Atmosphere: God Loves Ugly (2002)

::: So I figured I would do a post about this album for those who might not have heard it before. God Loves Ugly, by Atmosphere, was actually the album that got me into underground hip hop. I first heard Slug and Ant at a tattoo shop, with the now familiar rhymes of a track called "Trailer Park Chicken" playing over the stereo system. I asked the artist who was playing in the background, and he said "Atmosphere, man" like I should have already known. The next day I went out and purchased God Loves Ugly, and from then on I was hooked. But I'm not trying to bore you with consequential details, I am just giving the context in which my eyes were opened to the world of underground, intellectual, and independent hip hop. God Loves Ugly showed me that there was more to rap than the banality of the "gangsta" lifestyle. I had no idea music like this even existed, let alone there was an entire subculture of independent hip hop artists that had been making music for years. Needless to say, I never looked back, and Atmosphere is still one of my favorite duos today. What makes God Loves Ugly so great is that it is a perfect blend of deep, emotional, and introspective lyrics, along with a sufficient amount of hip hop bravado. Slug lays down consistently solid verses about individuality, love/love lost, and social commentary among other things, while ANT creates the perfect setting with great production. God Loves Ugly completely changed the way I viewed hip hop music, and opened my mind to so many other artists and genres as a result. If you haven't heard this album, then stop sleeping.