Atmosphere - The Lake Nokomis (Maxi Single) Review.
As far as the circles I run in these days, Atmosphere (and I suppose more specifically, Slug) are basically the bottom of the barrel. I get it, for the past 10 years, the dude has been straddling this weird corner where he mixed nu-metal and emo blasts with what are essentially nu-metal and emo raps.
And all this is came after some "classic" (though, dated), releases at the beginning of the 00s.
Yeah, "Overcast!" still sounds pretty fresh, but isn't representative of anything Slug and co. did afterwards. The "Lucy" EPs still have a bunch of great songs, though I can't say they are ever anything I want to listen to, and "GodLovesUgly"...well, I know why that record was so important to me in high school.
The major problem is that the 10 years that came after that, Slug has been essentially rapping about the same things, in almost the same way ever since. He's had a handful of good songs here and there, but everything just sounds too juvenile and silly once you've actually passed the age of 20. I mean, look, it could just be me - I feel this way about Eminem too, though there's no way Slug is half the lyricist of Em.
But while Atmosphere has had mostly awful releases for the past decade, 2008's "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold" was a record that totally blindsided me, because it was finally a more restrained Atmosphere. The beats were uncharacteristically minimal, Slug wasn't screaming - it almost sounded like hip hop again, and it was kinda refreshing. So I know the guys can put out decent things here and there, I just don't expect much.
But I checked this out, this RSD release "Lake Nokomis", because I actually liked the lead single "Kanye West" which is eye-roll inducing at first glance, but is actually a pretty enjoyable, track. And the track after, called "Bob Seger" is pretty good, in the same way. It's still juvenile, but it's a bit more restrained. And "I Don't Need No Fancy Shit" is just vintage Atmosphere. There's a time and a place for this stuff, and it doesn't come often, but I won't switch these tracks if they came on shuffle.
But then "Bitter" might be my least favorite song of the year. Which is sad because it is a pretty cool little, super simple production. But the chorus and message. Jesus dude, get over it.
Oh wait, "Idiot" might be worse, it's sillier, the production is obnoxious, and the part that really gets on my nerves, and it's totally classic Atmosphere - the chorus sticks in my head. Are these lyrics I wrote in high school? Fuck this song.
"Prelude To Hell" is alright, but by the point you get to it, you've already exhausted yourself with two shitty tracks and three that are just decent.
So this isn't worth keeping, which I guess should have been obvious before I even tried. And look, I like Slug and think he's an easy target a lot of the time, so I don't try to slag on him and Rhymesayers music anymore, because this shit was really important to me growing up, but it's just...I changed, they didn't.
snowghoul
pixelskylines
tangentwithtanner
dailybridgerton
