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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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VERB
Wednesday 24 September @ 13:42:19 |
 VERB- the part of speech that expresses existence, action, or occurrence -
by Kandis Knight
I recently had the chance to sit down with Slug of Atmosphere, aka Seven, aka Sean Daley, at his Uptown Minneapolis home, just before the release of his group’s highly anticipated new album. The undisputed reigning group of the Rhymesayer’s Empire and Twin Cities Hip-Hop, Atmosphere’s latest long-player, Seven’s Travels, was released this Tuesday to hordes of anxiously awaiting beat-heads. When I arrived at Slug’s humble abode, his cat Lucy greeted me at the door, looking at me quizzically and sticking her nose into the air. I had heard her name (or was that namesake?) immortalized in more than one Atmosphere tune, but I resisted the strong urge to ask the animal any questions.
As Lucy led me up the stairs I heard multiple footsteps and suddenly found myself faced with the smiling visage of Atmosphere affiliated local turntablist Mr. Dibbs. I introduced myself and we begin chatting a little about his upcoming tour plans with Atmosphere. He’s an incredibly sweet, nice and well-spoken guy. Suddenly, I hear Slug’s voice. “I didn’t get a chance to take a shower, is that OK?”
“I don’t mind,” I reply. Lucy kind of smirks at me and it’s obvious she doesn’t mind either.
In walks Slug with no shirt on. “Do you mind?” he says. Lucy looks at him and then back at me for my reaction. I take a look at him and see an interesting fusion of JFK Junior’s boyish charm, George Clooney’s GQ factor and Sean Penn’s bad boy appeal that’s instantly riveting. I bite my lip. “No, be comfortable in your own house,” I murmur.
“Do you mind if I smoke?” he says. “No,” I quickly respond—flattered by his consideration. “Never mind that I’m here, just be you.” As Slug shuffles through the house, Lucy is still busy trying to keep my attention. Slug sees what’s going down and doesn’t hesitate to tell me that Lucy’s a slut. We settle in to Slug’s kitchen as the interview begins.
Pulse: So do you think you’ve blown up?
Slug: I can’t tell. Some people tell me that I have and some people tell me that I am about to. Some people tell me that I won’t because I’m “underground.” What is blown up? Selling a million records? OK, well I’m nowhere near that.
Pulse: Do you consider yourself a local celebrity? Do people walk up to you on the streets?
Slug: More people walk up to me on the streets of Los Angeles, Chicago and New York than they do in Minneapolis. I’m bigger in those cities, but I think that’s because people are used to seeing me here. So if someone sees me walking down the street at four in the afternoon drunk they’re like “there he is again.” But if they see me at a restaurant in Los Angeles people are kind of like “Oh my God.” I get more attention in those cities.
Pulse: Do you like the fame?
Slug: No, (obviously annoyed to the point that he gets up and begins shuffling around). As good as I am at talking to people and being social and all of that stupid shit I’m very neurotic about fame. I want money, though. Don’t get me wrong. I want to make enough money to provide for my grandchildren. But if the fame comes with [the money] I’m a little wary. It’s weird saying things like that, though, because I’m [actively] taking steps to become famous, so it’s almost like “What are you doing if you don’t want the fame?” So the whole thing kind of freaks me out. I know why I’m taking these steps to become famous though, because if I can get famous—even just for 15 seconds—then it gives me an opportunity to help some of my friends realize their dreams. (He jiggles his leg in excitement and his pitch heightens.) Eyedea wants to be fucking famous and he can do it completely on his own—I believe in that—but at the same time if I can get a big Rhymesayer’s foot in the door it’s just going to help him and Brother Ali and Musab achieve [widespread success] that much sooner.
Pulse: What do you think of other local Hip-Hop acts?
