Atmosphere - Perfect (Live on The Current)

Slug: I mean, I always approached that in the same way that I approached art, where it's like, if you give me the opportunity to define or stand for what I do, I do it. I do it to a fault. But in many cases, once it's put out there, once the song is out, once there's a photo floating, I had to deal with the fact that people made their own interpretations of what was going on. Early on in my career, I pushed back really hard. When people would say "Top 5 white rappers," I pushed back on that in general. Then when they started putting me in that category, I'd be that guy on the internet arguing on message boards: "I'm not white! I'm not white!" But I was reminded of when I was in high school - when the police came, they saw a white guy. I didn't get the same treatment that my friends were getting. I was getting preferred treatment in cases, you know? When the house party was getting broken up, I wasn't pushed against the wall and interrogated. I was told to leave. It's a reality that I've had to deal with, and a thing I've tried to work with and made sure to address. But I reached a place somewhere in the early years of Atmosphere where I just decided, well, I get to be a spy. I get to be the guy that's in the room hearing what some of these jerk-offs are saying, and then I can take what they're saying and compile those notes, so that later on we can make note of who's the jerk and who's not.

Stream the full in-studio session: http://www.thecurrent.org/feature/201...

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