Atmosphere – Paint That Shit Gold
ATMOSPHERE: WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS – YOU PAINT THAT SHIT GOLD
Ok we’re talking Atmosphere.
By the time any musician has been around this long we pretty much know what to expect. We’re either into the artist or not. I doubt the Rolling Stones would have picked up too many new fans with their 2005 disc. You were either with them by that point or against them. But sometimes, just sometimes…Things can change.
Justin Timberlake’s Future Sex/Love Sounds and Metallica’s Black album are two prime examples. Both made by artists who prior to releasing the said-mentioned-albums were considered extremely “uncool”, or depending on your perspective extremely “alternative”. But both artists by tweaking their sound slightly, not only ended appealing to the masses but also helped shape the musical landscape to come. And these were musicians we wouldn’t have been caught dead listening to three years prior.
The point of that little analogy being…
Sometimes the selling out statement can completely overshadow the past statement.
(and sometimes not, look at AC/DC)
NOW with that said….
I would almost go so far as to say I fucking hate Atmosphere. To me there’s just nothing to grab on to. TooCool4School vocalist, albums with wayyy too much filler, and a lot of times lazy beats.
But then dropped…
WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS…YOU PAINT THAT SHIT GOLD
Now things have changed…
With out slipping too-too much off their past formula, Slug and Ant (otherwise known as Atmosphere) have created a fucking hip-hop masterpiece. Calling it hip hop really isn’t even fair, this is more apt to opening a music box revealing a long lost Bergman film. Complete with all the regret, sorrow and angst that comes not with youth but with age.
These are lyrics that will connect as much with disenfranchised teenagers, searching—for-somethings-twenty-somethings, and those stoopin’ on the curb with your families in your forties and beyond…. This is a hip-hop album for all time. Not a piece of time.
I think I’m painting the album as being too soft as well. While it’s certainly restrained, there is enough bounce and jive to keep anyone awake.
Actually that’s probably your best bet…
1. Go out get drunk
2. Have a bad night
3. Go home
4. Throw the disc on at 3am
5. Have a smoke
and by the time 2:11 clicks into “Track 2: Puppets”…
I guarantee you…That not only will you be a fan for life, but you’ll also have a new friend for life.
4.5 out of 5
i.e. just buy it even for the fact it’s the first Rhymesayers album to hit the top 10
Tags: album
Seriously?