Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold

Metaphor rap.

Atmosphere is in a place in the middle of many different criteria within art. He’s in a soap bubble of vocal skill, word play and poetic licence.

The thing is, I wouldn’t call it poetry, it’s still most definitely rapping, it’s just that it’s filled with poetic devices to help with the narrative contained in the song.

Slug, the rapper in Atmosphere, is one of the most intelligent wordsmiths in music today, some of the political messages are very well thought out and he will even give a balanced argument for and against the subject he’s talking about. I find this completely amazing and many people, not only music but in life too, could learn a lot from him.

This album is pretty much all about the rapping and the lyrics and the music behind it, is more a device for the words, rather than a musical entity within itself. Minimalist, light beats with slight hints of bassy flavour contrast the very technical, complex rhymes and messages within the words. Having very simple, unimposing music really helps you to listen to the words in the songs and really take in everything that’s said and gives you room to think about what’s been said and then form your own opinions about the topics contained within those very witty lyrics.

A lot of the songs are about society and how we as a people react to certain issues. Slug writes in a very personal way, and I find myself relating to him. This drags me further in to the album and causes me to really empathise with him. The song ‘Yesterday’ plays all the way through with the chorus:

“Yesterday, was that you
Looked just like you
Strange things my imagination might do
Take a breath reflect on what we’ve been through
Or am I just going crazy cause I miss you”

It’s only at the end you actually realise who it is that he thought he saw and why he felt it necessary to write about it. I’m not going to spoil it, just go and listen to it. It’s the song in the youtube video at the bottom.

This isn’t really an album that you want to listen to on a regular basis, as it’s not the most musically adept album, not even the most musical Atmosphere album, but it’s still very much worth a listen, especially when you feel a bit sad, so you can feel empowered by your sadness, due to the positive messages that derive from negative situations.

Listen to this album: when you feel a bit sad, so you can feel empowered by your sadness, due to the positive messages that derive from negative situations.

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Extracts from ‘Like the rest of us’, ‘Your Glass House’, ‘Wild Wild Horses’ and ‘In Her Music Box’

‘Yesterday’