The hardworking underground rap duo Atmosphere released a one shot video for their self-aware single “Fortunate” that involves a lamp, a chair and a lot of excited fans.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat

Slug and Ant have been at it since 1989. It has been a long time coming for them, and according to their new video, they finally feel fortunate. As the lyrics of the song imply, they were not lucky; Slug’s placid face is indicative either of this fact or that he is at home up in the atmosphere.

It is a straightforward video, much like their career, which has, after seven studio albums, moved at a constant positive slope upwards to the level of achievement that will get thousands of fans to line up outside of LA’s Palladium for your show, and be enthused about taking selfie videos as the film crew walks past focusing on the lethargic Slug’s misplaced syllabic lyrical recitation. Filmed towards the end of their ‘North of Hell’ tour, which included over 100 shows, exhaustion could be another reason for the rappers’ lethargy. It was Ant’s birthday, and he can be seen following Slug, toting a birthday cake. In this song, Slug expounds upon his experience in the business of music, and questions whether or not it is worth it, declaring that he is ‘confident the fight is fixed’

Lyrics like the first couplet about death and the following one, “don’t wake the baby up we got a lot to get done”, along with Slug’s shirt emblazoned with a guillotine contribute to the overall depressed and tired feeling of real-life music production, and the struggle that comes with endeavoring to become a successful musician in todays market. The melancholy feeling of the lyrics is contrasted interestingly by the hype of the crowd around the apathetic duo slouching along, ruminating broken balls and a ‘long list of missed wake up calls’. This seems odd, because those who deserve the apathy and melancholic reaction that is so conspicuous in the video are not Atmosphere’s followers, but those who have made it harder for them to reach those followers, who wait in line eagerly. That is perhaps why the end of the song calls the group fortunate. They are fortunate to have thousands of people line up to dig their act, against all of the odds which Slug raps about in the beginning of the tune.

We are looking forward to seeing more from this lyrically ingenious duo, and their work ethic inspires us to believe that even though the music business is crippled, it is never too late to break on through to the other side.