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Atmosphere, the project of Minneapolis-based
producer Anthony "Ant" Davis
and of White rapper Sean "Slug" Daley, founder of the "Rhyme Sayers" collective,
debuted with the mediocre and too intellectual Overcast (1997),
Headshotz Se7en (1999)
and
Sad Clown Bad Dub II (2000),
but Slug's introspective lyrics on Lucy Ford (2001), that collects three EPs dedicated to a girl by that name (or perhaps it's a nod to "Lucifer"), elevated the project to personal storytelling at the same time that Ant's non-electronic production (only live instruments are sampled) matured into real accompaniment, not mere decoration.
Hence the smooth and funky Between the Lines (which samples Cannonball Adderley's sextet),
the nervous Like Today (with a neosoul coda)
the sarcastic and chugging Free Or Dead,
the melodic and emotional The Women With the Tattooed Hands,
the nursery rhyme-like Party For The Fight To Write.
Nothing But Sunshine is a mantra-like rap with a piano-based beat courtesy of Moodswing9 (previously known as Cuz the Highlander).
Ant's baroque moment comes with the lush arrangement of Guns And Cigarettes that nods at boogie, gospel and blues, incorporating samples of soul singer Lyn Collins' Think (the most used sample of all time) and of Cannonball Adderley's quintet.
By the end of the album,
"Lucy/ Lucifer" has become a manifestation of Slug's existential turbulence,
material addictions and psychological insecurity.
Slug is an angrier man on God Loves Ugly (2002).
The album, coupled with Ant's new melodic emphasis,
coined the hip-hop equivalent of "emo-core": "emo-rap".
The anger overflows in Modern Man's Hustle and The Bass and the Movement.
Meant to be the emble of his emo-rap, F*@k You Lucy is in reality a rosary of invectives.
The gloomy and hallucinated Vampires is one of the many songs that are not quite "emo".
The classy production empowers Onemosphere,
Flesh (Ant's virtuoso remix of drum rolls and hi-hats) and
Give Me (a dark, muffled and almost psychedelic backdrop)
more than the words.
The captivating vocal flow and the almost Beethoven-ian piano snippet conjure to elevate Godlovesugly above the fray.
Too much filler though, and Ant's beats are often bland.
Sevens Travels (2003) continues the emo-rap mission but it's more uneven
with fewer memorable songs. When it clicks, Atmosphere's music is
emo-rap at its best, but that's pretty much Trying to Find a Balance,
Always Coming Back Home to You and
Reflections: it should have been a three-song EP instead of a 20-song album.
Meanwhile, Ant was producing the albums of Brother Ali (Jason Newman): Shadows Of The Sun (2003) and Undisputed Truth (2007).
Atmosphere's
You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having (Rhymesayers, 2005)
was just about the opposite of what its title says: a collection of mostly unhappy raps. Ant was at the peak of his art of the sample and created a
"lean and mean" sound that was actually eccentric and multi-layered.
A dizzying array of keyboards of The Arrival punctuates the rapper's anthemic declamation.
The pulsating and booming Panic Attack props up the almost blues shout of the rapper.
Dissonant piano and martial drums shore up the gasping vocals of Pour Me Another.
Ant throws female crooning and blues-rock guitar into the cauldron of Smart Went Crazy, which boasts another hot declamation.
Little Man wants to be a simple message but Ant's collage of voices turns it into a ghostly experience.
Angelface and Get Fly are other songs dominated by Ant's studio work.
The quality of the production is consistently superlative. Unfortunately, the
rapping is not always up to the task.
Slug's storytelling dominates
When Life Gives You Lemons You Paint That Shit Gold (2008),
which mainly represents a step towards a more
languid and laid-back sound.
The tragic Your Glass House,
the trotting Shoulda Known,
the gospel-ish Puppets proceed cautiously, avoiding overheated emotions.
Wild Wild Horses is a moving story but the orchestral beat hardly matches the pathos.
Songs like In Her Music Box are delivered in a half-sung tone.
It's a confused album whose only consistent tract is that it feels warm and
charming, background music that doesn't require too much thinking and doesn't
elicit strong emotions: anti-emo rap?
The crew
Murs of the Living Legends and rapper Slug formed Felt
and began a trilogy of albums dedicated to celebrities:
A Tribute to Christina Ricci (2002),
A Tribute to Lisa Bonet (2005), and
A Tribute To Rosie Perez (2009), with their work
overshadowed by Aesop Rock's production.
Trying to venture beyond emo-rap, Atmosphere turned
The Family Sign (2011), recorded with a live band, into an oddly amateurish imitation of vintage Atmosphere.
The decline was rapid through bland albums like
Southsiders (2014),
Fishing Blues (2016),
Mi Vida Local (2018),
Whenever (2019),
and The Day Before Halloween (2020).
Word? (2021), however, was the best in a decade and reignited interest
in their emo-rap, but
So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously (2023) was only a timid
follow-up.
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