On July 19, legendary indie hip-hop project Atmosphere posted a cryptic message on their Instagram page: “After xxx years of beats and rhymes, I’m finally at that point where I’m questioning who I am and what I’m doing with my life. It’s time for something new.” Well, turns out rapper Slug and producer Ant are not quitting rap — as some fans questioned. In fact, Atmosphere will release a new album, Jestures, on Sept. 19. 

Slug’s new thing? Being a stunt person in the Minneapolis duo’s music video for “Really,” a  reggae-infused, humor-laced, and hook-laden single. It’s one of 26 songs on their 14th studio album. Each song begins with a different letter of the alphabet, sequencing from A to Z, referencing Slug’s affinity for dad jokes. It’s a record that embraces daily life and aging, while capturing “personal evolution without romanticizing the past or fearing future.” 

Atmosphere holds a special place in The Current’s history. Their song “Say Shh,” was the first to air on station 20 years ago. This month, they are The Local Show’s August Artist of the Month. Our conversation covers 30 years of ill chemistry, clever beats and rhymes, Minnesota pride, and more. 

Atmosphere will headline The Current’s Music On-A-Stick event at the Minnesota State Fair on Saturday, Aug. 23. The dream hip-hop lineup includes Cypress Hill, The Pharcyde, Lupe Fiasco, and DJ Abilities.

This is Diane here, host of The Local Show, sitting across from two hip-hop legends, and it feels very surreal to be in this moment right now. And I just want to say thank you for being here, and we're so honored to have you as our August Artist of the Month on The Local Show.  

Slug: It's like an earlier birthday present. I love it. Yeah, we're here. We did it. 

Ant: Finally!

Slug: We got through all the construction. Oh my gosh, there's so much. It's amazing, yeah, 

Ant: But it's everywhere, though. Not just here. 

I know. Gosh, getting across I-94 has been real tough. 30 years! I'm just flabbergasted by this ... where do you even start with that? Like, because you have so much material to go off of. I've been preparing for this interview, listening to all these interviews, one, including with Brother Ali. Y'all released a couple records recently, in 2023 called So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously. And the Talk Talk EP. Can you just even tell us about your newest music a little?

Slug: Yeah, we just announced a new project called Jestures. It's due out Sept. 19. It's a full project. It's a lot of songs, and it is exactly what it's titled. This particular project, speaking from my space, was more fun to make than it probably should have been. And I knew I was going at it with a lot of tongue-in-cheek, a lot of easter eggs, a lot of weird inside jokes that only we get, or only our close friends ... Some of them were for literally people who've been listening to us for a long time. But I tried to tie all of my thoughts together in a way that would be an example of who I am today. If you were to sit and hold a conversation with me. It's like I've reached a space in my life where I can't tell anymore if I'm trolling everybody all the time, you know? It's like, I'm authentic, and this is who it turns out that I am, and have always been. I've been full of dad jokes since I was nine. And so now it's reached this space where it's like, it's in my life as a father, it's in my life as an artist, it's in my life as a business person, if that's a thing. And this album really does a good job for me of encapsulating that part of me of who I am. Like, there's serious stuff on here, but there's also things on here that sound serious that are not to be taken serious, you know. 

Trolling people.

Slug: You know, I don't know what other word to use. We haven't expanded our vocabulary enough with that particular word to really define all the sub-sectors of trolling. And so I'm just gonna say I'm just sitting on the back of the boat with a hook in the water seeing what's gonna grab. You know, I'm just rolling!

Yeah, and you have released Collection of Sounds, four volumes of it, and it was released last year. And it was your debut album.

Ant: Yeah, two things last year. And two this year.

Tell us about that a little bit.

Ant: I don't even know where to begin. It was more like I just had all this music laying around for just years and years, and I'm getting no younger. And it's like I have an avenue to release it, and I've been asked to do it for a long time. And so now I felt like it was a good time to do it. And it felt pretty freeing. And, yeah, it was something to do. And I don't want to make a thing out of it, though, too ... I don't know if I'll do it again. Maybe I will. You know what I mean? It's something kind of fun to do.

