JC
Another mixed rapper: Sean Daley, aka Slug, is one half of the Minneapolis duo, Atmosphere. He talks with the Philadelphia Inquirer about how he hopes to be a positive influence to youth through his lyrics.

Here’s who Daley is: a multiracial hip-hop artist who over the course of four albums - starting with 1997’s At Overcast! - has built a burgeoning underground following for his highly articulate brand of emo-rap. The best of those albums is 2002’s God Loves Ugly, which bears the influence of De La Soul.

Daley says he’s no longer trying to be “a lyrical superhero who can rhyme gastral infections with astral projections.” He’s more concerned with reaching listeners beyond the alt-rap underground, with songs such as “That Night,” a wrenching cut from You Can’t that details the night a 16-year-old girl was raped and murdered at an Atmosphere concert in New Mexico in 2003.

“I’m trying to figure out how to get in the heads of kids who don’t know better,” he says. “Those kids who might have a tendency to become frat-boy date-rapists. How can I rap to those kids before that happens?”