Over the past few months, I've really been getting into a lot of hip-hop artists. One group out of Minnesota called Atmosphere has really grabbed me with their latest album You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having. I really tried to get into them a couple of years ago, but the vibe of their earlier stuff didn't really appeal to me that much. I got attached to this disc in...less than two weeks.
You Can't Imagine has some great interplay between Slug (the main rapper) and Ant (the producer/dj) mixing tight beats and some great flow with mostly laid back samples. A lot of the samples are taken from old soul and gospel tunes, which I really dig. It's especially apparent on "Get Fly" towards the end of the cd, which has a gospel chorus singing behind the smooth rapping, and a piano lick throughout that makes you want to clap your hands. My favorite track is probably "Angelface", which takes an old-school, 'boom-bap' beat and mixes it with some light soul and disco touches in the background...and the whole time Slug flows like melted chocolate on your chest.
There are also some seriously upbeat tunes like the old-school feeling of "Bam" and the fuck you, in your face feel of "The Arrival" that make you want to go out running, or go bench three hundi, or break stuff. Even if you don't normally listen to hip-hop...check You Can't Imagine out. It's a good bridge for people to get into hip-hop, especially with the quality of the laid-back tracks and the punch of the up-tempo pieces. Here are a few of my favs.
Atmosphere - Angelface
Atmosphere - Hockey Hair
Atmosphere - The Arrival
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