Rhymesayers
2000
Lucy Ford, The Atmosphere Ep's
About This Album
The opening track on Lucy Ford, "Between the Lines," burrows into the heads of a frustrated policeman, an oblivious young girl who watches movies perpetually to get away from her own life, and an indie rapper who descends into self-abnegation instead of self-aggrandizement -- hardly typical subject matter for a rap song. In fact, with Slug's singsong delivery, it hardly seems like a rap song at all, and is tugged back toward the genre only by Ant's steady beat-making. But then Atmosphere proves not to be typical in most every respect on this debut full-length, which is much the better for the duo's, and particularly its MC's, peculiarities. Lucy Ford actually collects the bulk of a pair of early Fat Beats-distributed vinyl EPs from the Minneapolis-based group on a single long-playing disc. It makes for a sterling introductory display. Like Eminem, Atmosphere is a joy to hear when caricaturing old school trash-talking ("Guns and Cigarettes," with a truly inspired, bluesy Ant track) and even more so when Slug is lampooning his own penchant for indulgent egotism ("It Goes") with hilarious, self-deprecating one-liners. At other times, however, Atmosphere bogs down in a more earnest self-involvement, as on the romance ballad "Don't Ever F**king Question That," where the duo reaches for heartfelt with less-than-convincing results.
Track List (try tracks 2,3,6,9 and 14)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

 
report abuse