We sat down and spoke with Slug from the group Atmosphere. he is the cornerstone of one of the world's most celebrated rhyme collectives-the Rhymesayers.

We kicked off the interview by talking about the name Atmosphere. Many people see Slug and think his name is Atmosphere and don't realize that he's part of a group sporting that name. So for those who don't know, lets be sure we understand-Slug is the emcee and his partner Anthony is the producer. He explained it like this. He said think of Atmopshere like Gang Starr which breaks down to Guru being the emcee and DJ Premier being the producer.

Once we got that out the way we talked about the direction he's taken on the new album 'When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold '. Slug explained that its important to change things up and push yourself as well as the audience. He admits that this new album is a departure from what fans are used to hearing. he said it was important for him and Ant to do something strictly forself. It was important to experiment

We went deeper with this conversation as we talked about the art of sampling versus using live instruments and a band. We talked about the limitations and high costs sampling has when allowing one to open up and fully express oneself.

We spoke about what it takes for an artist to deliver a social or political message to the Hip Hop audience. Slug says he doesn't want top be preachy but knows its important not to let important things go unacknowledged.

We talked about the relationship the Rhymesayers collective has with other well known rhyme groups like Living Legends, Quannum, Hiero and Def Jux. he says many of them know and like each other and that they were able to build on last years Paid Dues Tour.

Slug explained that they learned alot from Living Legends especially along the lines of fan interaction and treating people right.

We talked about the racial politics within Hip Hop and what its like to have large white fan bases. We talked about whether or not it bothers the group to not be as well embraced and known by Black folks in the hood. We got deep with that discussion.

We talked about Barack Obama and his relationship to Hip Hop. Slug gave his thoughts on whther or not Obama is a beneficiary of groups like Atmosphere touring the country for the past 10-15 years and performing before large rural and white audiences who are now voting for Obama.

We concluded by talking about mainstream Hip Hop versus the underground. Slug says he's a big fan of the Black Eyed Peas and admires the fact that they seem to have fun. He says that's the essence of Hip Hop and way too many acts forget that. He's not mad at the mainstream and feels there should be more interaction.

He also said being a Minneapolis resident that he would love to hook up and do a song with Morris Day

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