God Loves Ugly

For the song, see GodLovesUgly.
God Loves Ugly
Studio album by Atmosphere
Released June 12, 2002
Recorded 2001-2002
Genre Hip hop
Length 68:54
Label Rhymesayers/Fat Beats
Producer Ant
Atmosphere chronology

Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs
(2001)		 God Loves Ugly
(2002)		 Seven's Travels
(2003)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Pitchfork Media (6.6/10)[2]
PopMatters (favorable)[3]
RapReviews (8/10)[4]

God Loves Ugly is the second studio album by the Minneapolis hip hop group Atmosphere, released on June 12, 2002, on Rhymesayers Entertainment/Fat Beats Records.

The album, via distribution with Fat Beats, went on to sell more than 130,000 copies in the United States.[5]

Released from the album was the single, "Modern Man's Hustle", on May 23, 2002. It was released on 12" vinyl and reached #18 on the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks chart.

On January 20, 2009, God Loves Ugly was re-released after being out of print for over a year. The God Loves Ugly re-issue also features a bonus DVD. Originally released as the limited Sad Clown Bad Dub 4 (The Godlovesugly Release Parties) DVD, it features two hours of live performance footage, backstage shenanigans, several special guest appearances and music videos for "Godlovesugly", "Summersong" and "Say Shh". This is the official music video off of the bonus DVD from Atmopshere's record label Rhymesayers Entertainment of the song GodLovesUgly[6]

Background

The group Atmosphere consists of Slug (Sean Daley) and DJ/producer Ant (Anthony Davis) from Minneapolis, MN. The group formed in 1989 and has since released six studio albums and ten extended plays.[7] The original group also included Spawn (Derek Turner) who started skipping shows as the group started to gain popularity and eventually dropped out. Slug (Daley) and DJ Ant (Davis) met through another rapper named Mustaab. DJ Ant asked Slug to come over and do a collaboration on a song together and according to Slug they just "clicked". They wrote over fifty songs in the following couple of months. According to Slug, DJ Ant is very work oriented and productive and that was inspiring to him.[8] At first the group had a hard time booking shows because, due to a "poorly organized Ice Cube concert", many venues were not booking hip hop shows. To "obtain visibility" the group started performing at small coffee shops and once the following began to grow, they were able to book shows at the 7th street entry in downtown Minneapolis, then made it to the main room at first Ave. Slug has said that he contributes the groups now national popularity to the large amounts of touring the group does.[9] Daley (Slug) didn’t start his hip-hop training as an MC; he first attempted break dancing, graffiti writing, and DJ-ing. Atmosphere has always liked to be underground and stay away from mainstream hip-hop. The beginning of their song “One of a Kind,” from the album God Loves Ugly (2002), becomes very ironic. The song starts with a clip, presumably from a concert, with Daley saying, “I’m different because I respect my audience and I don’t yell at them, and I’m special because I respect my audience. [three second pause] Shut the fuck up!” This irony can be read as an intentional mocking of mainstream hip-hop’s anger, and distance from their fan base. Atmosphere is resistant to many elements of mainstream hip-hop culture. Near the end of their song “Breathing” on God Loves Ugly (2002), Daley again uses the gun as a metaphor for not only the unnecessary violence in hip-hop culture but for many of its negative aspects such as misogyny, to sum up Atmosphere’s desire to remain separate from the negativity of mainstream hip-hop. The reference not only shows their desire to withdraw from mainstream hip-hop, but also idealizes Minnesota (by referencing lakes) as the place where ‘real,’ i.e. Atmosphere’s, hip- hop can take place: "Do you carry a grudge? Do you carry a gun? I guess it all depends on where you come from. Surroundings are gonna dictate the needs, I’m out, I wanna live around lakes and trees." [10]

Track listing

No. Title Length
1. "Onemosphere"   2:19
2. "The Bass and the Movement"   4:04
3. "Give Me"   4:02
4. "Fuck You Lucy"   5:33
5. "Hair"   3:23
6. "GodLovesUgly"   3:52
7. "A Song About a Friend"   4:28
8. "Flesh" (feat. I Self Devine) 4:09
9. "Saves the Day"   3:44
10. "Lovelife"   3:35
11. "Breathing"   3:02
12. "Vampires"   4:19
13. "A Girl Named Hope"   2:09
14. "GodLovesUgly Reprise"   1:49
15. "Modern Man's Hustle"   3:47
16. "One of a Kind"   3:30
17. "Blamegame"   4:50
18. "Shrapnel"   6:53

Instrumental version

God Loves Ugly [Instrumentals]
Studio album by Atmosphere
Released July 9, 2002
Genre Hip hop
Length 68:54
Label Fat Beats
Producer Ant
  1. Onemosphere
  2. The Bass And The Movement
  3. Give Me
  4. Twomosphere
  5. Fuck You Lucy
  6. Happy hours
  7. One Of A Kind
  8. A Girl Named Hope
  9. My Songs
    • Contains a sample of "Something In The Air" by Labelle
  10. Shrapnel

Personnel

Adapted from Allmusic.[11]

Charts

Chart (2002) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[12] 139
US R&B/Hip-Hop Albums[12] 43

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ Pitchfork Media review
  3. ↑ PopMatters review
  4. ↑ RapReviews.com review
  5. ↑ "Atmosphere". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved February 8, 2011.
  6. ↑ http://rhymesayers.com/releases/10
  7. ↑ ("Atmosphere (music group)" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2 April 2014. Web. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_(music_group)
  8. ↑ Vicious, L, "Interview: Slug of Atmosphere." 4TWK. 20 October. Web. http://www.4twk.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=447%Ainterview-slug-of-atmosphere&Itemid=2
  9. ↑ Gillespie, Blake. "Minneapolis is Rhymesayers." Impose Magazine. 18 April 2008. Web. http://www.imposemagazine.com/features/minneapolis-is-rhymesayers.
  10. ↑ "Moore, Ted. "Say Shh!• Atmosphere: A Case Study of Hip-Hop in the Twin Cities." http://www.tedmooremusic.com/rhythm_20th_cent_files/Say%20Shh!.pdf
  11. ↑ http://allmusic.com/album/god-loves-ugly-r594336/credits
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 http://allmusic.com/album/god-loves-ugly-r594336/charts-awards