I remember one day in high school I was getting ready for school (I believe it was my senior year) when I caught a music video on MTV. It was for Trying to Find a Balance by Atmosphere. It wasn’t like the rap I was used to hearing, it didn’t seem nearly as violent and angry as the rap I typically heard on MTV. To be honest it almost seemed more ‘woe is me’ but in a poetic way.
A few months later I saw the album on sale and picked it up. I definitely enjoyed the lyrical style, slug’s rhymes and the unique beats. I asked a friend of mine if he was familiar of Atmosphere and he recommended that I check out his other albums specifically Lucy Ford and GodLovesUgly.
Both records are hip-hop masterpieces, but I hold Godlovesugly a little higher on my respect level. Ant’s beats are at his most unique at this point (including songs like The Bass And The Movement whose beat actually sounds like someone getting beat up). However what I truly love about this record is Slug’s lyrics, he really pours his heart out on the record and never fears about not coming off as ‘hard’.
Lines like “I got my mind on my tummy and my tummy on my mind” (Give Me) or “Dear mom, I promise I’m going to be large/One day Imma to stop trying to borrow your car” (godlovesugly) have the right mix of self deprication and sincerity to make it work. However the star of the show is Fuck You Lucy
This song’s title gives you a general idea that this is going to be a completely different song. Instead of an angry fueled revenge anything you get the most sincere break-up song in hip-hop history.
Slug perfectly discusses the genuine emotions one goes through losing a girl that they loved deeply. He’s angry at her for “defining my existence” and “her differences”. The song draws the image of a man not doing well with his break-up. While other rappers write a song about moving on and fucking random girls, or plotting revenge (even murder in some songs) Slug can’t continue his life without Lucy. The most powerful line being “I want to scream Fuck You Lucy/But the problem is I love you Lucy”.
Slug has said that Lucy isn’t a specific person but more an idea. A combination of various past girlfriends, drug addiction and anything else that you allow to control your life. That lyric when applied to it being about drug and alcohol addiction makes the song have multiple layers. Earlier in the song he even screams “I wanna scream fuck you, because I still love you/No I’m not okay and I don’t know what to do”.
On the Lucy Ford album you find the song It Goes which contains the lyrics “I think my fans know me better than my friends do/ because my friends never paid that much attention/The fans memorize every single sentence/Which makes them far to smart to ever start a friendship”. With songs like Fuck You Lucy... I think I’m the same way. But I do want to give him a hug.
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Matt Kelly can also be found hosting The Saint Mort Show, Co-hosting the Reddit Horror Club Podcast, Writing for Geekscape,Tweeting and running Dollar Monday Promotions.
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