11/5/07
Interview 2
Dustin is a 22 year old student in Madison, WI and a Minneapolis area native.
When did you start listening to Atmosphere?
I started listening in 8th grade (about 14 years old). I got into it because my friend’s brother is actually an Emcee for Doomtree Records (a major Minneapolis record label/crew that performs DIY punk, rap, hip hop, and other types of music; Doomtree artists such as P.O.S. have toured with Atmosphere).
What was the scene like when you first started listening?
It was pretty small. I first saw Slug in concert by himself at the [Minnesota] State Fair. He wasn’t even performing at one of the main bandstands. He was at the Green Mill bandstand. He was performing with other local artists including Brother Ali and The Core. At that time, the scene was pretty underground. Not a lot of people knew those guys yet, definitely not like they know them now.
How many concerts have you been to, and how have the performances evolved over the years?
I think I’ve been to about 6 of 7 concerts, mostly at First Ave (a well-known and popular venue for local artists in the heart of downtown Minneapolis). At each performance, Slug breaks out stuff from the most recent album, since they are usually touring to promote the newest album. But, they usually break out some older music, too. Really, every album has a different feeling, but the messages are pretty consistent, and their style and values are still the same, no matter how big they get. They talk about things I can relate to and that are mostly positive, and they are still true to Minneapolis and their roots.
Why do you like Atmosphere and their music?
It’s good to see people from my hometown making positive music and talking about real life, not fame and money like a lot of rappers. They make good songs with good beats. They convey their positive messages in a way that I can appreciate.
How do you feel about the fact that Atmosphere and other members of the Minneapolis scene are becoming more widely known?
I think it’s really good. It’s helping the Minnesota music scene grow. It’s good for artists to go other places and get recognized for positive reasons. It’s good that Slug is the same person he was before he started getting so widely known, but he’s proven that his messages are relatable across the country. Still, he is true to hits roots. That’s really important to his local fans.
How do you feel about the fact that Atmosphere has turned down several offers from major commercial record labels?
It’s really important to the Minnesota music scene that they have decided to stay local with the Rhymesayers as their label. That really helps other members of the scene like P.O.S. who went on the Pour Me Another Tour with Atmosphere. It helps promote local musicians who need to say powerful messages, but like Atmosphere, don’t want to sell out to a commercial label. They are smart because they know they’ll have people telling them what to say, how to sound, what to do.
What is your favorite album and/or song and why?
I like Lucy Ford best because it was Atmosphere’s first CD as a group. It is lesser known than some of the more recent albums, but it really shows where Slug came from. My favorite song is “Don’t Ever F***ing Question That” (which is on Lucy Ford). It is just a song that I can relate to, and its one of the originals.
Notes: The Minneapolis Scene
I think it is important to mention some of the other artists that are important in this same local circle that Atmosphere came from. Some of these artists have toured together, and most of them are friends or at least know each other. Doomtree Records describes itself as “a record label…a rap group…a family.” This scene is known to be very tightly-knit. Members of Doomtree include: Emcee/Producer Cecil Otter, Emcee/Vocalist Dessa, Producer Emily Bloodmobile, Producer Lazerbeak, Emcee/Producer P.O.S., Emcee Sims, Producer/DJ Tom Servo, and DJ Turbo Nemesis, Marshall Larada, Mike Mictlan, and Paper Tiger. This crew often performs at First Ave in Minneapolis, but also at other venues in the area. The reach of this crew is expanding. Performers, such as P.O.S., have toured with other members of the scene outside of the crew like Atmosphere. Doomtree calls itself “one of the most highly regarded hip-hop collectives in the Midwest.”
Doomtree’s first official album was P.O.S.’s Ipecac Neat, which was critically acclaimed by Minneapolis’s main newspaper, The Star Tribune. The crew has received several awards in recent years from widely-circulated local publications that are confident that they are up and coming. Members of Doomtree have also toured with widely known artist Wyclef Jean, and another local big-name, Brother Ali.
Brother Ali, originally from Madison, WI, moved to Minneapolis at age 15 when he became immersed in the local hip hop scene. Like Atmosphere and P.O.S., he is signed with Rhymesayers, and has gain national notoriety in the past years. Ali is known to rap with an easily-recognizable flow. The content of his music ranges from political critique in “Uncle Sam Goddamn,” to an outpouring of personal experiences in songs like “Truth Is.”
LINKS:
http://www.myspace.com/brotherali
http://www.myspace.com/doomthefucktree
http://www.myspace.com/posisruiningmylife
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2 comments:
I think it's really cool that you've picked a group that you are interested in and somewhat involved with. You are doing a pretty good job at being reflexive about how you fit into the scene, but I don't think you should hesitate to talk even more about your observations of, and feelings about, the music and the people making the music.
Something that keeps coming back in your blog is the concept of place. You and your 'informants' emphasize that it means a lot that Atmosphere is from Minneapolis and has stayed true to his roots. He has remained with a local label and tours with local bands. I think this could be your focus...
There are many cans of worms you could open up: race (which you actually haven't yet touched upon-- he's white!), sexism (or lack there of, as your first interviewee comments), class (this informs his lyrics and his aesthetic). However, I think if you focus on place, all of those things will come into play if you want them to. The environment in which he has grown up has greatly affected who he is and what his topics are about. Hip hop isn't just a music. It's a culture, and race and class are particularly important in hip hop culture. So I think touching upon this in your research (economic breakdown of Minnesota) would be a compelling point, even if that aspect isn't your focus.
I enjoy how you're drawing from many different sources here--interviews, magazine articles, and your own opinions of the music. I'd like to know a little more about how involved with the Minneapolis scene you would consider yourself to be, and also more about the Minneapolis scene in general. You've given a good summary of the artists the scene is centered on , but I want to know more about the fan community. What, roughly, are the demographics of the scene? Is it entirely hip-hop-focused? You might want to do more interviews to see what scene members can tell you about this, or maybe look at some fan websites and message boards. It'd also be interesting to see if you can find any interviews with Atmosphere, especially ones where they discuss their fans or scene. That might provide some insight as to why Atmosphere would want to stay so strongly connected to the Minneapolis scene.
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