I first heard of Atmosphere in 2003 like I often did back then; from my buddy Adam. He was the same dude who ripped me my first CD in Y2K when I didn’t even know you could do that. You remember, getting those 16 burned songs etched on that silver cylinder, their titles written with a Sharpie! Times sure do change. Anyways, I was immediately transfixed listening to God Loves Ugly. I couldn’t believe the lyrics and beats I was hearing giving me deep thoughts to ponder. A Girl Named Hope, Modern Man’s Hustle… I was fully in. Heavy rotation followed and the years marched on.
In 2005, I listened to You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having and was again blown away. I remember listening to Little Man. Since then, Slug and Ant have put out a nonstop deluge of rhythmic poetry that I can’t stop thinking about. Case in point, the track Pure Evil, a song about police brutality as pertinent now as when it came out a decade ago: “I was told to tell a one-sided story, that’s why I had to eliminate your perspective.” Slug’s words of wisdom have been accumulating in my memory bank now for over two decades now.
I originally got to see Slug and Ant live at the McMenamins Crystal Ballroom in P Town on May 12, 2008, with Adam. I remember it was still hoody season and, of course, rainy. I remember walking up the wet stairs, smelling the dampness. It was an all-ages show and had that red velvet rope that split the 21 and over crowd from the youngsters. Slug and Ant doing it, right before my eyes. I felt the floor bounce that night. What a show.
Fast forward eighteen years to Monday night; Adam and I were back on Burnside Ave. just a few blocks East of the Crystal at the Roseland; still hoody season and still rainy. After the third song, Slug looked out in the crowd and said, “Looks like we’ve got a lot of old people here tonight.” The crowd cheered and it’s true, we’ve definitely got more grey, more wrinkles, more tattoos, more miles; but also more knowledge and time to reflect as we stood there listening to the Twin City fellas.
They played for over an hour and half and during that time, Slug told a really cool story about how he and Ant first linked up on Sunday nights in Ants basement with a group of rappers; testing out lyrics and beats. Slug swore Ant would save him a few special beats each week as Sunday night crept into Monday and the rest of the rappers left. Ant smirked behind the raised turntables as if to acknowledge the memory. No way I could ever do Slug justice by reiterating the story; all I can say is he is a true storyteller.
Adam and I got to put a few more music pieces of life’s puzzle together on Monday night and if you can, I suggest you do the same and go see Atmosphere. For one of the “bonus tracks” as Slug calls them to end the show, they played Okay. As I think about the life I’ve lived and having had Atmosphere a part of it for about half of it; I reminded in these heavy times that “It’ll be okay, Even if you’re feeling like there ain’t no way, You’re still with us today, It’s gonna be okay!”
By Brett Rolin
Photos by Adam Markle