Ain't It Funny How The Night Moves... Atmosphere - "Bob Seger" (Silver Bullet Band)

Thanks in part to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Atmosphere were really one of the first Hip-Hop groups I discovered and got into on my own; It was right around the same time that Slug & Ant were gearing up to release Seven's Travels (2003) and Rhymesayers had licensed either "Trying to Find a Balance" or "The Keys to Life vs. 15 Minutes of Fame" for the board-driven gameplay. Atmosphere have released a steady string of Minnesota Boom-Bap albums ever since: You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold, and The Family Sign. But in my eyes, nothing will ever live up to the near-perfect 19-track Seven's Travels. Slug has become something of an Underground Hip-Hop cult hero in recent years and even went as far as to self-proclaim Atmosphere as "The Bob Seger of Underground Rap" during a June Twitter exchange with fellow emcee, Flex Grossman ha.


Now, roughly a month or so later, Atmosphere have unveiled a brand new track dubbed "Bob Seger" which has been uploaded to iTunes and will most likely re-appear on a currently unannounced album. Littered with plenty of subtle Seger-sounding nuances and quite a few clever Silver Bullet Band references, "Bob Seger" seems like a surprisingly sincere tribute to the Michigan-bred Rock "N" Roll legend. Ever since recording and releasing their most recent record, The Family Sign (2011), Atmosphere has seemingly grown to include long-time collaborators Nate "The Guitar Man" Collins and keyboardist Erick Anderson and given "Bob Seger"'s Soft Rock-based undertone(s), I'm just gonna go ahead and assume they appear on the track, too. Atmosphere are currently headed out on The Kickin' Up Dust Tour, which'll be criss-crossing out glorious nation all Summer long, July 10-August 24th; Slightly Stoopid, Tribal Seeds, and The Grouch & Eligh will be opening for Atmosphere on select, alternating tour dates.