I’m mixed. My dad was mixed. When i was a teenager growing up in Dayton Ohio i was considered a light skint black kid. I had that “good hair.” I started going bald around 24 years old. When i shaved it all off, i looked more white. When i moved to Seattle my skin got even lighter. Now people perceived me as white. Being mixed for me meant being both races and neither race. Never black enough or white enough. But it gave me a thick skin and I’m at peace with my swirled origins.
I’m a young struggling man in high school and you and slug have both been a role model for me. Keep on doing what your doing. Best wishes from Colorado
For what it's worth I can almost guarantee that when you make it through your struggles and some time passes you'll be able to look back and see it all from a different angle and it won't be so bad. The fight is worth it. "One good thing about music, when it hits, you feel no pain." Sorry to ramble
I too was a struggling young man in highschool who was helped through then, and too this day 20 years later by slug and ant, brother ali, eyedea, doseone, jel, rjd2, dj shadow, js one, krs, c rayz walz etc.
Real talk. Rhymesayers is some of the dopest hip-hop ever and hearing slug acknowledging his roots is really heartwarming. It comes full circle too because my family is from Minneapolis (mom south side, dad northside) and i know there’s a lot of mix people up there. Shout out to this convo 🙌🏾
I have been following Rhymesayers for over twenty years. Slug, you still manage to surprise me with how down for the culture you are. Brother Ali, I just found out you cast, I need to get into the back catalogue. Artists like you inspire artists like me to do the damn thing but to do it with decency and without exploiting the weak. You cast a BRIGHT light in obscenely dark times.
So i got to meet Slug this summer. He could clearly see i was absolutely fuckin SHOOK, he reaches out, shakes my hand and says "You can call me Sean." Ill never forget that shit man. He couldnt have been more humble and respectful. Let us take pictures, bullshitted with us for a bit, and off he went. To put on one of the greatest performances ive ever seen in my whole fucking life.
Holy shit! What an experience!! I would be so damn star struck if Slug literally passed me by walking down the street...... Now if Kim K was passing me by in the street I wouldn't have even noticed her!!! I'm waiting for fucking slug??? Yeah I'm waiting for slug! And Yeah he is so fucking ugly it's so damn beautiful! ❤
Loved you guys since I was a teenager. It wasnt about black or white for me when i discovered yall. You just opened up my eyes to the fact that hiphop can be used as a freedom of expression, rather than the vent for testosterone that i was using it for up until that time.
Same. Moms black, dad is white. Raised by my black family in a white suburb. I just began to realize my light privilege and be able to have a vocabulary around it. My kids are Sean’s mix now, but growing up in a very diverse area of NY so it’s normalized. They aren’t the odd kids out like I was.
Both of my parents are black, but my Dad looks more like Slug. I honestly never thought about it. My parents were both proud HBCU alum, etc. I hit middle school and people started teasing me for being mixed (I'm not) after they saw my dad. I'm sure it hits hard when you ARE mixed, and trying to navigate identity. I think it also effected my dad in many ways. He is very pro-Black, and made sure we were grounded in our Blackness. He won't talk about what he experienced, but I know people speak freely when they don't perceive a Black person to be around....
The obsession with race and the denial that almost all African Americans are mixed is a toxic problem that needs to change. The truth is there is a lot of racism in American culture that does not come from the pink people. I have been accused of being racist for not liking gangster rap. But by brain never thinks the N-word unless rap lyrics get stuck in my head. The N-word is always in the hook of gangster rap somewhere or another. The hook gets in your head like an ear worm and now millions of white kids that would never have the N-word in their head have it on repeat to a beat.
It’s so dope to see this! Even though I’m a mixed person as well, I STILL get looks for “acting” like one side of the spectrum more. The sooner you stop listening to comparisons, the more peace you can find ☮️
Bamboozled is Spike's best movie. Serch was "1/16th Blak". That Mau Maus joint was legit hot. It's also one of my ANGRY movies, with Mississippi Burning, Who Killed Atlanta's Children, and (less so now) Glory.
I ran into Atmosphere through Buck 65, Sixtoo, all the Anticon crew, and Eyedea/We Really Freestyle, etc, and bumped that stuff for yeears, never really thought about race, the vibe was a little different, but the soul was full send.
