The Twin Cities music scene has produced some of the best musicians in the country From The Replacements to Prince there isn’t another music hotbed like the Twin Cities.

Over the years the sound of the Twins Cities has transformed from rock to Prince to rap and hip-hop. The label that brought this scene to power is Rhymesayers. Rhymesayers, is a Minnesota based rap and hip-hop label that was founded in 1995.

Since then it has only grown in popularity and has made a name for many Minnesota artists such as Doomtree, POS, Dem Atlas, Brother Ali, PROF, Eyedea, Grieves and by far the most popular, Atmosphere.

Atmosphere started to get traction after their first album dropped in 1997. The album was called “Overcast!” it featured the song “Scapegoat” and from there the excitement and love for Atmosphere grew. With albums “God Loves Ugly” and “You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We Are Having” there songs became imbedded into the Twin Cities.

On August 12 of this year the nationally renowned rap group put out their new full-length album “Fishing Blues”. The reviews so far have been very mixed.

Spin Magazine called it the “Worst Atmosphere album so far” but other reviews say that this album shows how much they have grown over the past 19 years that Atmosphere has been a group.

After listening to Fishing Blues myself, I felt mixed between the reviews.

The album consists of 18 songs. Having 18 songs on your album is alright if you have short songs. But when every song is almost four minutes in length, the album gets long.

The albums flow is a downhill slope. It starts out energetic then slowly starts to slow down with spikes every so often. The album starts out so promising with the song “Like a Fire”. The aggressiveness behind it shoves a jagged emotion in your face and instead of becoming upset you feel fueled and ready to go take on anything.

Then, the album goes into their single “Ringo” which they released in June this year. The song is a compilation of different of things that happens to a falling star such as: passing out in an airport bar, getting high with your bodyguard and puking in a rental car. Then, the chorus kicks in and says “Everybody wanna see a falling star”.

Some people believe that the lead song writer and rapper for Atmosphere, Slug, wrote this song about himself. Unfortunately, for them this isn’t the case. In an interview with MPR, Slug, told them, it isn’t about any one person nor is it about Ringo Starr. But instead a “journey”.

“Looking at myself and some of my friends and seeing those of us that ‘live that life’ for an extended period of time you get to find yourself in role reversals: the idea of the falling star; the idea of the guy that’s on the top of the world and then suddenly on the rock bottom. Or vice versa, the guy that’s on rock bottom but manages to lift himself out and put himself on top.” Slug said.

This album also got into societal issues with the song “Pure Evil”. This song is probably one of the most well written songs that they have ever released. The songs tells a story about police brutality through the eyes of a cop. The song in no means is on the side of police but rather bashing them and holding up a mirror to their face with lines like:

“You should believe that Ima leave an impression. Even if it means I gotta put my knee on your neck, man”

“If you flexin’ any teeth, Ima send you to the dentist”

And

“I was told to tell a one sided story, and that’s why I had to eliminate your perspective”

The chorus then flows into the line “I don’t believe you, this is pure evil”

After reviewing the album, I believe that this is nowhere near their worst album like Spin said, but however more near their best. It shows the depth of the group and how well they can craft words to make them catchy and meaningful at the same time. 

Cameron Campbell is an opinion writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]