Slug: I like everyone. I really don’t think anyone sucks. Two years ago I thought a lot of people sucked. I don’t think I’m anywhere near the best emcee in the city right now. I see other people that perform better and write better—but I can’t say names. To me Brother Ali is the best emcee right now and the rest of us are like three feet behind him. I think all that’s left for him to achieve what I have right now is just more grind. He just needs to get on the road as much as he can and he needs to go rap for peanuts. The only thing that separates me from anyone else on the scene right now is just the time and the drive [I’ve already put in]. People don’t realize I quit working a job five years ago and lived off Ramen noodles and women so that I could put all of my effort into [music] 24 hours a day. That and a little bit of luck is the only difference between me and anybody else.
Pulse: What would you tell my little brother Brandon who wants to be an emcee?
Slug: The sacrifices are the part people don’t see. To this day I’m unable to maintain a normal relationship because I’m on the road six months out of the year. I’ve had a girlfriend for the last six years and we break up every time I tour. She can’t handle the fact that I’m on the road all the time. We get back together when I come back home but now I only come home for two weeks. (Searches for next comment, his tone deepens and his demeanor relaxes). And I’m a very. . . woman motivated person. I’m a very relationship motivated person. But am I sacrificing it to go be this little rap guy? The sacrifices are deep—you can’t be a weekend rapper. If you’re going to do it you have to do it all the way. I’d tell a fifteen-year-old to go to college. If my son even looks like he wants to get into Hip-Hop I’m going to do everything I can to persuade him to play golf instead.
Pulse: What happened to the Interscope deal? [Ed. Note: Atmosphere was rumored to be signing a distribution deal with Interscope (one of the few remaining major labels in the industry and a company with tremendous financial clout) but eventually signed on with prestigious California-punk imprint and indie stalwart Epitaph Records for the release of Seven’s Travels.]
Slug: We changed our minds and realized we didn’t need to do it. We were trying to do it to secure distribution for my friends but we realized we didn’t need to. We were dangling Atmosphere as bait to get [the major labels] interested in giving [all of Rhymesayers] full distribution and everyone bit the bait, everyone was down.
Interscope was the strongest with the best offer. At the end of the day though, Siddiq pulled me aside and said, “Are you sure?” and I said “No I’m not” and so we were like fuck it we’re not going to do it.
Pulse: How would you describe your relationship with Siddiq [the overseer of the business end of Rhymesayers entertainment]?
Slug: Siddiq kind of goes back and forth between the roles of big brother and den mother. He gives me the tough love when it’s big brother time and he nurtures me when it’s den mother time. I think he’s one of the few people that understands I’m not crazy or scattered—it’s just that I honestly have no fucking idea what I’m doing or what’s going on. He’s really good at steering me through life. He doesn’t touch the artistry of anything I do, he doesn’t touch my music, but he believes in me.
Pulse: What’s the biggest misconception about you out there?
Slug: For some reason I have this image of being a womanizer. Guys think I’ll make out with their girlfriends. People think I’m very promiscuous and I don’t know how that came about. It could be because I don’t defend myself when people ask those types of questions, or maybe it comes from the music. I always thought it was obvious sarcasm when I talked about stuff like that in my music. I don’t mind people thinking that way as long as it allows me to continue feeding them vegetables underneath all of that stuff.
Pulse: What events in your life were influencing the songs on Seven’s Travels?
Slug: I write a lot of songs and there are some older songs on Seven’s Travels that are about traveling and touring, every story on there is about what I experienced on the road. God Loves Ugly was about me freaking out because I was getting a lot of attention and I thought God must appreciate me for some reason because she was allowing a lot of people to like me. So now Seven’s Travels is about me trying to accept and embrace what I do for a living.
Pulse: What message do you hope your fans get out of Seven’s Travels?
Slug: Be careful what you wish for.
Pulse: How would you persuade someone to buy this CD?
Slug: I don’t know, I would probably tell them not to buy it because I don’t like to toot my own horn. Hypothetically I would tell them to buy the record because it’s [like] vitamins. And I would tell them not to listen to it. Don’t even open it—tuck it away and wait until you have a kid and then when your kid turns sixteen years old, pull it out, unwrap it and tell them to go and listen to it.
Pulse: What do you do to prepare for a tour?
Slug: Drink.
Pulse: Does that help?
