Hip hop act Atmosphere drew a huge crowd to their main stage performance at the SmokeOut Festival yesterday. It was only 2:30 in the afternoon when they went on (see video below), but the audience was more than ready to party with the Minneapolis group. With a full live band, killer DJ, and unexpected mix of hip hop, funk, and R&B influences, vocalist Slug was able to lay down lyrics whose timing and cleverness matched that of his band’s. Of course, there was the ubiquitous call and answer of ‘Hell yeah!’, but for the most part the group both reveled in and pushed the boundaries of their genre. Slug had no problem waxing light or dark, and I especially enjoyed ‘To All My Friends’, a song whose words were as expertly delivered as they were written: I love this occupation/I got bosses across the nation/Validation is an understatement/And I don’t really know how to take a vacation.

Besides being an incredible lyricist, Slug was a great frontman with the ability to keep a constant dialogue between himself and the audience. He told us when to put our hands up, and chastised us for putting them down too early. He moved quickly between cheeky disdain for his fans and and gracious appreciation for their attention, keeping our attention glued to the stage for whatever he was about to do or say next. “Sorry, I fucked up my knee” he said, gesturing to the pair of crutches next to him. “I figured, this is SmokeOut Festival. You guys got your crutch, I got mine!” Despite his injury, he managed to pour everything he had into every song, and I didn’t see as much collective enthusiasm from the audience until Cypress Hill performed later in the evening. I admit, as a Minnesota native and hip hop lover, I am both ashamed and surprised that I knew nothing of Atmosphere until yesterday. But after an hour set that seemed to fly by, I felt that the personal content of Slug’s lyrics gave me a long look into the band and the man himself: such is the rare and beautiful nature of poetry set to music.  Atmosphere‘s latest album To All My Friends, Blood Makes the Blade Holy is now available on iTunes. For more information about their upcoming tour dates, click here.