Atmosphere

Atmosphere has announced a new run of 2025 headline dates, dubbed “Imagine The Fun Tour” with Sage Francis and Mr. Dibbs. The tour name, a nod to the Atmosphere album, You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having released in 2005, aims to capture the essence of early 2000’s nostalgia and a callback to the days when Slug, Sage Francis, and Mr. Dibbs last toured together.

Says Slug of the tour and anniversary, “I’m thrilled to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having . I had no idea that we would still be here to enjoy this moment.” Of his tourmates he adds, “I’m excited to run around the country with Sage Francis and Mr. Dibbs. This is almost like what it used to be, except we are older and smarter and we eat healthier. I’m looking forward to seeing them everyday and exchanging recipes.”

Sage Francis adds, “The first time I toured with Atmosphere was 25 years ago which may have been the funnest time of my life. Eventually they dropped me off in a field and said, ‘You’re free now. You know, like, run free!’ And that was with a lot of the same crew who are being reunited on this 2025 tour, which is something I never expected and I’m very honored to be considered again. I just hope they don’t drop me off in a field again. But if they do, I will keep running.”

Mr. Dibbs also comments, “How many times in life do you really get to come full circle? In one decade we’re a bunch of ‘think we know it all kids.’ Traveling the whole world makin’ a life, makin’ a name, inventing sandwiches, secret languages and having epic after show kung-fu battles. Now here we are 25 years later, brothers come full circle and back how we started. Someone has to say it…Cats.. Vans.. Bags.. YO…”

Earlier this month, The DeTour EP was released via Rhymesayers Entertainment, a collaborative project from MCs Slug (Atmosphere), ZooDeVille (NOFUN!), and producer HEBL. The Detour was written, produced and recorded on an Atmosphere tour of the same name, offering a snapshot of their life together on the road and the creative reinvigoration that can come from new people and places.

Atmosphere’s Anthony Davis, AKA Ant, has had a productive year, releasing his first ever solo record Collection of Sounds: Volume 1, and announcing the second installment of this four-volume instrumental series, Collection of Sounds: Volume 2, due out November 22nd via Rhymesayers Entertainment. The albums consist of unreleased material from his vault, offering a new window into his decades-long career and pushing his artistry to the center.

Atmosphere’s music was recently featured in the film Dìdi (Chinese for ‘Younger Brother’) written, directed, and produced by Sean Wang. Tracks featured in the film include “Sunshine” and “66th Street”. Dìdi had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in January, where it won the Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic and U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Ensemble. The film is out now on Focus Features.

Atmosphere recently reissued their 2007 mixtape Strictly Leakage, which had originally been pressed on a limited run of vinyl and CD, but it wasn’t long before they sold out, and fans were left chasing bootlegs and digital files in order to hear the project. Finally, the project has returned to double-vinyl LP and CD, made available for retail distribution for the first time. The duo also made their cult, early 2000’s mixtape Sad Clown Bad Dub 2 available for the first time ever. They were recently featured on The Danny Brown Show podcast and Slug contributed to The New York Times’ “50 Rappers 50 Stories” in celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip hop last year. They have spent 2024 touring relentlessly on their Talk Talk EP (out now via Rhymesayers Entertainment). The genesis of the Talk Talk EP was during a recording session for the title track, “Talk Talk”, which originally appeared on their latest LP, So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously.

In their 25-plus years as a duo, Atmosphere’s rapper Slug and producer Ant have built a legacy that is embedded in the fabric of underground hip-hop. Rising in the ranks of Minneapolis, their debut album, Overcast! was released in 1997. Presented as a flurry of vignettes, and paired with an unending touring schedule, the album was a springboard from which the group was able to become a fixture in the midwest music scene. It wasn’t long before their songwriting evolved from telling inventive third-person tales to delivering introspective first-person eviscerations, and by the early 2000’s Slug would jokingly birth the phrase “emo rap” in an interview before publications began running with the genre tag to describe them and others.

In the decades since their debut, Atmosphere has maintained a course of rigorous output, releasing over two dozen studio albums, EP’s and collaborative side projects in as many years. The venerated duo have built a legacy out of bringing honesty, humility and vulnerability to the forefront of their music. Slug has proven masterful at storytelling and writing compelling narratives, leaving a trail of his own influence while paying homage to the rappers and songwriters that helped shape him. Meanwhile, Ant has skillfully molded the soundtracks with inspiration from soul, funk, rock, reggae, and the wizardry of hip-hop’s pioneering DJ’s and producers, creating his own trademark sounds and providing the pulse for songs about life, love, stress and setbacks. At its essence, Atmosphere has been a musical shepherd, guiding generations of listeners through this thing called life.

