CD Review

For the last eight years Atmosphere has been bringing the Midwest to the underground hip hop world. In a rap world filled with excessive desire for the frills of life, from ice to money to girls to fame, Atmosphere's Ant and Slug have stuck to tales of real life and doing what they do best-putting together solid hip hop.

Hailing from Minneapolis, Atmosphere has spent the better part of a decade exposing audiences in America's Heartland to a different brand of music. Neither west coast rap (Dr. Dre) or east coast hip hop (Mos Def), they offer personal tales of Twin Cities life, from bad breakups to panic attacks. >From 1999's release of "Scapegoat", the band's first widely played and recognized track to the recently dropped You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having, the duo's dynamic approach to music has come full-circle. After three albums released in three years, most notably God Loves Ugly which sold over 130,00 copies, they placed the finishing touches on You Can't Imagine and it is sure to become a staple of many underground hip hop fans from coast to coast.

From the driving production of the album commencing "The Arrival," which pairs fist-pumping Ant beats with fiery Slug rhymes to "Watch Out" and its old-school, Run DMC appeal, You Can't Imagine begins on point and the energy continues throughout the album's entirety. Several other highlights include Slug's slick vocal prowess on "Bam" and the emotionally charged "Smart Went Crazy."

Atmosphere made a good album in You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having. Filled with solid beats, sultry samples and a thriving musical relationship between Ant and Slug, the album proves to be Atmosphere's most impressive recording to date, helping place Minneapolis and the rest of the Midwest on the musical map.