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It's so fun to be across from the two of you, because you two are the quintessential Atmosphere. And, of course, to be together for 30 years, there takes a chemistry between the DJ and the rapper. Can you tell me a little bit about that bond and that chemistry that makes Atmosphere what it is?

Slug: From my perspective, I feel like a big part of our chemistry works because we're very similar, and we celebrate the similarity. The differences — they're there and we recognize them, and we leave the space for each other to have that. He's never overtly trying to convince me of anything, and vice versa. You know, there's even been a few times in the last eight years, as you would expect, we've had to actually discuss politics and current events. And in that, you're used to when people don't see eye to eye. You're used to that causing rifts nowadays, and it's like, even if we don't see 100% eye to eye in those spaces, we leave space for that. And so it's almost like we're really good friends, but we also have a work-at-the-factory relationship. Because at the factory, you're not really allowed to beef with your co-worker. You're not allowed to get fully into it, because the boss is watching. I don't know who the boss would be in this scenario. But I think that we have a really good balance of personal and business. There's not a lot to worry about in there, because we both kind of fit together really well early on.

Sure, is there anything you'd add to that?

Ant: No, because that's exactly how it is. Just to make it even a little more simple ... he said it, actually — just allowing each other to be what we are. So when he's going on these tangents and saying these dad jokes, that's not necessarily my thing. But I see how it works, and I see the good in it, and I know it comes from a sincere place. And my sincere place is just to be quiet and let it go.

Slug: But also, we both have the right amount of empathy. We both have the right amount of authenticity. We both have the right amount of conspiracy theories. We grew up on the same culture, whether that's the musical culture that we're invested in or just television. We're similar in age and we're similar in experience enough that if I reference something or say something, I don't have to explain what I meant, he gets it. Even my own wife, I might have to explain. Or even my mom, I might have to explain what I meant. But with him, it's like he understands, because he was there too.

Ant: And that's a big deal, especially, speaking of the wife thing, because it's like, hey, sometimes I have to — I'll say something, and she won't understand what I'm talking about at all. So I have to explain a history of something. And it's nice to not have to do certain parts of that. But sometimes it's good to revisit — what was my point when I'm trying to explain something? So I'll say something about the past that doesn't really matter anymore. You know what I mean? And that's cool too.

Slug: Yeah, and I didn't really get to say that, but it's like explaining something to my kid, or my mother, or my wife, or a different friend — they sometimes can pull all the air out of my balloon and make me realize, like, "Why am I even talking about ...Yosemite Sam? Why am I trying to explain who this cartoon character was? Let me just do the dishes."

Ant: That's crazy, because I just had to do that. I didn't explain — but I was saying one of his sayings ... they have no idea what that is. And it's amazing.

Slug: Which saying thing was it?

Ant: It's dang, I'm drawing a blank. 

Slug: Sufferi'n Succotash? 

Ant: Yes! because I said that — you know what I mean?

Slug: [Laughs] Oh gosh! Wait, but that wasn't even him. Sufferin Succotash. I was a different —

Ant: Oh yeah, yeah! 

Slug: That's crazy that I knew. And that's the other thing is we're kind of like one brain split into two people. That's why neither of us can really maintain a healthy conversation with you unless we're together – like Voltron – because then we can cover all the angles.

I'm thinking about Soundset. Y'all we're on that lineup every year, and you were next to these artists — everyone from 2 Chainz to Erykah Badu to The Roots. Being on those lineups next to these phenomenal musicians and curating that in a certain way. [How did that] influence your music or how you came out with lyricism? I can't imagine being in your position and being on the lineup set Soundset was coming up with.

Ant: I saw something, and I was like, "Dang, we did that?" You know, sometimes it's like that. But at the time, it kind of sucked, actually, to me ... I didn't really like it for the most part. It was just a big, big week. There was a whole week leading up to it — if not longer. But you would start getting closer, and everybody and their mom wants tickets. And then the pressure of playing next to these icons, and some of the new hot artists or whatever, and the comparing game, the comparison thing. And sometimes we would play last for the first few years. And people are rushing to get to their cars. I never understood that part. When you go to some event and then you're trying to leave to beat traffic. I always found that ridiculous in sporting events or whatever. But anyway, that would happen while we're on stage. And I remember we played after Snoop Dogg, and a lot of people were leaving, which is fair, I get it. But it was just watching this exodus of people leaving and you're on stage. I never could understand what was exciting about feeling that way.

