Atmosphere and the Rhymesayers: Investigating Authenticity in Minneapolis's Hip Hop Circle

Final Web Ethnography

In the early to mid 1980s, the creative juices of a few young innovators started boiling in the otherwise frozen land that is urban Minnesota. A small circle of artists began creating a new breed of underground hip hop in Minneapolis. Today that circle has not only survived, it has exploded, thrived, and diversified. Originals like Slug (aka Sean Daley) of Atmosphere have gone national and international representing and staying true to the hometown. Why and how does this underground hip hop community consider itself more authentic than mainstream hip hop? What criteria make these artists and their music authentic? Based on my ethnographic research, I found that first, this circle of artists is distinctly “anti-gangsta rap,” which means that it resists gangsta rap, a style that pervades much of mainstream hip hop today. This circle prides itself on taking an introspective and reflective style to its rhymes, and on being against the mainstream. Second, these artists consider staying with Rhymesayers Entertainment, a small local label, another defining piece in their own authenticity. By remaining with a small, local label, instead of going commercial with a major label, the artists claim the ability to stay both true to their roots and to the underground scene. These artists and their fans consider their music “purer” and “truer” than mainstream hip hop because they claim to have free license to create their own music without the interference of a big label.

Using the ethnographic method, I researched the Minneapolis hip hop crew, maintaining a focus on Atmosphere. I performed this research over the course of the semester by interviewing Atmosphere fans mostly from Minnesota with the hopes of understanding the importance of place to both the fans and the artists. I also did extensive online research on Atmosphere, other artists in the Minneapolis crew, and Atmosphere's fans. Finally, I listened to a lot of Atmosphere's music as well as music by fellow Minnesota artist Brother Ali. It is important here to note that I am a fan of Atmosphere and some of the group's contemporaries myself, and also a Minneapolis native. In compiling my research, I have tried to be as reflexive as possible.

First, a bit of background info. Atmosphere is one of the most widely-known hip hop groups in the Minneapolis hip hop circle. The group, founded formally in the mid 1990s, consists of Slug, the vocals, and Ant (aka Anthony Davis), the beats, and additional band members when on tour, as featured in the picture at left courtesy of newscafe.ansci.usu.edu/.../111805_hiphop.html. Slug started the Rhymesayers collective with high school friends Spawn (aka Derek Turner), a former MC of Atmosphere, and Stress (aka Saddiq Ali). Today, Rhymesayers is the main underground or indie label in Minneapolis with 24 individuals or groups from the area signed including such notables as P.O.S., Brother Ali, and many others. Since releasing its first album, Overcast!, in 1998, Atmosphere has released eight albums, most recently, Sad Clown Bad Winter. The group set the tone for Rhymesayers as a distinctly “anti-gansta” rap collective, instead creating hip hop with a more meditative tone and style (Sidman, Sythesis).

So, why and how does this underground hip hop community and Atmosphere in particular consider itself more authentic than mainstream hip hop? Atmosphere and other members of the Rhymesayers label consider their individual and “anti-gangsta rap” style to be an essential part in creating their authenticity. Gangsta rap is a particularly "hard" hip hop style that includes rhymes about a host of things typically linked to gang life including violence and murder, drug use, and hustling (Quinn 64). Atmosphere and its contemporaries consider mainstream hip hop to be highly influenced by the gangsta rap style, and the ideas consistently discussed in the mainstream to be tired. Slug instead raps about his personal relationships such as that with his son in the song "Little Man," for example, and often offers societal critiques especially in the song "National Disgrace," (video featured below).




Other Rhymesayers artists, like Brother Ali, reflect on the current state of affairs
in the song “Uncle Sam, Goddamn,” for example. You can hear Brother Ali's governmental and social criticism in this video for the song:



Fans respond positively to this take on hip hop. Lauren, a 19 year old student in New York City and Minneapolis native explains the appeal:

The beats are good, and the lyrics are like poetry, not about money and hos like other rap music…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.

By staying true to their roots and a small, local record label, Atmosphere and other underground artists continue to prove their authenticity. Atmosphere, courted by major record labels including Sony, turned down a chance to sign big so as not to undermine its authentic, local, and underground status. Underground authenticity means creating “pure” and “true” music that can be diluted under the control of a major label’s contract, the artists and their fans insist. Dustin, a 22 year old student in Madison, Wisconsin and Minneapolis native confirms that fans believe Atmosphere's loyalty to Rhymesayers is essential to the underground scene:

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 [if the sign with a major label].

As hip hop has aged, there is a feeling by many underground artists that much of the music today is inauthentic (Krims 93). In this interview, Slug talks about the proliferation of mediocre rappers that have helped him stand out because his raps have substance.




It is not uncommon for underground artists to assert their authenticity through content and skill (Hess 384).

Atmosphere is especially true to its roots because it is invested in Minneapolis. In the song, "Always Coming Back Home to You" (song featured below) on the album Se7en's Travels, Slug raps about his allegiance to Minnesota.




