The first time I listened to Atmosphere a couple years ago, I thought to myself, "Wow. Good Hip Hop does exist." The only thing I had ever really associated it with was "bling bling" and "pimps and ho's", etc. I had never really taken the time to dig deeper and find what existed underground.

Atmosphere writes some of the most real, original stuff I've ever heard. I knew I had to see them up close and personal for myself, but was only able to catch part of their set at Warped Tour last year. So when I heard they were coming back to Minneapolis, I jumped at the chance to see Slug and Ant on stage together for the first time.

To show how much Minneapolis really loves their hometown duo, Atmosphere managed to sell First Avenue out 3 consecutive nights in a row. Rapper Slug made a statement about the fact that it wasn't Atmosphere who sold out the venue; It was the fans. "But I personally think you're all crazy," he stated jokingly.

I ended up missing the first two songs, which really did not start the night off on a good note. To put it bluntly, traffic sucked. However, once I was in the venue and finally watching Atmosphere on stage, I felt a lot better. It was a completely new experience for me, being surrounded by hardcore Hip Hop fans. It wasn't a bad experience, and it wasn't a good one; It was simply different. It was certainly more positive than what I might have expected it to be 2 or 3 years ago before I started listening to anything outside of a Rock or Punk genre.

The craziest moment of the night was during the group's single "Trying To Find A Balance". The energy in the room was unbelievable. I seriously got the chills. People on the floor were jumping, everyone was singing, heads were bobbing... It was a good vibe. The rest of the set from then on was pretty intense.

If this is your first time hearing about Atmosphere, I suggest you head to www.rhymesayers.com right now to learn more. You can hear a few songs off of the new album "You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having" on MySpace at www.myspace.com/atmosphere as well.

There's no way to avoid falling in love with Slug and Ant's collaboration.

Review by: Nicole