Atmosphere - Southsiders

Now it's time to pull out our Brad Pitt on the edge of a complete mental breakdown impressions and intero-bang-bang Kevin Spacey: what's in the box, man? What's in the box?!!

What'd i tell you? Right on top of the stack is the first of at least several Atmosphere albums, 2014's Southsiders. That's points 2 and 5 of my preamble, if you're keeping score.

The title brings up an interesting question. What is it about the south side of any large or small metropolis? Why is it always rough? Why is it usually less affluent? The answer my friends is not coincidence, the answer is geography. Specifically, rivers. You see kids, all the rivers we got here on the continent we call North America flow south, all the major cities spring up along rivers, and all the people factories that dump their waste don't want to be down-river of it. 

But, but, but Bottle, i can assemble a list of examples that defy your hermeneutic conspiracy theory and prove it's a silly coincidence!

So? Physical truth and psychological truth are not the same thing. In fact, human psychological truth is almost always at odds with physical truth. People aren't motivated by truth at all, they're motivated by a sense of belonging. Success craves no advertisement, while the desperate crave acknowledgement. We've played this game before, it's called "Who's Your Billionaire?" Bet you $5 you don't know off the top of your head, but that he or she lives north of you.... all that really matters is the vague idea that twisting the economics such that the south side of a city will act as a buffer against people looking to emigrate north.

What if the truth is even less tenuous than that? What if it's nothing better than the vague equation of South to down, and down to outside, and outside to "not one of us," whoever "us" is? Does it matter? 

Maybe it only matters in the sense that Slug is very self aware of his own transition to what he himself calls "Dad Rap." Us dads are highly philosophical creatures, you know? We have record collections (be they physical or metaphorical, or in my and Ant's case both). We all have a few flaws, but let's try not to get lost in the applause.

Damn, this is good. I'm not going to pretend it was intentional, but this is a fantastic introduction to the universe we're about to inhabit for 15 more records. Then again, i might have a mouth full of baby birds, 'cause i'm totally too far back in my own mind. Then again, again, we can set the clocks to whatever time we decide we want to, we don't need to care what time the government says it is. What really matters is what Slug raps about Kanye West on track 10. 2014 Kanye, not 2020 Kanye. That track is about intentionally living life like you care, not refusing to take your meds, supporting Trump, and blaming everyone else for your own complete chaos.

My Lady Got Two Men is great. You know the punch line is he's both of them, but it's written so well it's still completely cathartic to hear him finally acknowledge it. 

What a fantastic album. I think it could actually convince more than a few Hip-Hop haters. The beats and samples are absolutely fantastic, Slug is a completely approachable rapper and not at all an acquired taste; his fliw is rock solid, he's not overly aggressive or esoteric. It's every bit an hour listen, but it doesn't feel like it and it never gets monotonous. I'm serious, Southsiders is a fantastic entry way into serious Hip-Hop with an intelligent mundanity i think you'll find incredibly refreshing.

At least i hope so, otherwise the next 15 albums are gonna be a real slog for you ;)

LP 2