Atmosphere – “You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun ” – [Rhymesayers Ent.]

Atmosphere, from Minneapolis, is a hip-hop duo of Slug (Sean Daley) who emcees and rhymes and Ant (Anthony Davis) who handles beats and production. This is their 5th full-length release.

In this release we find Slug smoking in plain sight of a No Smoking sign and wrestling with his demons, which have been tweaked by such things as being on the road too much, not being on the road enough, ex-girlfriends, future ex-girlfriends, obnoxious scenesters, and what have you. In the meantime, Ant‘s understated production chugs along underneath the rhymes with plenty of soulful samples and catchy beats.

This CD comes with a lyrics sheet with 42 pictures of various friends on the back. The intelligent, self-deprecating, and funny rhymes cover a large range of topics, most of them not very pleasant like the rape and murder of a fan at a show a few years ago in That Night and three rap ‘letters? to his son, his dad, and himself in Little Man. At the end of most songs is a simple explanation of what the song was about (example: This song is about my disdain for music ‘scenes?’) so it’s hard to misread their intent.

The lyrics have some great lines like And now I got a head full of better off dead (Bill Withers reference?), Built a prison out of conjugal visits, and ‘I’mma act like I don’t give a make love.

Start with Say Hey There, Smart Went Crazy, and Get Fly

Note: The tracks tend to run into each other, so be careful or put the CD player on single mode.

Language: 1 ‘fuck,’ 8 ‘shit? (barely audible)

–Hunter Gatherer