#TBT: Atmosphere (1996-2005)

Atmosphere don't quite fit in with the rap scene that is usually portrayed on this website, but the Minneapolis-founded group has been doing their thing now for 26 years, and counting. As one of alternative rap's most successful acts, it's time that they got the throwback treatment. For today, we're focusing on the output from the group's first few albums, beginning with 1996's Overcast! and ending with 2005's You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having.

Atmosphere's style is marked by emotionally-charged lyrics that are often deeply personal. Slug, the MC, wears his heart on his sleeve with each bar, and when he's backed by Ant's unique production, the combination is lethal. These guys have a cult-like following, and many fans of the band have seen them numerous times.

Their longevity has boiled over into mainstream success, too. The last three LPs have been broken into the top 15 on the Billboard charts, with the When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold peaking at #5 and the latest LP, Southsiders peaking at #8. Let's take a look at the tracks that have contributed to this type of prosperity.

Atmosphere's full-length debut, 1997's Overcast!, features an album cover inspired by Blue Note Records, the most popular jazz record label in existence. It's fitting, because cuts like this take a jazzy piano sample to create an eerie hip hop jam.

Overcast! sounds a little bit like Eminem's debut Infinite. Taking cues from AZ's flow and minimalistic boom-bap production works in hindsight. This is a rare cut where Slug and Spawn, a founding member of Atmosphere who left before the album's release, share verses.

With live instruments, this one feels kind of like The Roots music does. Along with no-frills bars, this is hip hop at its finest. Peep these bars and feel their ambition:

"So here's to the good times, tonight is mighty special
So fasten your seatbelts, cause I'm gonna launch this vessel
Ain't gonna land until I'm bigger than Espo
And bigger than ecstasy and bigger than techno

I wanna bigger than Jesus and bigger than wrestling
Bigger than the Beatles and bigger than breast implants
I'm gonna be the biggest thing to hit these little kids
Bigger than guns, bigger than cigarettes"

A trip-hop-sounding beat paves the way for one of Atmosphere's most classic tracks. 

"Fuck you Lucy for defining my existence
Fuck you and your differences
Ever since I was a young lad with a part-time dad
It was hard to find happiness inside of what I had
I studied my mother, I digested her pain
And vowed no women on my path would have to walk the same
Travel like sound across the fate ladder
I travel with spoon to mix this cake batter
And I travel with feel, so I can deal with touch
It's like that, thank you very much, fuck you very much!"

Here's another Atmosphere classic off the album God Loves Ugly. An eerie piano sample gives it that classic flavor, and his emotional lyrics set himself apart from the rest of hip hop. 

Not only is Slug a great rapper, but he can lay one hell of a hook too. Check out the chorus on "Lovelife," and enjoy. 

This is one of Atmosphere's most popular cuts, especially at his concerts. He's ended shows with this one, and the crowd has gone absolutely wild when the beat drops. 

This beat, which is led with acoustic guitar, is simply not something you hear a whole lot of in the rap world. Atmosphere spits some very personal bars over it, as he wonders around his hometown. It was quite the album-ending track on Seven's Travels. 

Alcoholism is a real problem, and Slug makes you feel it on this one. Partying in the club is cool and all, but occasionally somebody has to shed light on the other side of things.

Drugs, additiction, and psychology: this is more of that emotionally-charged, intelligent hip hop from the greatest group to ever do it.

"It's and addiction bound to stick around
Cause a junky won't bounce 'till he hits the ground (get down)
And these drugs ain't as good as we wish they were (get up)
And this buzz doesn't keep us from missin' her (get over)
And that love that built all of this emphasis
Spilled enough guilt to kill Electra and Oedipus (get out)
It's easier to leave it there. Each time I see your tears
Makes me need a beer to relieve the fear
I wanna keep a clear sky and fly away like a meteor
Outta here maybe next year I'll reappear"