of my favorite songs of all time. I identify with them. "Always Coming Back Home to You" is about Minnesota. I’m away at college now and I really value my home and the values of the people there.
What is especially interesting to you about Atmosphere?
The group is really unique because Slug talks about his opinions and experiences, not about how much money he has like some other rappers. Some of his stuff is dark and creepy, but it’s real. It’s like a poem.
Does it matter to you that Atmosphere is not signed with a major record label, event though several offers were made?
That goes to show that they aren’t just trying to crank out bestsellers, but music with substance. They don’t want to be sellouts. That’s definitely important to their fans.
How many concerts have you been to?
Three all in Minneapolis: Senior year in high school was the most recent one.
What do you remember about the last concert you went to?
Slug was singing from different from albums. Every album is a different stage in his life. Every album is good, but not the same as the last one. It’s like a story in concert of his life.
10/10/07
Fieldnotes:
Listening to Atmosphere’s Sad Clown Bad Summer (2007):
My favorite songs on this album are “Sunshine” and “Mattress.” “Sunshine” has an interesting, upbeat tone and a piano playing a simple, repetitive tune in the background which makes it, like many of Atmosphere’s songs, unique from other hip hop and indie music. “Mattress” is also an interesting song because the beat is also fast and catchy. Upon a closer listen to the lyrics, however, the song is about lies and secrets and guilt being “stains on that mattress.”
The upbeat tone of these songs is quite different from an older album, Lucy Ford. Songs like “Don’t Ever F***ing Question that” have a much slower and more somber beat. That song is about the difficulty Slug and a former love have in communicating and believing their feelings for each other: “I love you/Don’t ever f***ing question that/That’s why we’ll probably never get along/If I could find the right words to say/I wouldn’t need to write this mothaf***ing song.”
A song I particularly like is “Always Coming Back Home to you” because it both refers to places I know because I grew up in Minneapolis and Slug professes his loyalty to his hometown. Also, he reminds me that there are many different lifestyles and experiences in Minneapolis. It is important for me to keep an awareness of different lifestyles in my own hometown. He talks about the “Southside of the city” where he grew up, which is very different from where I grew up. In the second part of the song, Slug raps about the unique values of Midwesterners. “The women are beautiful/To me they are/At least we’re not infested with pretentious movie stars/Then it hit me Minnesota is dope/If not for what we have, then for what we don’t”
Lauren is a 19-year-old art student living in New York. She was born and raised in the Minneapolis area.
When did you start listening to Atmosphere?
I was in 8th grade, 12 years old (2000).
How did you get into the group?
My friend Sam introduced me to the group. He got into through a skateboarding video or something, I think.
Did a lot of your friends know about Atmosphere then?
Not then. They started getting into Atmosphere during high school. Some of my guy friends started listening to it earlier, but it wasn’t widely known until high school.
How did your girlfriends start listening to Atmosphere?
Everyone started listening to it through word of mouth I think. I don’t know for sure, but I think in the beginning more guys than girls listened to it.
Has the group’s reach extended?
Yeah they have been touring more concerts in college towns. Tonight they are in Madison, WI, actually. I have friends from New York who like it now, too.
Why do you like the group?
The music is really good. It was always cool because [Slug] is so talented, but still likes smaller-scale audiences. I also knew where and what he was singing about in a lot of songs [because he makes references to Minnesota, Minneapolis, and the Midwest]. The beats are good and the lyrics are like poetry, not about money and hos like other rap music.
What is your favorite album?
My first album was Lucy Ford, but my favorite is Se7ens Travels. "Reflections" and "Trying to Find a Balance" are some of my favorite songs of all time. I identify with them. "Always Coming Back Home to You" is about Minnesota. I’m away at college now and I really value my home and the values of the people there.
What is especially interesting to you about Atmosphere?
The group is really unique because Slug talks about his opinions and experiences, not about how much money he has like some other rappers. Some of his stuff is dark and creepy, but it’s real. It’s like a poem.
Does it matter to you that Atmosphere is not signed with a major record label, event though several offers were made?
That goes to show that they aren’t just trying to crank out bestsellers, but music with substance. They don’t want to be sellouts. That’s definitely important to their fans.
How many concerts have you been to?
Three all in Minneapolis: Senior year in high school was the most recent one.
What do you remember about the last concert you went to?
Slug was singing from different from albums. Every album is a different stage in his life. Every album is good, but not the same as the last one. It’s like a story in concert of his life.
10/10/07
Fieldnotes:
Listening to Atmosphere’s Sad Clown Bad Summer (2007):
My favorite songs on this album are “Sunshine” and “Mattress.” “Sunshine” has an interesting, upbeat tone and a piano playing a simple, repetitive tune in the background which makes it, like many of Atmosphere’s songs, unique from other hip hop and indie music. “Mattress” is also an interesting song because the beat is also fast and catchy. Upon a closer listen to the lyrics, however, the song is about lies and secrets and guilt being “stains on that mattress.”
The upbeat tone of these songs is quite different from an older album, Lucy Ford. Songs like “Don’t Ever F***ing Question that” have a much slower and more somber beat. That song is about the difficulty Slug and a former love have in communicating and believing their feelings for each other: “I love you/Don’t ever f***ing question that/That’s why we’ll probably never get along/If I could find the right words to say/I wouldn’t need to write this mothaf***ing song.”
A song I particularly like is “Always Coming Back Home to you” because it both refers to places I know because I grew up in Minneapolis and Slug professes his loyalty to his hometown. Also, he reminds me that there are many different lifestyles and experiences in Minneapolis. It is important for me to keep an awareness of different lifestyles in my own hometown. He talks about the “Southside of the city” where he grew up, which is very different from where I grew up. In the second part of the song, Slug raps about the unique values of Midwesterners. “The women are beautiful/To me they are/At least we’re not infested with pretentious movie stars/Then it hit me Minnesota is dope/If not for what we have, then for what we don’t”
Article from URB Magazine, 2005
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? Lets 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 artists' 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", Atmospheres 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 distributed by 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 and Lucy EP's were combined to create the second official Atmosphere album, Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP's, the only Slug and Ant album with external production: El P, Jel and 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 Ants career produced, Godlovesugly, the third Atmosphere album. Godlovesugly, 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, Sevens 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 the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, Atmosphere has continued to grow, staying true to early indie, D.I.Y ethics and their original grass roots approach.
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 Vans 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 Sevens 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 Cant Imagine How Much Fun Were 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 just as much in common with old LL Cool J and Run DMC as 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. 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.
-Taken from Atmosphere's Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/atmosphere
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", Atmospheres 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 distributed by 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 and Lucy EP's were combined to create the second official Atmosphere album, Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP's, the only Slug and Ant album with external production: El P, Jel and 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 Ants career produced, Godlovesugly, the third Atmosphere album. Godlovesugly, 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, Sevens 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 the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, Atmosphere has continued to grow, staying true to early indie, D.I.Y ethics and their original grass roots approach.
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 Vans 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 Sevens 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 Cant Imagine How Much Fun Were 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 just as much in common with old LL Cool J and Run DMC as 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. 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.
-Taken from Atmosphere's Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/atmosphere
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)