Their newest album, 2023’s So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously, captures perhaps some of Atmosphere’s most personal work to date. The odyssey opens with a gentler approach than recent works, with the lead-off track “Okay” seemingly focused on comforting and reassuring the listener. As Slug raps over one of the most twinkling productions Ant has ever released, the song lays the groundwork for an album-length exercise in fumbling consciousness. Yet, as gently as the album begins, there’s an unmistakable sense of unease from the outset that continues to evolve throughout the project, as Slug and Ant weave the listener through indistinct themes of insomnia and woe.

From the subtle panic at the heart of songs like “Dotted Lines” to the overt anxiety of songs like “In My Head,” the unease across tracks is unmistakable. Yet, as the tears might begin to well, they find resolve again through songs like “Still Life,” whose hopeful outlook undercuts the tensity of the album. All the while, the rhythms on So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously are some of the most inventive of Atmosphere’s career. Ant’s playful percussion on “In My Head” acts as a nice counterweight to the roiling writing, while the drum patterns on “Holding My Breath” and “Bigger Pictures” allow Slug to play with his flow to emphasize the anxiety driving the record.

Where previous records in this most recent act of Atmosphere’s career have been focused on emphasizing the parts of life that carry the most meaning—family, brotherhood, purpose—So Many Other Realities… is an almost unnerving excavation of paranoia inspired by the general malaise of a pandemic weary society full of civil unrest. The tension in these songs is palpable, but the album’s mere presence is a testament to the hope that has to underpin even the most stressed out epiphanies.

The greatest risk Atmosphere has continued to take across their career is that of being vulnerable and unafraid. The world has inconceivably changed since Slug and Ant entered into the underground hip-hop scene, but despite the seismic shifts in music and culture, they’ve held strong to a foundation rooted in sly innovation and truth. The duo’s relentless release & touring schedules only tell a piece of the story, but spending time with their records—whether you’re a new fan or a longstanding listener—reveals a pair of friends who love to create and live for unabashed self-expression. Their bare reflections on life and the mundane traumas and joys that make living worthwhile are a gift, and that is Atmosphere’s legacy in and of itself. If the music stopped tomorrow, the duo would go down as two quiet titans who changed the course of everyman rap forever.

Sage Francis

Sage Francis (CEO of Strange Famous Records) is widely considered one of our generation’s greatest lyricists. His gifted wordplay creates vivid narratives to instigate as well as inspire, but it often derives from an accumulation of public disdain and personal turmoil. Francis originally earned acclaim in the early 2000’s by winning the most highly coveted titles of the emcee battle circuit (Scribble Jam and The Super Bowl Battle.) This was coupled with the waves he was causing in the newly burgeoning spoken word scene where he competed nationally.

Despite having no official distribution or label support, Francis’ unique brand of music spread like wildfire via the advent of file sharing networks which caught the attention of labels worldwide. With his first studio album, Personal Journals, Francis daringly set aside the more boastful side of rap by catering to his poetic leanings and scathing socio-political commentary. By 2005 Sage Francis was the first hip-hop artist signed to Epitaph Records and soon became one of the highest selling artists of his genre. Rather than abandon his day-to-day grind at the helm of SFR, he channeled all of his newfound resources into it, allowing the label to expand in staff as well as roster. Several studio albums (including the groups Non-Prophets and Epic Beard Men) and numerous “Sick of…” mixtapes later, Uncle Sage has settled into his “old man shaking his fist at a soundcloud” status while continuing to push buttons from his New England home with his wife and children.

2025 will see Sage Francis’ return to the tour circuit in the beginning of the year, while finalizing some long anticipated projects which includes his first solo album release in 11 years.

Mr. Dibbs

Oppositionally defiant with a square peg/round hole mentality—here’s the math:

Mr. Dibbs is the founder of the legendary hip hop collective 1200 Hobos and co-founder behind the iconic Scribble Jam. From 2000 to 2005, he toured as the DJ for Atmosphere, and later served as DJ for El-P during the ISWYD era. As a producer, he crafted the original score “Primitive Tracks” for the Habitat/Alien Workshop Photosynthesis, also known as “The Orange Tape.” His career is marked by collaborations and performances with a wide range of artists, from Atmosphere to Z-Trip.

Producer, turntablist, DJ, and general menace… Mr. Effin Dibbs.