Atmosphere has taken an unforeseen turn toward the optimistic with their upcoming album, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That S–t Gold, in stores April 22. Though their first six albums consisted largely of pessimistic, bitter tracks, the Minneapolis-based rap duo wants to use their current project to demonstrate their newfound maturity. In an interview with The Muse, lyricist and frontman Slug (born Sean Daley) discusses his new creative approach.
“For the past three years, I’ve been trying to shed cynicism and look for optimism,”
he explains. “The message of this record is to take any tragedy you’ve been suffering from, learn from it and progress with it.”
Slug said he believes that this album will seem drastically different to Atmosphere fans and for this reason, he and producer Ant decided to release the first single “Shoulda Known” in February. “We wanted to get something moving, to get the word out by releasing this song early,” says Slug. “It’s the oldest song on the album. We happened to hold onto it for that long, and I thought people would be surprised at a lot of the left turns we take on this album, so I’m hoping this will help fans with the transition, [since] it’s closest to typical Atmosphere.”
Slug says of the new album, “two or three tracks are closer to autobiographical, but the majority is narrative. Although they’re made-up stories, you’re still getting them through my eyes and my mouth so they all have a touch of me in them … It’s not real though; it’s just one form of escapism.”
Having been a major part of the underground rap scene for over a decade, he felt ready to change his approach to writing.
“I’m trying to challenge myself with this album by emphasizing resolution and not just conflict,” he says. “On other albums, I provide conflict, then there’s a chorus, then it ends; I left the conclusion up to the listener. I think that was very eighth grade creative writing on my part. People I admire — Common and [Outkast’s] Andre 3000 — they offer resolutions. I thought, I’m 35 now, isn’t it time I started growing as a writer?”
In a strange twist, the deluxe edition of Lemons will include a children’s book, written by Slug himself. According to him, the concept started off as a joke.
“I was going to write it because I’ve gotten a lot of criticism … that I’m dumbing down my music to get more exposure,” he explains. “So as a big middle finger to all those guys, I decided I was going to simplify it as much as possible because it doesn’t get much simpler than a children’s book. About two hours into writing it, I realized that this was kind of beautiful — this could really work as a companion to the album.”
When asked how he feels his fans will respond to the book, Slug says, “Wait until I make my fourth one, then decide if I’m any good at it. My first album wasn’t any good, either. I wrote the book because I liked the idea, but I’m not going to claim it’s amazing. So I guess I took what those people said about me and my music as constructive criticism. All I’m trying to do is make my communications more focused and direct. I don’t want any ambiguity in my music.”
Atmosphere hits the road to promote the album later this month, stopping at the Roxy on April 26.
“Boston is always a fun town for hip hop,” he says. “There’s a part of Boston that knows that they’ve been influential on hip-hop culture since the ’80s — Boston has a local scene that’s been killin’ it for two f- – -ing decades. For us, playing in Boston is like playing in New York, but without the haters. It’s as exciting as New York, but it isn’t having a room full of MCs watching you with their arms crossed, instead you have a room full of people who like listening to our music.”
For Slug, this tour is an opportunity to reach out to his audience and share this newfound optimism. “I really just want to grow with the audience and challenge them to grow with us,” he says. “We are totally aware that you guys supporting us is what makes us exist. I always want you to know that we are aware of your existence.”
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