Sluggin‘ It Out

Hip-hop outfit Atmosphere struggles with attitude and art

By Jasen T. Davis

Slug is the lead singer and MC of Atmosphere, an indie hip-hop band from Minneapolis. The group combines addictive guitar hooks, provocative bass lines and solid drumbeats with Slug’s lyrical style to form a powerful, enduring combination. After more than a decade, Atmosphere still plays sold-out shows from here to Europe.

While Slug’s philosophical approach to writing songs goes beyond the usual guns, bitches and boasting, he isn’t putting that perspective down.

“To me, hip-hop means making something out of nothing,” he says. “It’s about the struggle. I don’t disagree with hip-hop songs that talk about guns, dealing drugs, getting shot or anything like that, because I think they are still talking about what it’s like to struggle.”

“There are a lot of different people in hip-hop, but we’re all talking about a similar place,” Slug continues. “Some struggles are personal struggles, while others struggle with the street.”

This stark honesty allows the artist a wider range of material. Songs about poverty, losing a loved one, being addicted to drugs or falling out of love give Atmosphere’s lyrics a painful, original quality.

Atmosphere’s latest album, The Family Sign (just released last month), contains just as much emotional substance as its previous work. “I guess you could say I have a lot of depth. I might credit that to how much I over-analyze my own lyrics,” Slug says. “I am a pretty insecure artist, so I spend a lot of time breaking down my art.”

Slug promises that the latest album is going to live up to the band’s reputation, rewarding fresh listeners and loyal fans alike by surprising them both with an album that is both classic and completely original.

“What you can expect out of our new record is what we’ve built so far,” he says. “If I take a hard left, I’m going to warn you, but it’s always going to be a great trip. Our goal with every album is to figure out how to best articulate where we came from in a way that allows people to relate to us. I grew up in the ghetto of Minneapolis, in the south side of a rough neighborhood, so there’s a lot of [that] self-taught attitude in my writing.”

When it comes to music, Slug is both an artist and an architect. He demands perfection from every song he helps construct because he enjoys the process of creation. “You can break artists into two different groups,” he says. “There are artists who get validation by the presentation of the art, and there are artists who get their validation from technique. Some make art, some present art.”

When it comes to legalizing cannabis, Slug has some stark opinions. “I think there’s a lot of pros and cons, but the pros outweigh the cons. I’d be hard pressed to find the cons, but one would be how the government is going to exploit this. I want to support the independent businessperson more than the corporations. There’s a cool thing where the little guy benefits from medical marijuana, but once the lobbyists get involved it’s just going to hurt medical marijuana patients.”

He’s quick to point out that the legalization issue is also an answer to getting out of our seemingly permanent, nation-wide recession

“There’s a fucking economy we are not making use of. If we legalize and tax this stuff, we could rebuild the country.”

www.myspace.com/atmosphere.

MINNI-ME!

Sure, when it comes to med-friendly communities, it’s easy to name-drop places like San Francisco, Denver and Los Angeles . . . but Atmosphere’s stomping grounds, Minneapolis, have some cred. Last year, The Daily Beast ranked the “Top 40 Most Pot-Loving Communities” and Minneapolis came in at No. 13. “It’s all over the place,” local Sheriff Rich Stanek was quoted as saying. For trivia nuts, Eureka, Calif., came in at No. 1 and Jacksonville, Fla., came in at No. 20.