Atmosphere – “Mi Vida Local” (Album Review)

Atmosphere is an renown independent hip hop duo from Minneapolis, Minnesota consisting of producer Ant & MC Slug. They’ve released a handful of classics through their label Rhymesayers Entertainment including Lucy Ford, You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having, Sad Clown Bad Dub 9 & my personal favorite: God Loves Ugly. Last time we heard from them was with Fishing Blues in summer of 2016 but now, they’re finally returning with their 9th full-length album.

Things start off with “Jerome”, where Slug introspectively talks about being underground & depression over an organ & a guitar. The next track “Stopwatch” is an empowering rap rock anthem while the song “Virgo” talks about the current political over an acoustic instrumental. The track “Delicate” goes in the mind of a young Atmosphere fan over a smooth instrumental while the song “Drown” with Cashinova, deM atlaS & The Lioness talks about depression once again a somber boom bap beat.

The track “Anymore” talks about deceiving people over a gloomy guitar while the song “Earring” with Musab sees the 2 talking about cheating women over an alluring soul sample. The track “Trim” is a laidback love tune with synth heavy instrumental while the song “Specificity” does have an angry tone to it, I wish it was a little longer. The track “Mijo” vividly describes his love for his children over a spacey instrumental while “Randy Mosh” is an AMAZING Dynospectrum reunion. The album then finishes with “Graffiti”, which is a positivity anthem with an empowering instrumental.

Honestly, this might be Atmosphere’s best album of the decade & one of their best albums period. Primarily because both lyrically & sonically, Slug & Ant pretty much show us how much they’ve matured over the years.

Score: 8/10