Slug: You know, it's crazy. Because my experience with that same thing — I was there, I was on stage and I was excited that I was doing something that was repelling people. [Laughs] Look at them go! I felt like I was using the force. Go! Run! Get to I-169 and rush home. 

It's funny because, like you said, we were on these festival bills, and we still play festivals with many of these artists, and we're all different from each other. I imagined, when I was a kid, rappers were similar. It was no big deal to see these different groups on a bill. But today, there are so many different branches to the tree that you're on a bill with artists that you really don't share much in common with, other than you're both advocates for the culture. 

And it's weird, because him and I are both from a space, a time, an era pre-internet, right? So pre-social media, pre-message boards, which means you are not privy to all of the differences and the arguments and the separations and the division. Which you eventually started to see happen in message boards, where people would like to show their colors and root for their team, almost like sports teams. This guy sold more records than your favorite guy. And all of this stuff started happening — well, that grew into social media, which we’ve all seen where that went with division, just in general. But seeing the early part of the internet do that in music and art and politics and all that — we come from an era that was before your ability to see that.

So when we grew up learning how to create or choosing what we wanted to create, it wasn't a concern of being compared to anybody. In fact, you didn't want to be compared to anybody, because that would mean that you're biting. Or that would mean that you're stealing style, or that would mean a million bad things. Whereas now the comparison game is like, well, I sold more. I got more streams ... And so when we make art, I still feel like it's informed by an era of non-comparison. We're in competition with ourselves, basically. We're trying to outdo what we did. And I think that we're just fortunate to be old enough to have that inform how we create, as opposed to looking at the landscape to see what's out there to see what we got to do to try to fit into the landscape. It's more like we've just been over here creating our own landscape, which might speak to an earlier point of just how long we've been able to work together and get along. I don't know if you can name five rapper-producer duos who have been together for as long as we have. And so with that said, I do think a part of that does come from the fact that when we were taught how to create this, when we were learning, when we were students of this — and we still are, don't get me wrong. But when we were really sucking in the information, it was a time when the division and the politics of the art and the culture were not just waved in our faces so much.

This reminds me a bit of something that caught my ear when I was listening to the Brother Ali interview. He pointed at you, and he said, "You were our leader. We looked up to you as, like, guide us." And you wholeheartedly rejected the title of leader as being like, "I don't want to be a leader. I'm not anyone's leader. I'm just doing my own thing." And yet, you can't deny that so many people, especially here in the Twin Cities, were looking up to you both as figures of the Minneapolis scene, of success, because of what you've accomplished, because of your longevity. Can you expound on that?

Slug: Well, I would say — and I don't disagree with anything that you just said. I'm conscious that that was what was happening. But I always knew that it wasn't me that they were looking at. They were looking at their own imagination of what me meant, or what me was. So they were projecting onto me, what they thought my life might be like, or what my work is like, or what my checking account is like, or any number of things. And then the people I was fortunate enough to take the time to get to know, they would see through it, and realize, "Nah, this dude's not a leader. He's just a dude." 

And I feel like for me to be able to have seen that and understand that early on, was really helpful to me. Because I do think that oftentimes, when people are pushed into these leadership situations, they start to buy into it, and they believe the hype. And they think that they are some dichotomy — above. And I never had to necessarily play that game. I just had to be myself for better, for worse, good mood, bad mood. Whoever I am today, this is who I'm going to be. And I feel as though I was able to walk a little bit lighter because of my ability to commit to that part of myself without letting that leadership part necessarily feed my ego. I was looking for other ways to feed my ego. I wasn't egoless by any means, but I didn't want that. And that's what me and Ali were kind of talking about. I can't remember if I said it as well then, but the point was, I didn't want to be a leader, so therefore I wasn't. I may have had some leadership qualities, or I may have made a few leadership decisions, but even those were still made as me, as a person, as a human. I was never good at strategizing to the point where I could drive the ship. I can totally be another hand on the ship, but I can't drive this thing. I can drive any car. Anything with wheels.

