Happy Friday.
Another week down. Still cold, still Minnesota in spring.
After the week long Doomtree Diatribe I thought I would stick to the same genre, if switching gears only slightly. While it's not Doomtree, it is more excellent music from Minneapolis, namely the legendary rap group that is Atmosphere and a free bit of genius they put out that deserves a little attention. While the back story to what I'm going to write about is simply too involved and detailed to belabor you with in a single post, I'll try to summarize as best I can if you're not familiar with Atmosphere and the corollary Rhymesayers Entertainment. So here goes...
Slug, real name Sean Daley, formed a rap group called Urban Atmosphere in the mid-to-late 90s. Through its various permutations and name changes, the only members to stay together were rapper Slug and producer/turntablist Ant (Anthony Davis). After the release of the first official Atmosphere album, the only other member at the time, Spawn, left the group. This album, Overcast!, established their sound and put them on the map as a legit rap group from Minnesota. The release of progressively better and wider reaching albums (Lucy Ford, God Loves Ugly, Seven's Travels) saw them increasing their stamp on the local music scene as well as gaining recognition on a national level. Rhymesayers Entertainment, what is considered to be the most significant musical presence in MN (Prince excluded), was founded early after the group's formation, due to the frustrations Atmosphere and fellow musicians Brent Sayers and Musab Saad were experiencing with studios. The four partners established their label became the imprint through which Midwest hip hop would make its presence felt.
At this point (2005) Atmosphere released their fifth album, You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having, and Rhymesayers had gained enough steam to not only have their own shop in Uptown but national distribution and critical appreciation for their artists. The two were institutions of the city - for someone like myself, who entered college at the turn of the century, it seems like they've always been around. It seems I can't paint a serious enough picture to give credit to the accomplishments these connected entities have made. Point is, they were intertwined and doing really, really well. Releasing albums and EPs at a seemingly breakneck pace, Atmosphere was certainly a prolific group. Imagine our surprise, then, when this gifted duo put out a free album of new tracks for online distribution.
Titled Strictly Leakage, the album was a savvy move on Atmosphere's part. Unlike other artists that shall remain nameless, this was not some one-off, blow off some steam in the studio affair. Nor was it just old demos that had been unfit for other projects. No, this was a brand new album with freshly written tracks, any one of them sounding right at home in the expansive Atmosphere catalog. Rhymesayers deserves just as much credit for this move - they were not only putting out an album that was fantastic but ahead of the curve. They'd seen what direction the wind was blowing, that people don't buy albums much these days, let alone a hard-copy CD. They were aware of the massive amounts of piracy going on, so why not cut out the middle man and just offer the content themselves. After all, how many of us, in the heady, Wild West days of Napster, downloaded horrible, millionth generation mp3s that sounded like tin can rips? By offering their own content with high quality files Rhymesayers proved to their audience and the internet that they understood how the game was changing. Smart people.
The album itself, complete with new artwork and all that, is great. It feels like a legit rap album, just more of Atmosphere doing their thing. 'YGM' opens the album with anthemic, old school horn samples and Slug rapping "This is Sean & Ant's day, yours is on the floor with your permanent mad face." 'Little Math You' has Slug defending the suburban crowd, extemporizing on how the passion for the rap game exists within the person, regardless of geographic origin. One of my favorite cuts on the album is also the shortest. Clocking in a just over a minute and a half, 'Jewelry' is a goofy, funky exercise in Slug reminiscing while maintaining his braggadocio about "rocking some moon boots" doing the MC Hammer pants and doing the flashdance. It's weird and awesome at the same time. 'Crewed Up' has some of the best from Rhymesayers making appearances and spitting verses at each other, including heavy hitters Brother Ali, Toki Wright and Mujah Messiah. 'Domestic Dog' sees Slug in his observant/writer's style, musing about having to pick up women at the grocery store these days. It's kinda funny, in a harmless way.
While the songs may not be the absolute best the duo have released, they're still great, dance-able tracks. The album is great for summer barbecues; it has a great positive vibe, veering slightly away from Atmosphere's introspective or bleak canon. What really gets me though, is the method of distribution - years later, its still hosted on the Rhymesayers site. Head on over and pick it up to see what you missed the first time around.
Another week down. Still cold, still Minnesota in spring.
After the week long Doomtree Diatribe I thought I would stick to the same genre, if switching gears only slightly. While it's not Doomtree, it is more excellent music from Minneapolis, namely the legendary rap group that is Atmosphere and a free bit of genius they put out that deserves a little attention. While the back story to what I'm going to write about is simply too involved and detailed to belabor you with in a single post, I'll try to summarize as best I can if you're not familiar with Atmosphere and the corollary Rhymesayers Entertainment. So here goes...
Slug, real name Sean Daley, formed a rap group called Urban Atmosphere in the mid-to-late 90s. Through its various permutations and name changes, the only members to stay together were rapper Slug and producer/turntablist Ant (Anthony Davis). After the release of the first official Atmosphere album, the only other member at the time, Spawn, left the group. This album, Overcast!, established their sound and put them on the map as a legit rap group from Minnesota. The release of progressively better and wider reaching albums (Lucy Ford, God Loves Ugly, Seven's Travels) saw them increasing their stamp on the local music scene as well as gaining recognition on a national level. Rhymesayers Entertainment, what is considered to be the most significant musical presence in MN (Prince excluded), was founded early after the group's formation, due to the frustrations Atmosphere and fellow musicians Brent Sayers and Musab Saad were experiencing with studios. The four partners established their label became the imprint through which Midwest hip hop would make its presence felt.
Titled Strictly Leakage, the album was a savvy move on Atmosphere's part. Unlike other artists that shall remain nameless, this was not some one-off, blow off some steam in the studio affair. Nor was it just old demos that had been unfit for other projects. No, this was a brand new album with freshly written tracks, any one of them sounding right at home in the expansive Atmosphere catalog. Rhymesayers deserves just as much credit for this move - they were not only putting out an album that was fantastic but ahead of the curve. They'd seen what direction the wind was blowing, that people don't buy albums much these days, let alone a hard-copy CD. They were aware of the massive amounts of piracy going on, so why not cut out the middle man and just offer the content themselves. After all, how many of us, in the heady, Wild West days of Napster, downloaded horrible, millionth generation mp3s that sounded like tin can rips? By offering their own content with high quality files Rhymesayers proved to their audience and the internet that they understood how the game was changing. Smart people.
