Atmosphere
Minneapolis-based duo kicks it on its own terms
Anthony Augustine

People tend to associate DIY culture with punk music, but the Minneapolis-based Rhymesayers collective has also developed an alternative music-industry machine.

Even though they were recently called the G-Unit of indie rap by Vice Magazine, Atmosphere (made up of lyricist Sean Daley, aka Slug, and producer Anthony Davis, aka Ant) and the rest of the Rhymesayers have more in common with Propagandhi than they do 50 Cent.

Right from the beginning of their careers, mostly out of necessity, but also out of a desire to get their music out to the public, the Rhymesayers adopted the time-tested approach of hitting the road with a van full of CDs, records and T-shirts and winning people over one fan at time.

“Our machine is definitely influenced by the fact that we were secluded and separate from the rest of the industry,” Daley explains via cell phone somewhere between Minneapolis and Fargo.

“You have a lot of people who really champion and praise the independent and underground movement because that is where they found their identities. Even I was a victim of that, screaming ‘Fuck major labels’ when I was 19 years old,” he continues.
“We identified with that and we love the whole concept of do it yourself and fuck the big bad monster. In the end, really, it wasn’t about that as much as it was about that we didn’t really have any other choice.”

While their grassroots approach may have changed slightly after the runaway success of their last album, Seven’s Travels (Epitaph), and with more of the day-to-day operations of setting up tours and promoting albums now left in the hands of others, what has not changed is Daley’s desire to make a difference in hip hop and steer people in the direction of good music.

“In the end, Fugazi ain’t shit. In the end, Atmosphere ain’t shit. We are going to come. We are going to go. We did our thing. Who gives a fuck? But, it is the effect that we had on these kids while they were figuring out who they were that remains important,” Daley says.

“If I played any small role in helping some kid realize that he can go Google ‘underground rap’ and find a whole bunch of shit that actually speaks to him and maybe dissuades him from being a fuckin’ frat boy date raper in 10 years, then I really did my job. Anybody who is helping to break the complacency is awesome in my book.”

Balancing fun-loving tracks such as Pour Me Another and Hockey Hair with more serious songs such as That Night, Atmosphere’s fifth studio album, You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We Are Having, may be the duo’s most focused and emotionally charged work to date.
“I am not really trying to be Frank Zappa,” Daley says. “I am not trying to push the boundaries and come with that crazy shit you never thought about. That is really not for me. I am a little bit more like that guy who can’t play piano for shit but can figure out how to tell a story.”

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