Atmosphere Biography - Artistopia Music

Atmosphere is an American hip hop duo from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The members are rapper Slug (born Sean Daley, September 7, 1972) and DJ/producer Ant (born Anthony Davis). Active in various forms since 1993, they are one of the most successful underground and long-lived independent hip hop acts.

Members

Slug (Sean Daley)

Daley's nickname comes from his father's; his dad was known to his friends as "Sluggo" and thus they began to call Sean "little Sluggo," which he eventually shortened to suit his own needs.Slug was a member of a loose group known as The Rhymesayers Collective prior to the formation of Atmosphere


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	Sad Clown Bad Winter #11 Atmosphere Sale $6.99

	Sad Clown Bad Fall No. 10 Atmosphere Sale $6.25

	Rising Down The Roots Sale $11.99

	You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having Atmosphere Sale $13.98

	Seven's Travels Atmosphere Sale $11.98

. Its other members were Stress (Siddiq Ali) and Spawn (Derek Turner). Slug DJed behind the scenes and let Stress and Spawn handle lyrics. Later calling themselves Urban Atmosphere and garnering some underground notoriety, the group eventually formed a strong relationship with Ant (Anthony Davis) and began collaborating on music. Along with MC Musab (then Beyond), rapper Mr. Gene Poole, and the Abstract Pack they formed the mid-Nineties crew Headshots, with Slug appearing on the underground tape series HeadShots (1-7) (see Discography below). Every HeadShots volume allowed a member of the clique to showcase their talent, and HeadShots Vol. Seven was Slug's tour de force.

Ant (Anthony Davis)

Ant is the other half of Atmosphere where he produces the records unlike slug the rapper of the group. Ant started to become interested in DJing at a very young age. He would watch his father DJ in the army while he would picture himself as Grandmaster Flash. Years later he would start to use producing and DJing as much more than a hobby. The first CD that he worked on was Comparison by Beyond, later known by Musab, in 1996. While producing that album, he met Sean Daley (Slug) and they later worked together. Ant has produced every Atmosphere album and also works with various artists that are apart of Rhymesayers Entertainment and many more. In 2007 Ant entirely produced Brother Ali’s album The Undisputed Truth. After finishing his 7th studio album with Atmosphere he is on his 2nd tour promoting When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold and is expecting to continue what he has been doing.

Other members

Spawn (Derek Turner) left the group following the release of Overcast!. He is now known as Rek The Heavyweight.
Shaun left the group due to getting a new job at Anime with Mike and John.
Mr. Dibbs (never officially a part of Atmosphere) was the off-and-on touring DJ for Atmosphere. He is now the DJ for hip hop artist El-P.

Touring

As of 2005's 'Pour Me Another' tour, Atmosphere is accompanied by a live band, featuring Nate Collis on guitar, Brett Johnson on bass, Erick Anderson on keyboards, and Brian McLeod on drums. The live setup brings a jazzy, more improvisational feel to Atmosphere's sound. Along with the band, Ant is also touring for the first time in Atmosphere's history.

Atmosphere recently ended their 'Everybody Loves A Clown' tour, which promoted the newest in their series of short-release albums, 'Sad Clown, Bad Summer' and 'Sad Clown, Bad Fall'. They are currently on tour in support of their next LP titled "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold", released on April 22, 2008.

Lyrical content

POV Slug raps in an intensely personal, often introspective style, acting as a kind of storyteller relating his own experiences to his audience. Slug's songs often deal with alcohol problems, tour life and depression, and his difficult and destructive relationships with women.

Slug occasionally raps about "slice of life moments", where he documents the every day life of himself or others. Examples include a police man's struggles with power (''Lucy Ford's "Between The Lines"), a worker in a convenience store tired of the 9-to-5 (the songs "66th Street" and "Cashier in a convenience store"), and sexual deviance and intrigue turned awry (Lucy Ford's "The Woman With The Tattooed Hands").

Slug has stated that he will never lie in his raps, but that there is a difference between lying and telling a story. Though most stories told in his songs are based wholly or partially on Slug's life, a few songs are completely fictionalized. This refers to the song Nothing But Sunshine, a fictional first person account of a young man whose parents died at an early age. At the time, fans believed this to be Slug's own life story.

