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Slug (rapper)

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Slug

Sean Daley, born on September 7, 1972 better known by his stage name Slug, is a rapper from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Slug is best known as one half of the hip hop group Atmosphere, which he founded with Derek Turner (Spawn). He is also one of the founders of the Minnesota Hip Hop record label Rhymesayers Entertainment.

Biography

The son of Valerie and Craig Daley, Slug's nickname comes from his father's; his dad was known to his friends as "Sluggo" and thus they began to call Sean "little Sluggo," which he shortened to "Slug", Slug has also been known to be an acronym for Sean Loves Ugly Girls.[1] Slug was a member of a loose group known as The Rhymesayers Collective prior to the formation of Atmosphere. Its other members included Stress (Siddiq Ali) and Spawn (Derek Turner). Slug DJ'd behind the scenes and let Stress and Spawn handle lyrics. Later calling themselves Urban Atmosphere and garnering some underground notoriety, the group eventually formed a strong relationship with Ant (Anthony Davis) and began collaborating on music. Along with MC Musab (then Beyond), rapper Mr. Gene Poole, and the Abstract Pack they formed the mid-Nineties crew Headshots, with Slug appearing on the underground tape series HeadShots (1-7) (see Discography below). Every HeadShots volume allowed a member of the clique to showcase their talent, and HeadShots Vol. Seven was Slug's tour de force.

Another notable project of Slug's is Felt, a collaboration with his friend, another underground rapper, MURS. Other projects he has been a part of include The Dynospectrum, in which he was known as "Sept Sev Seven Two", and Deep Puddle Dynamics. He is a member of a loose collective known as The Orphanage, along with Aesop Rock, Sage Francis, Eyedea, Blueprint, and Illogic.

In 2005, Slug and MURS started up Women Records, a record label through which they would release the albums of rock bands that they were friends with. The label was set up as an imprint through Rhymesayers Entertainment.

Lyrical themes

A prominent theme in Slug's lyrics is his allegorical usage of women, especially in his earlier work. A notable use of women by Slug is in the song "Woman with the Tattooed Hands", which Slug has said is "a metaphor for that same old shit that everybody has already made songs about. Just trying to find your place within a belief and faith as well as people that you want to have sex with." [2]. Further uses come in the form of the song "Abusing of the Rib" from Headshots: SE7EN: it has been said that the "lover" that Slug speaks of is actually an allegory for Hip-Hop.

A character whom Slug refers to as "Lucy", who has been purported to be a symbolisation of a range of different entities, is the most notable of these allegories. In earlier Atmosphere songs, Slug used Lucy as a means of writing about his on-again off-again girlfriend Rita, though according to Rita, it developed into something "bigger and better". [3]. Lucy became so prominent that Atmosphere's 2001 album bore her name, Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs, and the record itself concentrated quite heavily upon Lucy in songs such as "Don't Ever Fucking Question That". Slug himself has since said of Lucy that he originally believed "her" to be a representation of the dichotomy between himself and women. He acknowledges now that Lucy became a demonization ("Lucy Ford" being a play on words for Lucifer) of himself and his dependency on alcohol, drugs, sex and validation. [4].

Slug raps in a very introspective style, as seen on the song "Little Man", in which he confronts the complaints that people have about him by looking at his relationship with his father and son [5]. This introspective style has become less prevalent as of Atmosphere's 2008 album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold in which Slug navigates through other people's lives [6]. Slug also dislikes some of the songs that he wrote before and does not perform them live, such as "Vampires" from 2002 album God Loves Ugly[7]. Furthermore, Slug has criticised Atmosphere's debut album Overcast! saying: "It's obvious that I’m trying so fucking hard on Overcast and you can see through it and tell it's not a person it's more of an attempt at trying to fill the niche, it was like I was trying to prove to myself that I was a rapper." [8]

Discography

Atmosphere (for more information see Atmosphere Discography)

Felt

With Deep Puddle Dynamics

With The Dynospectrum


Releases Featured

References

  1. ^ [1], Live Wire Interview with Slug
  2. ^ http://mvremix.com/urban_blogs/2008/03/30/slug-atmosphere-interview/
  3. ^ http://rapspot.dk/SlugInterview.html
  4. ^ http://www.pollstar.com/blogs/news/archive/2009/02/24/650792.aspx
  5. ^ http://www.4twk.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=447:interview-slug-of-atmosphere&catid=83:backstage&Itemid=7
  6. ^ http://www.4twk.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=447:interview-slug-of-atmosphere&catid=83:backstage&Itemid=7
  7. ^ http://www.imposemagazine.com/features/minneapolis-is-rhymesayers
  8. ^ http://www.4twk.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=447:interview-slug-of-atmosphere&catid=83:backstage&Itemid=7
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