This year, Atmosphere’s Twin Cities-based label Rhymesayers turned 30 years young, and the vibe locally feels celebratory. Over at the Minnesota State Fair, The Current’s Music On-a-Stick show for 2025 sees Atmosphere and some famous friends making our hometown proud with what feels like a once-in-a-lifetime line-up of legends.

The show is under the Atmosphere & Friends banner, and this is the first time Slug and Ant will play the State Fair Grandstand (though they’ve done the Midway before when Rhymesayers’ Soundset Festival was held at the fairgrounds). In the friends category, there’s hip-hop royalty Cypress Hill, Chicago legend Lupe Fiasco, a reinvigorated incarnation of The Pharcyde, and DJ Abilities, one of the finest turntablists in Minnesota.

Any of these artists alone would make for a must-see set, but putting them all together is the type of lineup beats-and-rhymes dreams are made of. It’s arguably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rap along to “Insane in the Brain,” “Sunshine,” “Kick, Push,” and “Passin’ Me By” all while holding a giant turkey leg and cheese curds.

“It means everybody that I've known in the last 50 years is asking to come to the show, because they all want to see Cypress Hill,” Slug tells The Current. “They're all just like ‘Yo, Cypress Hill at the fair? Can you get me in?’ It's huge. It's always a little nerve-wracking to play here. The people here know to expect a lot from you. You're not just in competition with your contemporaries and your friends and your peers, but you're in competition with yourself. You could just randomly bump into us in a grocery store and give us a piece of your mind, like, ‘I saw your last show. It was trash. Can you hand me the butter?’”

“Bumping into people at the grocery store is also a sign of people being excited for this particular show,” adds Ant, “because I haven't been approached by people at the grocery store in a long time saying, ‘Oh, I'm gonna check you out at the State Fair.’ And I'm like, ‘Oh, man.’ So the nerves are up.”

At any Atmosphere concert, different pockets of the crowd get especially excited by hearing songs from different eras. Atmosphere’s deep catalog ranges across subject matter and time in tracks like 1997’s “Scapegoat,” 2002’s “Modern Man’s Hustle,” 2003’s “Trying to Find a Balance,” 2008’s “Shoulda Known,” 2014’s “Kanye West” and 2023’s “Wetter.” Each song represents a different era when fans either first discovered the group or had the music leave an indelible mark on a special time in life. But don’t mistake them for a nostalgia farm or catalog act. Atmosphere just announced their 14th full-length studio album, Jestures, which arrives on September 19. Plus, Slug and Ant have spent their 2025 thus far performing, including standout sets at festivals from St Petersburg’s Reggae Rise Up to the Vans Warped Tour’s 30th Anniversary weekend in Washington, D.C.

“We're very authentic, for better, for worse,” says Slug. “Even onstage, on record, at the grocery store, you get a version of us that is what we are today. And I hate admitting that, because that also admits room for human flaw and error. I'm supposed to pretend to be the coolest person in the world when the truth is onstage or in the studio or, you know, making sandwiches behind the counter at the deli, I could have a bad day. I could have a great day. So I guess what I always try to tell people is, ‘Whatever we do provide, whatever we show you, it's our authentic selves.’”

While Cypress Hill played played Shakopee in 2014 for Soundset Festival and the Ledge in Waite Park last autumn, the Twin Cities have experienced Cypress Hill withdrawal for too long. Here's a friendly fun fact: The last time B-Real, Sen Dog, Eric Bobo, and DJ Muggs played together in the Twin Cities was 2004. That summer, both B-Real and Slug of Atmosphere were featured on the turntablist DJ group X-Ecutioners’ 2004 album Revolutions. In case you’re catching up, there’s a lot more to Cypress Hill than the hits from the early ’90s. At the turn of the millennium, Cypress Hill entered their rock-rap hybrid era with their Skull & Bones album featuring the inescapable “Rock Superstar” single. Ever the innovators, the group recently made headlines for their The Simpsons-inspired performances with The London Symphony Orchestra. 

Lupe Fiasco first emerged as a unique mid-aughts mainstream rap standout with lyrically thoughtful efforts like “Kick, Push” and “Superstar,” which featured Minneapolis-born singer Matthew Santos. Since then, Lupe’s new music has been voraciously analyzed by his fanbase, and he became a Distinguished Visiting Professor for John Hopkins University’s Bachelor of Music degree program. Soon to be 20 years old, Lupe Fiasco’s 2006 landmark debut Food & Liquor endured leaks, delays, and last-minute sample clearance issues, but the fans remember it as a classic. Lupe’s recent concerts have seen him strongly hint that his touring days will come to a close soon, and his sets have featured songs from throughout his entire discography.

The Pharcyde’s first two albums, 1992’s  Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde and 1995’s Labcabincalifornia, have remained rite-of-passage essentials for anyone with even a passing interest in hip-hop since those albums’ releases. The West Coast standouts make for another welcome element of the show, particularly with members Fatlip and Slimkid3 reuniting with Imani for their just-released EP, Timeless, and the chance to catch classics like “Drop,” “Otha Fish,” and “Ya Mama” just as we remember them. (This lineup of the Pharcyde last played in Minnesota in 1996.)

Finally, the always-mind-melting DJ Abilities has spent recent years releasing his own music as well as contributing scratches and other turntable greatness to Run the Jewels’ members Killer Mike’s and El-P’s albums.

It feels like this year’s Music On-A-Stick is one of those shows you can safely call historic before it even happens. It’s tempting to point out what a great deal it is to see five headliners on the same stage on the same night. Of course, the real value is the memories of what will truly be priceless — with the friends we’ve made along the way.

The Current's Music On-A-Stick Show 2025 - Atmosphere & Friends: Atmosphere, Cypress Hill, Lupe Fiasco, The Pharcyde, and DJ Abilities. 5 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 23, Minnesota State Fair Grandstand. Details and Tickets