The Family Sign: Atmosphere's Newest Album

Hip Hop's best storyteller is back with a new album. The Family Sign is a deep new addition to Atmosphere's list of spectacular productions. Minneapolis' best emcee is once again joined by producer Ant to make this moody sound that is carried throughout most of the album. It is practically the perfect sound for Atmosphere, allowing for narration of tales losing friends and family struggles.

The constant dreariness is somewhat dull and is unsuccessfully broken by random songs like "She's Enough." This is an upbeat song about the person in your life who you live for, not very well mixed with the other songs on the track list. This is the one thing that sets this album apart is the fact that there is not really any humor in any of the songs. The albums first single, "Just For Show" is a good balance of what to expect from the rest of the tracks. It is a song about having troubles in a relationship but not really wanting it to end. The music video puts a good spin on the meaning of the song by using a dog as the main character. In the video a dog is sick of being forgotten about, and decides to run away only to discover that he misses his family.

Other than a few songs on the album the majority of songs are poetic and artistic. "The Last to Say" seems to be the jewel of The Family Sign. This song tells the tale of domestic abuse and how it effects the son of a deadbeat dad. This is one of the only songs on the album I feel like I need to press replay again and again. It is a very good example of Slug's artistic ability to tell stories with the first verse:

"As far back as he cares to remember,
he used to see his old man lose the temper.
And Mama's pretty face would catch it all.
On a regular basis the nest would fall.
But he was always safe from dads rage
cause mama sacrifice in his place."



Another great song from the The Family Sign is "Became." It is a story about a man waking up at a camp site only to find that his friend is gone. He follows his tracks but only to find that he loses sense of them. It is a heavily metaphorical story about following friends and ending relationships.

Atmosphere continues to be my favorite artist and even the songs I didn't particularly find amazing are still worth hearing. I would give The Family Sign a 9/10.

Soundset Music Festival 2011

Mark your calendars for May 29th! The Soundset Festival is coming up again and this year’s lineup is looking quite interesting. Tickets are now on sale at $38 for general admission and $90 for VIP admission. The festival will again be held at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, MN. For those of you who don't know Soundset is an independent hip hop festival hosted by Rhymesayers Entertainment, a Minnesota - based record company.
The headliner would be the Minnesota born group, Atmosphere. The group is comprised of Sean Daley "Slug" and Anthony Davis "Ant." If you listen to hip hop and don't know who they are I feel sorry for you. The group has been around since the nineties and has become one of the most successful independent hip hop groups to date.
Last year I went to Soundset and have to say that I had an amazing time. It was the first concert I have ever been to and it was everything I could have hoped for. Soundset 2010 was held at Canterbury Park in a huge grass field and had about 18,000 people attend. There were two stages and over 40 artists performed. I obviously was not able to see all of the performances but I seen the ones I wanted to.

There was also so many merchandise booths that I wish I would have brought more money. In the end I went with only one shirt and some food. The crowd comprised of all sorts of people. This is mainly due to the wide variety of music the festival hosts. I have to say there were a few interesting folks there but it just made the day even better getting to people watch as well. Another plus was getting to meet artist at a tent for signatures and even getting to see a few up close in the crowd enjoying the show.

Besides the stages, concessions, and merchandise there was a car show, a BBoy dance tent, and a graffiti wall which was covered layer upon layer with artwork. Being outside was definitely a good way to experience my first concert. The day was overcast but ended with Atmosphere's performance and the sun setting in the background. It was pretty much the perfect day because it was wonderful outside and the sun was not shining in your face so you could actually see the artist on the stage even from the back of the crowd.

Some of my favorite performances include Wiz Khalifa, Brother Ali, P.O.S., Method Man and Redman, Murs, and of course Atmosphere. If I were to give Soundset a rating it would be a 10 out of 10. If you like independent hip hop, I would suggest making it to Soundset 2011 a priority.