Going strong, five albums deep, Atmosphere’s latest effort, You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having, is nothing short of a solid work of art. Rapper Slug’s intensity, wordplay, and focus serve as a reminder of what hip-hop continues to have the potential of being. Perhaps not the next level of lyricism and production, the album is definitely high ranking in energy and identity. Put together in a bit more of a serious fashion than their previous albums, You Can’t Imagine marks a different level of maturity for the group, and a promising sign of things to come. Days before release date, Slug met with Glide’s Ryan Bonnick to discuss his views on the independent scene, pop culture, and a little bit of politics. And he wasted no time digging right in…
So what are your thoughts on the current independent hip-hop scene?
The independent scene…is fucking garbage. Just kidding. But I think the whole, put your fist up and yell “independent ’til death!” has totally become a joke of itself. Especially when, realistically, the only reason to yell that is because you’re a strong-minded individual who believes in something. And if you’re a strong-minded individual who believes in something, then you also gotta realize that preaching to the choir is kind of asinine…cuz the choir already knows. So really, you gotta figure out how to get these little frat boy white hats to understand what you’re talking about. You gotta get these girls who’ve been taught that their only capable involvement in music is “fandom” – as opposed to becoming music critics or rock stars. So, this whole independent or die movement is like…well yeah it’s gonna fuckin die if the independents don’t learn how to speak to the masses. But then it’s like, “whoa, you just lost your independent credibility.
I guess that’s the same old story for all music that kids use to find their identity. Because, you know, as a kid, I hated LL (cool J) when he got too famous, and started making all these songs about girls… but ironically… look at me. So, I don’t know if it’s a matter of gettin’ old and growing up. It’s definitely not a matter of going “oh, I want more money,” cuz quite honestly man, my life is fine. My fuckin’ phone bill is paid, my kids got a fridge full of food, we’re doin’ great. But just in the sense of like, now that I’m seeing, hands on, the types of effects we can have on kids, it’s beyond just havin kids be like “yo, you’re rhymes are dope, son!” You know what I’m sayin? Like these kids are comin’ up to me and tellin’ me how they got off of dope because of these songs, because of Aesop Rock, because of Canabal Ox, because of Sage Francis, because of Mr. Lif. And seeing this makes me go like “wow,” it is our responsibility to get as many kids to hear this as possible, or at least make it available to them, you know? And that’s kind of where I’m at with the whole independent vs. mainstream movement.
I’m not the biggest fan of mainstream music, in general. I’m not gonna hate on mainstream rap, you know? I mean I have my opinions on different artists, like who’s dope and who’s not. But am I gonna hate this guy cuz he sold 8 million records? No, but what’s on his record? Is it a shoot’em up record? Bang bang bang?! Yeah! Personally, I think that’s a little genocidal to give fuckin’ twelve year old inner-city Black youth a record that’s about shootin’ people, and they look at the cover and it’s a Black male. I’m mean, you’re not even scarin’ the White people no more, you’re puttin’ it in the Black kids minds that the Black man is a savage. I’m not really down with that.. what I am down with is when you hate you’re job, and you get off of work, and get in your car, and you put in a CD that’s “bang bang bang, shoot’em up,” and it eases you’re fuckin’ pain cuz you wanna shoot your boss. If you’re using it as a means to escape your own problems for a minute… if you recognize this as a fantasy record… then I have no real problems with that.
I’m not really too into the misogyny and the female abuse that goes on in these records. But as far as making people forget about their problems through music is not the devil man. That’s not the devil, that’s where hip-hop came from. Granted, back in ’78 when DJ’s were on the turntables, and there was a breakdancer spinnin’, then yeah man…the DJ, the MC and the break-dancer just wanted your attention – “look at me, and look how fresh I am.” But the fans, the people that were going to those parties in the basements of the burnt out buildings, they were going there to forget about their problems, like “make us dance all damn day.” I mean, I would much rather you flip on OutKast or Busta Rhymes than go over here and flip on this gangsta shit.. but I understand the bang-bang shit man, I ain’t mad at it. NWA made me remember… yeah, fuck yeah, fuck yeah, when they first came out man, it was so hardcore, and we weren’t ready for it. And now, everybody does it, so it’s almost kind of boring. I mean, it’s no longer as socially relevant to say “fuck the police” anymore, you know. But, the bottom line is it’s a culture, it’s a music, it’s a big ass tree. It’s not this little baby tree no more that we use to water and go, “look at the little baby tree, I hope they don’t call it a fad forever.” Now it’s this huge fuckin’ forest and there’s a branch for each of us. So I’m not gonna start choppin’ down other trees, I can’t hate on that shit no more. I think it’s more healthy for somebody who understands themselves to listen to this fantasy shit, than it is for like a twelve year old to listen to it, you know what I mean?
