Atmosphere's Slug Details "Southsiders," Evolution, Pain & Hope

by Andres Tardio

Slug discusses his evolution as a person, writer and emcee as Atmosphere preps the release of "Southsiders."

Throughout his 17 years as an emcee in Atmosphere, Slug has explored pain and hope with critically acclaimed lyrics. On the group’s forthcoming Southsiders album, due in stores tomorrow (May 6), the Minneapolis rapper remains in search of answers to several questions he’s faced in life.
“I guess I’m looking for some sort of promise that everything is going to fucking be okay,” Slug says in an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. “We’ve put in a lot of time and effort into chasing these fucking dreams and you reach a certain point where you’re kind of like, ‘Why? Why have I put so much time and effort into chasing this dream? What am I trying to communicate? What is it that I am trying to say?’ Not only that, but, ‘How much time do I got left before I have to stop? Either because they’re going to fire me or because I’m gonna get hit by a bus? At some point, it all has to stop and when it does, will I have said it all? Will I have got it all out there?'

“So this is the record where I’m like, ‘Well, what am I supposed to make a record about now?’” he adds. “I already am in my 40s. What am I supposed to rap about now? Like ‘Oh, maybe you should rap about the things you’re thinking about.’ Nowadays, I don’t have to worry as much about the phone bill, so I have time to start thinking about things like the ocean. I have time to start thinking about things like gentrification…There are a lot of things I hit on this record. It’s just the stuff I’m thinking about. That’s definitely different shit.”


hiphopdx.com