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”