Yeah. Now what do you think the indie scene has done to the actual art of hip-hop itself, excluding it’s impact on the entire culture. Do you think it’s enhanced the music in general?
The independent art scene, I think was really impressive in that you had a lot of MCs coming out that were talking about things that were not normally the things that rappers were talking about. They were talking about things that were more down to earth, and accessible to the average kid. So, the average kid does not shoot’em up. That’s escapism. This was music that they can relate to. Now, the funny thing is, like even that is like a natural phase. Because now, this new school of rapper who raps about these things, well he’s the kid that grew up on the rap, that grew up on the rap, that grew up on the rap…(etc.) And so it’s only natural for it to get to this point, because now, any man can do this and that’s why you hear rappers now that sound like… any man. All the way to where like, Kanye, is now blown the fuck up…. and that’s just deep — he’s an ‘any man’ rapper. So, I’m always kind of interested to see, like what the next step is, are we gonna have a lot of cookie cutter Kanye’s out there?
What do you think of Kanye?
I appreciate Kanye. I think that he is a good rapper. I think that he’s a good producer. I mean he’s not in my top five, but there’s nobody in my top five who’ve even put out a record in the past 3 fuckin years, you know what I’m sayin? Like my top five came from ’89 for Christ’s sake.
So who are your top five?
My top five would be probably the first 3 KRS-One records, the X-Clan record, From the East Blackwards and Jungle Brothers Done by the Force of Nature. But as far as how I feel about Kanye, I feel like this dude man, went from being a South Chicago underground MC…like I remember this dude, from like back in the day when I used to go to Chicago, cats used to talk about this kid. Way before he was makin’ beats for other people, way before he was blowin’ up, and he did it man. He did it, he took his “any man” state of mind, and I can’t knock him for nothin’, you know? Like some songs I don’t like as much as others, but that’s got nothin’ to do with who he is as a person. That’s just got to do with my taste in music. But overall, I think the enigma of what is Kanye West is incredible.
I think it’s amazing that you got this dude that pretty much did what hip-hop was tryin’ to do for twenty years, and that’s to go up on fuckin’ national television and say that the president doesn’t care about Black people. He did it! Rap has been tryin’ to do that shit forever! That’s an amazing classic moment. And people were givin’ him shit, like the enigma before him, KRS-One, he said some dumb shit too, here and there, but that only solidifies him as human to me. That solidifies him as somebody who’s not taking cues from his publicist on what to talk about. My respect for Kanye goes far beyond what I think of his records. My respect for Kanye in this culture is just like, fuck – amazing. Regardless of whether or not he remains famous forever… now, you gotta top that. But you know what I really like about that, the George Bush thing? It’s that that motherfucker just upped the game for everybody. All these motherfuckin’ celebrities in Hollywood, and in the music industry that wanna try to make these anti-Bush songs, and say “don’t vote for him”, and say “I think he’s a war criminal”, etc. Nobody has come out and boldly just said like, “no shit (to his corruption)” like Kanye said. And now all those motherfuckers gotta step it up and say some bold shit too.. and to me that’s amazing, that’s the next move. Let’s face it, celebrities are more important than teachers, and if you get all these celebrities really gettin’ bold with their statements, even though the right, and some on the left, wanna discredit it like “Who are you Sean Penn? You’re a fuckin’ actor.” But more kids know who Sean Penn is, than who the fuckin’ Secretary of State is. So yeah, to me, Kanye just upped the game there too, as far as where entertainment and politics go.