Minneapolis is Slug’s point of reference and where many of his experiences have taken place; so that comes through in his rhymes. In an exchange with interviewer Max Sidman published in Synthesis, Slug confirms what his rhymes convey:

People say that the scene in Minneapolis is great, if you can stand the winter.

Keep away, man, it's my secret garden! But yeah, if you can handle the winters, it is the place to live, and I stand firmly by that.

The connection to home or the 'hood is an important theme across hip hop both in the underground and mainstream spheres (Forman 7). Talib Kweli, for example, another hip hop performer from Brooklyn sings about his strong ties to his own hometown in several songs when he "shouts out" to Brooklyn (Spady 994). Hip hop artists usually get their start in their hometowns, so they feel loyalty to them and their home audiences. Atmosphere’s first fans were and are Minnesotans who can relate to the music and who spread their music to their friends, who expanded their music to their friends, and so on. The artists and the fans have a mutually-appreciative relationship. Dustin explains his appreciation:

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.


While Atmosphere (shown courtesy rhymesayers.com at left, Ant is left of Slug) and the Minnesota collective have stayed true to their roots, their appeal outside of Minneapolis is undeniable. Their underground status makes them seem more accessible to fans across the country than mainstream artists. The group's profile on websites like myspace.com and facebook.com allow fans across the country to keep up with daily announcements and new music from the artists, and also to leave the artists notes and communicate with other fans. These websites offer significant insight into Atmosphere’s fan base. Check out comments from fans hailing from Texas to Montana on these sites. As the group’s bio on Epitaph Records's website notes, the group is unique because of its wide appeal to hip hop die-hards, indie rockers, and punks. Atmosphere also has one of hip hop’s largest female followings, which includes the author of this ethnography. This accessibility to fans is a trademark of an authentic underground artist.

Atmosphere and other members of the Minneapolis hip hop circle take pride in setting themselves apart from the mainstream. They have their own criteria for what constitutes authentic artists and hip hop music. Atmosphere’s thoughtful and personal lyrical content, commitment to the local scene, the Rhymesayers label, and the local audience make its members authentic creators of hip hop in this scene. Fans appreciate that Atmosphere has not “sold out” to a major record label because the lyrics remain authentic. Fans also appreciate that it is easy to get information about the artist, music, upcoming shows, and can communicate with the artist and other fans without the layers of publicists and managers and agents that mainstream musicians typically have. This makes Atmosphere more real or authentic than mainstream hip hop artists. Additionally, in this circle, attachment to Minneapolis is a defining characteristic. The artists are very loyal to their Minnesota fans, who have been loyal to them. The idea of race in this scene is an interesting point to continue research. From personal experience, I have noted that Atmosphere seems to attract a mainly white audience. Race is rarely talked about in this scene, except minimally by Brother Ali, who’s race has been questioned because he is albino. Slug himself is half African American and half white, and the rest of the Rhymesayers group is surprisingly diverse. There are a sizable number of Latino artists as well as African Americans and whites. There are two groups, Soul Position and Mass Hysteria, that are composed of one African American and one white member. In a lot of mainstream hip hop, race is an indicator of authenticity, but in this scene that clearly is not so. It would be worthwhile to delve into this issue to further investigate this scene.

Works Cited

Epitaph Records. 2005. http://www.epitaph.com/artists/artist/139. Accessed 12/12/07.

Forman, Murray. The ‘Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2002.

Hard News Cafe: Utah State University. newscafe.ansci.usu.edu/.../111805_hiphop.html. Accessed 12/12/07.

Hess, Mickey. “Hip-hop Realness and the White Performer.” Critical Studies in Media Communication. Vol. 22, No. 5, December 2005, pp.372-389.

Krims, Adam. Rap Music and the Poetics of Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

MySpace. Atmosphere. http://myspace.com/atmosphere. Myspace.com 2003-2007. Accessed 12/12/07.

Myspace. Brother Ali. http://myspace.com/brotherali. Myspace.com 2003-2007. Accessed 12.12.07.

MySpace. P.O.S. http://myspace.com/posisruiningmylife. Myspace.com 2003-2007. Accessed 12/12/07.

Quinn, Eithne. Nuthin’ but a “G” Thang: The Commerce and Culture of Gangsta Rap. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.

Rhymesayers Entertainment. http://www.rhymesayers.com/. 2004. Accessed 12/12/07.

Sidman, Max. Sythesis. "The Fifth Element of Hip Hop: Atmosphere's Slug Expounds on the Rhymesayers, Minneapolis, and other Unspeakable Things." Sept 17th, 2002. http://www.synthesis.net/music/interview/item-2368/2002-09-17-the_fifth_element_of_hip-hop. Accessed 12/12/07.

Spady, James. “The Flouroscope of Brooklyn Hip Hop: Talib Kweli in Conversation.” Callaloo Vol. 29, No. 3, pp.993–1011.