Slug: Drinking helps everything. I drink, I fight, I fuck, I do all of the things that I’m not supposed to do to prepare myself for how ungrounded I’m going to be living on the road. I’m sure I’m doing it all wrong. A lot of people do a lot of different things and I would never knock what they do. I lose such a big piece of myself when I’m on the road. I become very unstable, very chaotic. I scare people in the band.
Pulse: What’s life really like on the road?
Slug: It’s very unnatural. Every city becomes the same city, every batch of kids becomes the same batch of kids and every club is just like the last club. [Life on the road] becomes this strange recurring dream because you go through basically an acid trip of emotions every night. You have your highs and lows smashed into a four-hour period [at night] and then when you’re done you’re emotionally exhausted. You go to the hotel room and you stare at the fucking stucco on the ceiling and think about how it looks exactly like the room you slept in last night and you don’t even know what city you were in two days ago. Before you know it it’s three months later and you’re back at home and [the whole time spent on tour] is just this blur and you’re wondering what you missed back home. It’s a strange zone and I wouldn’t suggest anybody [tour the country] for a living. It seems like I’m complaining, but I’m not. I love what I’m doing or else I wouldn’t do it. I’m explaining this [kind of lifestyle] so someone else can read this and get an idea of what it’s like. That way when they go into it they’ll be more prepared. Anyone who travels as much as I do goes through this. It’s a very unnatural thing and dealing with it isn’t taught in school.
Pulse: So you made a video for “Trying to Find a Balance”?
Slug: Yes and I’m scared.
Pulse: Why?
Slug: Because it turned out really good. I mean what’s a video? It’s a commercial. So I made a video for my album and if it works it might get pretty neurotic around here.
Pulse: Do you plan on continuing to live in Minnesota?
Slug: Yes, it’s my foundation, my son is here and my family is here. If I ever get rich I would have one of my friends set aside some room in their home for me and I’d go and stay there for the weekend or something.
Pulse: What famous people have you enjoyed hanging out with?
Slug: KRS ONE, Jack Black, Guru [from the legendary Hip-Hop group Gangstarr]. Guru actually took time to talk to me about [the record industry] and that was really cool. They’re all cool but they’re not as cool as my friends. Wait until after I’ve made love to Christina Ricci and maybe I’ll have a different answer for that question.
Pulse: Would you say local hip-hop is resurging?
Slug: I wouldn’t say resurging because we never really had that initial surge. I think right now we are looking at the real surge. The previous surge was just people doing it, but now when I go to other cities people are talking about Minneapolis and the Minneapolis scene. That’s been going on for a little while but now people are talking about it very seriously. I think since the Brother Ali album people are really starting to look at this place. I can’t wait for these other kids to get famous because we at Rhymesayers appreciate carrying the weight and we’re glad that you guys allow us to—but come on! Someone come and help us carry the fucking weight! I mean this shit is mad heavy; our shoulders are tired.
Pulse: What’s your advice for local crews who dream of attaining your level of success?
Slug: Get in a van and go play free shows. Be ready to sleep on floors and couches. Start with the Midwest. Get your ass down to Kansas City, Lawrence, Chicago, Champaign, go to cities you never heard of, go to all of the festivals and hand out your music for free. Basically understand that for the next year you’re going to lose, lose, lose, and lose. You are going to lose money, food, girlfriends, sleep – you’re going to lose everything. But if you really want it you’ll do it and the best way to decide if it’s what you really want is to go and give everything up for it and see what you can obtain.
Atmosphere’s Seven’s Travels was released this week. Their next local performances will be Fri., Oct. 24, and Sat., Oct. 25, at First Avenue with special guests Mr. Dibbs, Micranots, Brother Ali, Deejay Bird, Los Nativos and Odd Jobs. Door and price information is same for both nights. 5 p.m. $15. All-Ages. 701 First Ave. N., Mpls. 612-338-8388.
Download the mp3 “Trying to Find a Balance” off of Seven’s Travels.
To find out more about Atmosphere, visit Rhymesayers' official website.
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