by Angela Williams
Daily Lobo
A new brand of underground hip-hop is about to hit Albuquerque for the first time when Atmosphere rolls through for a show Wednesday, Oct. 2, at the Sunshine Theater.
Atmosphere has truly exploded in the larger corners of the indie hip-hop scene, but also has made its way to people who are unlikely to listen to any rap or hip-hop at all. Fronted by lead rapper Slug, with DJ Ant, this Minnesota-based group may not be aiming for mainstream fame, but it's edging into a fame all its own.
Slug, a member of the Rhyme Sayers label crew, is a half-black, half-white rapper from Minneapolis whose rhymes embody a young man's struggle with his culture, family, mixed race and the world in general. Not a typical rapper, he doesn't talk about money and guns. Instead, he has a dark humor that penetrates all his emotionally gut-wrenching songs.
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Atmosphere's latest album, God Loves Ugly, has a much more serious rap tempo than the previous Lucy Ford LP, on which "Ain't Nothin' But Sunshine" - a song about a young man who grew up on a farm and whose parents were killed, and finally dealt with his pain by "murdering cattle" - was birthed.
Still, God Loves Ugly knocked over the indie scene, actually making the Billboard top 200 charts and "Modern Man's Hustle" 13th on Billboard's rap singles charts.
Slug has paid his own dues in the scene, such as having to deal with questions of authenticity because he is half-white, and media comparing him to Detroit white rapper Eminem. But Slug maintains that he doesn't have a problem with it anymore.
"I don't mind," he said. "I understand that people that have to make comparisons are doing it because they're trying to explain something to people that don't know anything about it. I know the comparison mostly stems from the white thing."
Slug added that a few years ago he would have taken issue with it because he didn't like being classified as "white," but now he doesn't mind, giving love to Eminem for being a good rapper.
"I prefer that than to be called emo," he said.
Slug does insist, however, that he doesn't want to be famous - he just wants to be rich.
"I don't really think that I should use my talent to be rich, I want to use my brains to get rich," he said.
Slug said that he digs where a lot of mainstream hip-hop is going with groups such as Outkast and artists such as Busta Rhymes, but insists that he's not going mainstream anytime soon.
"I don't do what they do and I'm OK with that," he said.
Slug added that he's happy with where he is in his career.
"I'm a pretty content person all around," he said. "That's kind of what happens when the revolution is personal, internal. Because eventually one side has to win and once it wins, then there's really no reason to be mad. You have to embrace it."
And most of Slug's rhymes are so personal that they hurt the listener. Not emo at all, Slug has a way of tearing into life and making it his, whether it's truly autobiographical or not. Songs such as "If I Was Santa Claus" off Lucy Ford - which is a stunning rendition about reaching out to others - are intense, tough and beautiful all at the same time. Likewise, "A Girl Named Hope" on God Loves Ugly is a slow, confessional burn.
Through it all, Slug and Atmosphere have begun a hip-hop revolution worthy of everybody's respect. Atmosphere's just begun to hit the tip of something truly huge - something not even the seemingly infallible Eminem can touch.
Catch Atmosphere Wednesday night at 8 p.m. at the Sunshine Theater at 120 Central Ave. SE. Tickets are available through ticketmaster.com.