"Lucy"

"Lucy", also "Lucy Ford" (Lucifer) is a metaphorical character that is featured prominently in many of Slug's lyrics; Lucy is referenced often in various songs, and a few songs are seemingly completely about her. It is often speculated that Lucy Ford is the representation of the devil inside all women.

Slug has given many explanations for who Lucy is, or what "Lucy" as a metaphor means. In many songs, Lucy is a person. However, other songs feature Lucy more as an interchangeable metaphor, interpretable in several ways. Slug has stated in the past that Lucy was originally used to write about his on-again-off-again girlfriend and mother to his son, but eventually evolved into a device to write about women in general, and even disguise political statements[1]; furthermore, in the song "Doomage" by Sage Francis, Slug states that "Lucy is hip hop" and that "It's all been said before/Buried in a metaphor". He has also told fans that Lucy is a metaphor for alcoholism, the guilty pleasures and everything that the ego enjoys.

On a vidcast promoting the album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, in response fans' repeated questions about Lucy, Slug jokingly states that "Lucy" was a cat he had owned when he had written his first few albums.

Collaborations

Slug has also released two albums with Murs from the West Coast hip hop group Living Legends. The idea for Felt: A Tribute to Christina Ricci, their first album as a duo, came about while on tour.The two decided to see if they could garner some extra media attention for Ricci by dedicating their album to her, although according to Slug, Ricci has never responded to this or contacted the band. This debut studio album was produced by The Grouch from Living Legends.

Their second collaboration, Felt Vol. 2: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet, produced by Ant, was released in 2005.

Slug has also been featured on albums by Brother Ali, Eyedea & Abilities, Evidence, Aesop Rock, Unknown Prophets, Oddjobs, Vakill, DoseOne, Jel, P.O.S., X-Ecutioners, Kanser, Blueprint, Heiruspecs, Jean Grae, Static & Nat Ill, DJ Vadim, Booka B, El-P, Roosevelt Franklin, Minnesota indie rock band Lifter Puller, several Living Legends albums as well as Living Legends solo projects such as The CMA.

Discography

Studio albums

Overcast! (1997)
Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs (2001)
God Loves Ugly (2002)
''Seven's Travels (2003)
''You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having (2005)
When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold (2008)

EPs

Overcast! EP (1997)
Sad Clown Bad Dub 1 (1999)
Sad Clown Bad Dub 2 (2000)
The Lucy EP (2001)
Ford 1 (2001)
Ford 2 (2001)
Felt: A Tribute To Christina Ricci (2002) Slug & Murs (Produced by The Grouch)
Sad Clown Bad Dub 3 (2002)
Satan Hates Beauty (2003)
Sad Clown Bad Dub 7 (2003)
Unreleased & B-Sides, Vol. 1 (2004)
Unreleased & B-Sides, Vol. 2 (2005)
Felt 2: A Tribute To Lisa Bonet (2005) Slug & Murs (Produced by ANT)
Happy Clown Bad Dub 8: The Fun EP (2006)
Strictly Leakage (2007)
Sad Clown Bad Summer 9(2007)
Sad Clown Bad Winter 10(2007)
Sad Clown Bad Fall 11(2007)
Sad Clown Bad Spring 12(2008)

Compilations

Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs
Headshots, Vol. 2: Arrogance (1994)
Headshots, Vol. 5: Effort (1997)
Headshots, Vol. 6: Industrial Warfare (1998)
Deep Puddle Dynamics - The Taste of Rain... Why Kneel (1999)
Headshots, Vol. 7: SE7EN (2005)
The Best of Headshots, Vol. 1-6 (2005)
Sean Likes Ugly Girls (5 Discs)
The Dynospectrum

Singles

They Lied (1998)
Uptown Jesus (2002)
Modern Man's Hustle (2002) #18 Hot Rap Singles
GodLovesUgly (2002)
Cats Van Bags (2003)
Trying to Find a Balance (2003)
National Disgrace (2004)
Watch Out (2005)
Say Hey There (2006)
Shoulda Known (2008)
Guarantees (2008)
You (2008) #38 US Billboard Modern Rock [2]

Industry Music Artists

Atmosphere