Increasing the momentum of a prolific creative streak, underground hip-hop titans Atmosphere reveal a new maxi-single today, titled “WORD? Side C”. 

The release boasts four new tracks, namely “Distances”, “Carousel” [feat. Nikki Jean], “Vanish”, and the high-powered posse cut “Pressed” [feat. Anwar HighSign, BlackLiq, Sa-Roc, Haphduzn, & Lateef the Truthspeaker]. The group also just uncovered a frenetic and fast-paced music video for “Pressed” as well.

Directed by Jason Goldwatch, the visual unfurls like a pastiche of iconoclastic pop culture, intercutting the weird and wacky with the wild and wonderful. One by one, each MC raps to the mirror, dropping lyrical gold atop Ant’s immersive beat-work. 

Slug opens the track, unloading quotable quips such as “Never forget, this is America, banks rob YOU” and “You caught a bad one and bought you a handgun, moved to Montana, now you rockin’ a man bun.” It upholds the tradition of legendary lyrical cyphers made famous by groups like A Tribe Called Quest on “Scenario,” Heavy D & The Boyz on “Don’t Curse,” or Marley Marl on “The Symphony”.

Atmosphere recently delivered two precursors with “WORD? Side B” and its predecessor, "WORD? Side A". In mere weeks, the collective seven tracks on these two maxi-singles have already earned well over a million Spotify streams and counting, with the lead single “Woes” racking up over 370K+ Spotify streams of its own, plus 220K+ YouTube views on the music video. Meanwhile, the follow-up single "Clocked" already boasts a healthy 235K+ Spotify streams and 130K+ YouTube views on the video to date. Right out of the gate, mxdwn claimed, “‘Woes’ plays with futuristic and funky sounds to complete its deep yet light hearted message,” while HotNewHipHop stated “it’s all Atmosphere, who remain in fine form both lyrically and behind the boards.”

Wasting no time hitting the road, Atmosphere recently completed a 17-date co-headlining tour with Cypress Hill, along with special guest Z-Trip, which concluded with a sold-out performance in Colorado at the world-famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre on August 28. The tour garnered recent acclaim from The Spokesman-Review, RIFF, TopShelf Music, MTC Mag, and more. Fresh off the tour, Atmosphere now looks ahead to a headlining performance in Fargo, ND at Fargo Brewing (Outdoors) on Sept 11, with direct support from long-time friend and Felt collaborator, MURS, as well as Haphduzn and Hydroe. The group is also scheduled to perform at the Cali Roots Baja Sessions this November in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and they're slated to perform at the California Roots Festival as well, in Monterey, CA in 2022.

Everything has bulldozed a path for the group’s anxiously awaited new album, WORD?, out October 8 and promising an all-star cast of guests such as the late MF DOOM, Evidence, Aesop Rock, Sa-Roc, Lateef the Truthspeaker, Nikki Jean and more.

Get ready for WORD?

Following their last release, The Day Before Halloween—an imaginative, distorted-synth-driven concept album—Atmosphere’s refreshing new project veers toward their signature sound. Further highlighting producer Ant’s undeniable talents, WORD? leans into the classic boom-bap aesthetic, bringing a unique energy out of Slug’s wisdom, wit and delivery. From onset, WORD? proves to be as much of an exercise in refining and advancing their craft as it is a harkening to earlier work. That is, while Atmosphere’s releases have grown more broodingly cinematic, and increasingly concerned with the human condition and mortality, WORD? manages to reintroduce moments of levity and lightheartedness throughout, an approach seldom heard on their albums of late.

From album opener “Fleetwood,” with its razor-sharp snares and warm fleshy bassline, to the resonant melody of “Clocked”, there are strong hints of Atmosphere’s nascent years within the sound. Meanwhile, songs like “Woes”, “Strung” and “Vanish” cheerfully make light of daily hardships, but they’re more likely to be remembered for making listeners want to bob their heads and sing along. With Slug and Ant directing the course, the album plays like a joyride through a range of experiences and emotions, with an extensive cast of special guests hopping in and out along the way, including Evidence, Muja Messiah, Musab, Nino Bless, Nikki Jean, Anwar HighSign, BlackLiq, Sa-Roc, Haphduzn, Lateef the Truthspeaker, Aesop Rock, and the late MF DOOM. The result is a project that feels like it came from the era or, perhaps more fittingly, the mindset that created albums like God Loves Ugly, Seven’s Travels, or the popular Sad Clown series, while sounding as polished and perfected as more recent albums like Mi Vida Local and Whenever.

Ultimately, WORD? pairs the breadth of Atmosphere’s talents with the beauty of their growth, all while showing they still have a lot of fun in the process and don’t mind letting the listener in on the fun as well.

WORD? is out on Friday 8th October- https://rse.lnk.to/WORD