Crate Digging: Seven's Travels

by Atmosphere

The last (non-bonus) song on this album contains in it a line that could almost sum up my blog: "I swear to God/ Hip-hop and comic books was my genesis/ Respect the life and the fashion of the children/ It's all that I've got/ Exactly what we've been building."

The rest of the album falls into two camps. There are a string of songs that sound more Def Jux than Rhymesayers: 'Apple', 'Suicidegirls', 'Jason' and a couple of others are based around a dirtier, more roughed-up sound than is usual for Ant's production. Perhaps that was the influence of Epitaph, as this was the only Atmosphere album that came out on that label...

The rest of the album is classic Atmosphere. Songs like 'Shoes', with it's hook: "These are my shoes/ Those are you shoes/ We've got issues", or 'National Disgrace', with it's sample of a whistled harmony, build on the sound that these guys polished on the Lucy Ford album.

My only complaint about this album is that it runs a little long. I think it would have benefited from a little more editing or paring down (especially through the middle), but it remains a classic album.