Found god loves ugly when i was drunk one day on pandora. Came up years later when i was down and around 2020 i found atmosphere. Ive loved every slug project since. Found brother ali from slug as well. glad to see you stories
What Slug said about the box being around the audience, made me think of an MC Lyte song Lyte As A Rock( 2:50), where she says "theres bars around the stage they assume i'm in prison when in reality they're locked in." You aint white boy music, you ARE music. Great music. Music i connect to as a sad clown 😏
The music industry is always weirdly obsessed with mixed race peoples backgrounds. I’m glad to hear people I always looked up to talking about this, most people avoid these difficult conversations.Makes a lot more sense why I connected with the music when I was young
These comments just prove most folks don't understand the mixed or multiracial experience. Race is deeper than skin colour, it is community and family ties it is your internal world as well. Not just how the outside world perceives you.
I'm a fugitive of history. Forget race, try having historically notorious ancestors. Insurrection, insubordination, genocide - "pioneers" from the 19th Century. I can't talk to anyone about it - family is in denial or whatever. I'm running away from bronze statues; you can't get far enough away from that. Peace to Slug and Brother Ali!
I’ve been listening to atmosphere since the early 2000s and a couple years ago I was talking to a friend and found out she was originally from Minneapolis. I asked her if she had ever heard of atmosphere and she goes hold on one second pulls out her phone and there’s a picture of her Posing with Sean like it was no big deal.
I have to agree. It was cool to hear new styles coming from different areas like that. But Minneapolis can't touch areas like The Bay, LA, ATL, NYC, Detroit, Chicago, or Miami.
I'm white (dad from Greece, mom 100% Italian) and look white, but my brother is dark skinned and everyone thinks he's Arab or Persian. Meanwhile his daughter is also dark skinned with really curly dark hair, and everyone thinks she's non-white Hispanic. Race and racial perception is a funny thing. Same family, same genetics, but we're perceived much differently.
I've seen that. My friend George is Mexican but looks straight white/Spaniard same with his sister. But his little brother looks nothing like him and dark like the dad. Seems to me you can either get more of your dad or moms looks
I saw you live at the Engine Room, 2003 Houston. Incredible show. Nothing but love. Ooooh shit, I met you backstage and you autographed my ticket stub. What a great memory.
Bro, saying "things are raslst!!" is just what aging artists do in this day and age. Everyone applauds and there's zero risk in doing it. Easy way to act morlly and intellctually superior. Its not a vulnerable thing to bcause its a safe thing that everyone pats you on the sholder for
I was a street kid. If you looked at me you'd assume I was high and going to jack your shit. So the cops always harassed the shit out of me. They knew me by name. They would drive by and scream it on their loudspeakers just to let me know they were watching. Always patting me down at school. I would fuck with them too. It was crazy shit in the Bay Area back then. But no doubt. For real. It was different for me because of my race. Anytime I would go to court the judge would look at my grandma and be super lenient. I had a warrant for 18 months straight. The judge sent me back to drug court instead of putting me in jail. Because the courts only saw a lost little white boy being raised by his Grandma. I always got one more chance. Many black kids never did. So even if you grew up on section 8 and life was rugged AF it is way different. That's a privilege despite the fact I suffered from bad circumstances.
No better advocate than my grandma. RIP. Doing really well now. Raising a family. Making sure they're in a better spot than I was. Thank you Brother Ali. It was the music that got me through that. @@BrotherAli_Travelers
I never knew this about Slug. I always thought he was white. He has a song where he says a black woman tought him and his friend about music and I always thought he was a white kid growing up in the hood. I loved his music Smart went Crazy was around the time I found him and it was all love. This was interesting to listen to. Shout out Brother Ali for putting together this channel and content. I subbed for sure boss.
I viewed myself as myself before a cop once called to his croney as a "white Caucasian male." I'm half white... Whatever that may mean and half Mexican, if you will. 1/4 native American and 1/4 Spanish and other blood. To me, view points are view points, doesn't make you what you are. Heart is heart. All these descriptions are bs to me. Love is love, hate is hate. Be respectful of everyone I say. But, idk... Cheers
I am white. I like mayonnaise and raisin salad. I grew up in a neighborhood where no one could correctly read anyone else’s cousin’s names, multiple friends earned DOC(CDC) #s. I went a different route and never “came off the porch.” I went to work, went back to school, got a better job and moved to Caucasian Acres. I don’t fit in with these people. I am playing a part with them, and I am white as hell. 90% of my neighbors never experienced an afterschool special lesson, even if they are black. The one group I can relate to are the naturalized immigrants who came from places they don’t want to go back to. Everyone else seems odd.