Are you a stick-shift kind of guy? 

Slug: I will do whatever, man. I don't appreciate stick shifts. I like having my hands free, so that I can text. [Laughs].

A significance of Atmosphere to The Current is the track "Say Shh," which was a hidden track on Sevens Travels, your 2003 record. That was significant for our radio station to be the first artist, the first song to be played. Can you reflect on that time, or what you remembered about then, or that song in particular?

Ant: The song, I just remember when we did it, it felt good ... Lyrically, I thought it was an interesting take on hometown pride, especially for hip-hop. In hip-hop, everybody's always talked about their city and stuff, and you have to have your city jam. It's just like, from where we're from, especially in the ‘80s, early ‘90s, it's just mandatory. So the fact that he chose to do that to that ridiculous beat — it was pretty awesome. And that's always been kind of an Atmosphere thing. Especially back then, we're just going to do something that — it's quirky. It's like, whoa! You chose to do that. You're doing the opposite of what's quote, unquote cool, actually. We do things that are not right sometimes.

Slug: Well, they don't always fit into any of the buckets. That song was a hidden track. And I could finally admit this without feeling too embarrassed, because I thought it was too corny to point at. For me to make a song about Minneapolis or Minnesota, I was taught that I'm supposed to present the parts of it that are gritty and are tough. Don't mess with us, or whatever. That's how I was informed as a kid by this music. And so that beat, obviously, I wasn't gonna be tough on that. It was more fun. And so I approached it from a fun space. And then when it was done, I was like, “OK, that was a cool exercise, kind of corny though.” But also 50% of my music is super corny. 

Ant: And same. Mine too, you know. 

Slug: And so I didn't want to lead with it as a “look at this jam,” which is how it ended up becoming a hidden track at the end of that album, particularly, as well as "Always Coming Back Home to You." Because that album was kind of a weird — to me, it was a concept album about touring, and the last song was about getting home after the tour. It was about home. And then "Say Shh" was a shout out to other cities around the Midwest, but really a song about the Twin Cities. And then when The Current started and they used it as the first song, it weirdly legitimized the song to me. I did not go out on the Sevens Travels tour and perform that song. That was a song just for the 30 people in Minneapolis that bought the CD, basically. And so The Current kind of made the song more of an anthem. 

And now I feel pressured to play that song when we play locally. And that kind of sucks, because — I get it, do your job or lose your job. But yeah, man, thank you for that. Whoever was in charge of choosing that, it is pretty awesome. And people will bring that up — that's the hook to the song is that it's connected to you guys. 

You have just so many lyrics, so many beats, so many words, so many tropes of interesting musical ideas. You're gonna brush every area of introspection, of humor, of depth, emotional traumas, or emotional everything. And it's almost like you have a full-on novel of lyrics. Tell me about like, having this novel of lyrics upon lyrics, and even you this novel of beats upon beats. 

Slug: I hear you. And I guess I would speak to all these lyrics that I have. I ran out of lyrics in 2005. You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having was me tapping out what I had left for lyrics. And then after that, all of them came from the music. And so that was this time where there was a shift in what I was doing, where I started actually writing to the music, as opposed to just writing in a notebook sitting in the corner at a coffee shop or in my bedroom or whatever, and just writing thoughts and ideas and rhymes in a notebook, like how I grew up. So I spent the first 20 years of writing raps, just writing in notebooks and filling notebooks. And I'd go over to his house with notebooks, and then eventually I'm going to his house with loose-leaf pieces of paper. And then eventually I'm going over there with napkins, until I have run out of all of my lyrics. And after that, he would start giving me beats, and I would listen to the beat and listen. I'd go to his house and he'd put a beat on, and I'd spend 40 minutes just listening to it on loop. And then I would start writing. And then 20 minutes later, I'd go get him and be like, I think I got something. And then I would start, and he'd be like, “yeah” or “no.” And if it was a “yeah,” then he'd go back upstairs and let me keep writing. 

