The pride of Midwest independent hip-hop, Atmosphere's head man Slug (Sean Daley) has been dropping shockingly revealing lyrics about his life as rapper, weary traveler, father and companion. He strays from his native Minneapolis for a lengthy tour starting this Sunday in Madison at the Orpheum Theatre, 216 State St., at 9 p.m., with Brother Ali, Murs and Mac Lethal. From The Fifth Element, the rapper's fortress of solicitude, Slug tells about his birthday plans, the three letter word a magazine should never, never call him and murdering arcade games, all while the Cardinal lays down the dope beat box.
The Daily Cardinal: To start out, Atmosphere has had many different faces in the last couple of years. Who is Atmosphere now?
Slug: It's always me, period. And [producer] ANT, period. And that's it. That's for records. When we play live, I like to play long sets and, being a chain smoker, you just can't really pull that off every night. So, it's good to have somebody doing back up. So, I've had Eyedea. I've had Crescent Moon. For this tour my friend Blueprint is doing it for me. That's just for the show, that's just to make the show dope, because without it the show would be whack and the kids would want their money back.
DC: Do you have a common DJ?
S: Mr. Dibbs is my DJ now. He's not on the record but he tours with me and provides DJing and bodyguard service.
DC: In some reviews of God Loves Ugly you seem to have gained the label of \emo rapper."" What does that mean?
S: That means that the writer has no kind of imagination and can't think of a better way to describe what I do, so he finds that in the research and decides to use it. It doesn't mean nothing, it's bullshit. It's a way for a writer to look cool. There's no such thing as emo rap. Emotional rap? Fuckin' A, all rap's emotional. Tupac must be the emo rapper of all time.
DC: Who is Lucy? Is she fictional?
S: Lucy is kinda a composite of a few different women that were in my life at the time when I wrote that shit. Very real people, and there's moments on that whole record that any of them could pick out and go, 'Oh that bastard, he's talking about me.' But I didn't say none of their names so they can't really get that mad.
DC: You've been in Minneapolis, you record there. Why stay?
S: Because I like it here. I have family here. Being a rapper is not as important for me as being near my mom. And I travel enough, and I haven't really found a place that I like better. It's all those reasons, there's no reason to leave. If it ain't broke don't fix it: I like it here a lot.
DC: You're well-known, but still independent. Say Leor Cohen comes in and offers you a multimillion, multialbum deal, what would you do?
S: If there's a way to steal from the devil I will, but there's only so much that you can steal from the devil. I guess the way I'd always view that is if I ever get down with a label it's because I'm stealing big time from the devil. Otherwise there's no reason to do it, because I'm doing OK. Money isn't really the trick; power is the trick. If there were a way for me to make the rest of my friends rich by hooking up with a label, I'd do that because that's powerful.
DC: Six years ago you're working in a music store, doing shows in front of 30 people. Did you think that you would be doing 60-odd tour dates, huge fan base around the country?
S: Absolutely not.
DC: Back then, what did you expect?
S: I guess I don't really know. I guess that's something I never really thought about. I never expected any type of success out of this. I was that guy that kept doing it because I didn't know what else to do. I was having a great time.
DC: Where do you see Atmosphere six years from now?
S: I don't know if I could imagine getting on stage and jumping around every night at 36 years old.
DC: Your birthday is coming up, and you're going to be 30. What's your take on that?
S: I don't really have a take. It doesn't really seem any different from turning 29, which was like turning 28. As far as being a rapper at 30, that's kinda funny. I think all of us that are old and rapping are kinda funny and pathetic in our own little way.
DC: What do you want for your birthday?
S: A threesome. No. Yeah, I guess a threesome would be good as funny as that sounds. A pack of cigarettes would be cool. A hat. I want a hat for my birthday. A cowboy hat.
DC: Ten gallon?
S: Naw, some thing that's actually cool that you would see on a cool motherfucker, like an old pimp-style cowboy hat. A black one, like a bad guy.
DC: Would this fit with your stage persona? On the street you seem like a pretty down-to-earth guy. But on stage you give out a more of a ""I'm-gonna-steal-your-girl"" feel.
S: Yeah, naw, I'm like that in real life. It's just that you can't wear it on your sleeve when you're just walking around looking at other peoples' girls, because then they get all mad. But on stage they know that they don't have to take you serious.
DC: So, last time you came to Madison, it was pretty crazy. What did you think of that show, and what do you think of Madison in general?
S: In a way it reminds me of Minneapolis, but I don't know anybody. I like playing there a lot.
DC: Does it ever get too rowdy? At that last show things were flying, bodies surfing, people jumping on stage...
S: Naw, naw. I'm getting used to that shit. Working with Dibbs, well, things have just started getting out of hand like that. Kids got adrenaline. I don't think that my songs are the most intense songs.
DC: Do you have any girls in Wisconsin? Is there a go-to girl in Madison?
S: No I don't have a go-to girl anywhere. No, no go-to girl in Madison. I have friends there and people that are really nice to me, but nobody has ever taken the time to, say, hook me up in the biblical way. I guess I haven't really pressured anybody. I hit on the women because I love hitting on them. I like talking to them like that. I feel good about being that way. No go-to girl. Well, there's one, actually.
DC: There's a video for the track ""God Loves Ugly""?
S: Actually, yeah. An animated one. It's not the best, but it's a lot of fun and we had a good time putting it together. I think I'm gonna release a DVD and I will out it on there, but I doubt that the stations will play it.
DC: I have heard that you are an incredible Galaga player.
S: Yeah, I'm off the fucking hook like a motherfucker.
DC: What's your highest score?
S: I've turned it off. I've made the machine quit taking score. I got up to 3,000,000 once and the whole thing went blank. It was done. There was nothing. It wasn't trying to feel me any more.