TBH, I didn't know this about Atmosphere. Let's all stop judging people based upon the way they look. You can guess but you have no idea where someone came from or what influenced them based in what they look like. "Blackness", "Whiteness", "Appropriation". All a bunch of BS. That isn't to say we should ignore racism or the past, but we should try to understand who someone is and where they came from. Generalizations always lead to hate, war, etc. We are all people.
Look at these legends, and then compare them to mainstream awkward soulless so called rap artists.. Only the real speak about the real, good luck with the POD, been a long time I seen you guys, but never stopped listening, hence why I landed here
I went thru this alot. I'm half white and half Mexican. All my "cousins" were of not Caucasian decent. I'm super light skinned so you can not even tell I am Mexican. I didn't know there was a difference till middle school either. Eastside for life
I was a full 2 minutes away before i realized this isnt a Logic interview. i thought "Wait, Logics from MN?" Had Ali not said "Atmosphere" i would have never known.
With a fraction of blackness. Slug and Ant are a gift. A gift that I embrace and love every single day. Slugs lyrics will make you laugh, smile, cry, think and reflect that no one else in hip-hop can do.
Slug was always a little smoother and had a little more rhythm than your underground white rappers. Check out is verse on Embarassed with Eyedea and Sage Francis as an example. He wasn't with that shameful attitude lol
Salam alaykum, Brother Ali- I've been thoroughly enjoying the pod lately, so thanks for that in addition to your powerful music. Absolutely incredible to hear about your journey to Islam and to learn more about the faith. You probably wouldn't be surprised to hear that your podcast is this midwest white boy's real first introduction to Islam. It's fascinating, humbling, and makes me feel some kind of way... Propaganda in this country seriously sucks, man. Glad to be walking the earth the same time as you, Brother. Hope the fam is well and best of luck on the tour! Stay safe!
I grew up off of 16th and 28th. I went to South High in Mpls. And I grew up having native, black and white friends. I was one of only a few Mexicans in that area back in those days. Some of the best memories I have are from being on bikes playing street ball with neighborhood friends. South Sider for life.
@entrepreneurism5243 There's so many now. Not just Mexico but all of South America. I've worked with people from Equador, Honduras, Columbia, Peru, Ricans. My dad's new wife is from El Salvador.
@entrepreneurism5243 We're all from TJ and Cali, but my mom moved up here back in 1981 when I was only 4 yrs old. I consider myself from here, but we still get family that visits from Cali.
Hit me in the soul when he said he thought he was black until the cops showed up. I've always told this same damn story as my sudden realization, but Puerto Rican instead. Born + raised there until coming to the US for middle school and there's a trauma with that realization; being denied legitimate by your own people, watching your friends treated as criminals while receiving a thumbs up for your whiteness - that identity crisis can certainly crush you. Realizing it's the outside world + what's vital is the focus inside is the elixir. Love is the healing balm. Great interview.
It’s so nuanced and deep. My wife is black and Puerto Rican and was seen as PR when she lived in NY. The minute she moved to Minneapolis she was seen as black only. And now in Istanbul she’s African.
I've listened to Slug for 20+ years and had no idea he was mixed until I saw this. I'm white and I rap, and have a mixed (and "ambiguous"-looking) stepdaughter who I'm getting into rap, and Slug's perspective in this clip was both interesting information-wise and uplifting on a personal level. Thanks for this.
Slug name dropping Evidence, has me hoping we get an Evidence interview on the Travelers Podcast sometime soon. Thanks for what you Brother Ali and Slug both do at Rhymesayers and for who you are as people. Salute
So what is 'Whiteness' and what does it mean to be White? as dude looks white to me and if I didn't know his story I'd assume he was White . I guess that ultimately we need to judge people on their character rather than their Race as it really doesn't matter
I wanna love slug like i used to, but they did prof real REAL dirty. For reasons that a younger sluggo would stand up for. Breaks my heart. National disgrace 😭