But it was the music, it was the piano or the guitar, specifically, those two instruments that would dictate where I was going to go with this. Is it going to be a story? What color is this song? All these different things that I started learning about how I really was supposed to be writing. And so I actually look at that marker as that was when I stopped writing selfishly for myself and starting to go, how do I start to learn how to collaborate? How do I start to let somebody else's vision actually steer where I'm gonna go? And I threw myself at it wholeheartedly, and it's been rare, since 2006 until now, that I have sat down with some pre-written stuff to find a beat. Once in a while, I can't help it, I'll write out a verse, and then when he gives me beats, I'll be like, oh, that might work for this. You never know. But for the most part, it's almost 100% — I put the beat on and I put it on loop, and about an hour later, I sit down and I start writing. 

And so, weirdly, his music writes these words. I'm just the conduit, or I'm the one that is making sure to format it and making sure to look through it and try to process what parts don't need to be there. Or is there an arc that I gotta adhere to ... it's like I am allowed to work it through me. But it's like, without the music, I wouldn't even know what to sit down and write about. If you told me to go sit in the corner right now and write a verse, I'd sit over there and be like, oh, the floor is flat. Where does that take me? Oh, I'm over your head like a rafter. Okay, where is that? It's like, I wouldn't even know where to start now. Now, I like to hear the music so that I know, oh, this is somber, or this is excitable, or this is angry. 

Is there something you want to add to that?

Ant: I guess, not necessarily. But just to do it — for me, making music is just something I just do. Obviously, I know it's my career now, but I spent so much of my life where it wasn't. I didn't start making a living until 2005. So, I did this music thing for a long time. But now, at this stage of my life, it's like, oh, now I realize what I'm doing.  And that kind of bothers me sometimes, but I still go at it kind of the same way. Dealing with Slug here is like — nowadays it's so interesting because we're a mile apart. We live a mile apart, but we do things through email with the music ... so it's kind of funny, where we used to just be down in the basement all together, all the time. And there's pros and cons to both, you know. But the freedom to just be able to do the things we do now is great. And that's because of the success of our old stuff, we're able to do that now. And, yeah, it's pretty amazing.

Y'all posted something on Instagram ... I think – I'm done with a rap thing? Or try something new? I'm paraphrasing. But can you give us a little bit of insight into what that might —

Slug: Yeah, I was trolling. Nowhere did I say I'm done, but I did imply, “hey, I want to try something new.” And then over the course of the next week, I released little videos and clips of what that looks like, and it is me taking a shot at trying to become a stunt person in film. Because, let's face it, rapping to acting is such an easy pivot. That's why so many of us do it — because you're a rapper, so you're already an actor. And so — but a stunt person? That requires a little bit more. And so, yeah.

Wait, what? I had no idea this was in you. Is there some sort of athleticism within you that I didn't know about?

Slug: Look at me. Absolutely not. Yeah, no, no, no. But again, trolling, because it's all a setup for a video for the song, the single that we just put out called "Really." So the video follows me as a new entrance, as a student of stunt, as a person attempting this. And then the concept of the video was, what if I were to try to get into the world of stunt? What would that look like? And so we made a video, but it's just a music video. But I do some stunts in the video. You get to kind of watch me and follow me learn some of this stuff, and then you get to see some of it in action. 

And it was a lot of fun. I worked with a stunt guy named Gabriel Nunez out of LA. I worked with a friend named Melby, who is also living in Los Angeles. The two of them actually hatched off the idea. They met each other and realized they were both familiar with me and thought, what if we got together and made a video and somehow incorporated stunt people? And when Melby asked me about it, I was like, yeah, here's what I want then. I want to be the stunt person. Let's turn this into me chasing after something different ... mid life crisis stuff, even though I'm probably way past my midlife at this point. But midlife crisis stuff. I got to do something different, and I can't afford a sports car, so I'm gonna go be a stunt person. Watch the video. It's called "Really." It's fantastic. I love it. Watch it two times, three times.

Atmosphere will headline The Current’s Music On-A-Stick event at the Minnesota State Fair on Saturday, Aug. 23. Cypress Hill, The Pharcyde, Lupe Fiasco, and DJ Abilities will also perform.