Southsiders (album)

Last updated

Southsiders
SouthsidersAtmosphere.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedMay 6, 2014 (2014-05-06)
Studio
Genre Hip-hop
Length59:41
Label Rhymesayers
Producer Ant
Atmosphere chronology
The Family Sign
(2011)
Southsiders
(2014)
Fishing Blues
(2016)

Southsiders is the seventh studio album by American hip hop duo Atmosphere. The album was released on May 6, 2014, via Rhymesayers Entertainment. Its title refers to the south side of Minneapolis. [1]

Contents

The album debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200, number three on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and number two on the Top Rap Albums, Independent Albums and Vinyl Albums charts, with first-week sales of 23,159 copies in the United States. [2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?5.4/10 [3]
Metacritic 70/100 [4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Robert Christgau A− [6]
Consequence of Sound C+ [7]
Exclaim! 7/10 [8]
The 405 7/10 [9]
HipHopDX 3.5/5 [10]
Pitchfork 6.3/10 [11]
RapReviews7/10 [12]
Spectrum Culture3/5 [13]
XXL 4/5 [14]

Southsiders was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 70 based on nine reviews. [4] The aggregator AnyDecentMusic? has the critical consensus of the album at a 5.4 out of 10, based on seven reviews. [3]

AllMusic's David Jeffries praised the album, stating: "growth and groundation are skillfully balanced on Southsiders, this is arguably the most deep and different album in the band's discography". [5] Dan Rys of XXL wrote: "Atmosphere has never been afraid to bare everything, strip things down to their most honest form, and grow with their listeners. Southsiders is the next step in that lineage, and one that falls directly in line with their previous work". [14]

Mark Bozzer of Exclaim! wrote: "it's a tried, tested and true formula that has allowed these two humble cats from the land where Kirby Puckett smacked homers to do this for so long". [8] Homer Johnsen of HipHopDX called it "a solid album", resuming "the production is consistent and there are moments of enlightenment from Slug. But due to Atmosphere's already extensive catalog, it doesn’t easily separate itself from previous works". [10] Patrick Taylor of RapReviews found "it's lines like [in "Flicker" that] keep me coming back to Atmosphere's music, and make Southsiders another solid entry into the Atmosphere catalogue, warts and all". [12] Nicholas Glover of The 405 called it "extremely competent, and has enough really great beats to more than make up for the general air of insouciance. It's good. It just ain't essential". [9]

Jayson Greene of Pitchfork concluded: "for the first time in Atmosphere's long career, the stakes feel low, and Southsiders feels both pleasant and noncommittal, like it isn't even convinced of its own right to exist". [11]

In his mixed review for Consequence , Will Hagle called it "an Atmosphere album, which means that it is going to be better than many hip-hop releases this year, but it’s also exactly what you’d expect from the artists and has moments that feel outdated". [7]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Camera Thief"4:45
2."Arthur's Song"3:21
3."The World Might Not Live Through the Night"4:14
4."Star-Shaped Heart"3:18
5."I Love You Like a Brother"3:31
6."Southsiders"3:12
7."Bitter"4:19
8."Mrs. Interpret"3:47
9."Fortunate"3:36
10."Kanye West"4:01
11."We Ain't Gonna Die Today"3:44
12."My Lady Got Two Men"4:21
13."Flicker"4:45
14."January on Lake Street"4:03
15."Let Me Know That You Know What You Want to Know"4:44
Total length:59:41
Deluxe version bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
16."She Don't Know Why She Love It"4:06
17."Hell"3:37
18."I Don't Need No Fancy Shit"3:07
19."Idiot"3:56
20."Prelude to Hell"2:51

Chart positions

References

  1. Lilah, Rose (May 5, 2014). "Shooting The Shit With Slug (Of Atmosphere)". HotNewHipHop . Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  2. Tardio, Andres (May 14, 2014). "Hip Hop Album Sales: Week Ending 05/11/2014". HipHopDX . Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Southsiders by Atmosphere reviews | Any Decent Music". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  4. 1 2 "Critic Reviews for Southsiders - Metacritic". Metacritic . Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  5. 1 2 Jeffries, David. "Southsiders Atmosphere". AllMusic . Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  6. Christgau, Robert (September 12, 2014). "Expert Witness: September 2014". Robert Christgau. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  7. 1 2 Hagle, Will (May 9, 2014). "Album Review: Atmosphere - Southsiders". Consequence Of Sound . Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  8. 1 2 Bozzer, Mark (May 6, 2014). "Atmosphere │ Southsiders". Exclaim! . Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  9. 1 2 Glover, Nicholas (May 6, 2014). "Atmosphere - Southsiders l Album Review l The 405". The 405 . Retrieved May 15, 2014 via Wayback Machine.
  10. 1 2 Johnsen, Homer (May 5, 2014). "Atmosphere - Southsiders". HipHopDX . Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  11. 1 2 Greene, Jayson (May 9, 2014). "Atmosphere: Southsiders". Pitchfork . Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  12. 1 2 Taylor, Patrick (May 13, 2014). "Atmosphere Southsiders". RapReviews. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  13. Randall, Mike (May 12, 2014). "Atmosphere: Southsiders - Album Review". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  14. 1 2 Rys, Dan (May 12, 2014). "Atmosphere Adds Another Revealing Effort To Their Catalog With 'Southsiders'". XXL . Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  15. "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  16. "Billboard 200". Billboard . May 24, 2014. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  17. "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". Billboard . May 24, 2014. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  18. "Top Rap Albums". Billboard . May 24, 2014. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  19. "Independent Albums". Billboard . May 24, 2014. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  20. "Vinyl Albums". Billboard . May 24, 2014. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  21. "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 2014". Billboard . Retrieved May 27, 2025.