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When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold | 
| Artist: Atmosphere
Label: Rhymesayers
List Price: $18.99
Buy New: $13.28
You Save: $5.71 (30%)
New (9) Used (2) from $9.49
Rating:  39 reviews
Sales Rank: 6407
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 826257009524
EAN: 0826257009524
ASIN: B0013LNDY0
Release Date: April 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand new. FAST SHIPPING!!!
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| Tracks:
| • | Like The Rest Of Us | | • | Puppets | | • | The Skinny | | • | Dreamer | | • | Shoulda Know | | • | You | | • | Painting | | • | Your Glasshouse | | • | Yesterday | | • | Guarantees | | • | Me | | • | Wild Wild Horses | | • | Can't Break | | • | The Waitress | | • | In Her Music Box |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The prolific duo of Slug and Ant offer their sixth studio album, presenting their storytelling, songwriting, and musicality at its finest. Limited deluxe edition (25,000), packaged as a 40-page gold embossed hard cover book featuring an illustrated children's story written by Slug. Bonus DVD with over an hour of live footage and extras. Produced by Ant (Brother Ali, Felt).
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| Customer Reviews: Read 34 more reviews...
4.5 stars, my favorite since Lucy Ford April 24, 2008
J. L. Guyer (Beijing)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
By reading through the various reviews you can pretty easily tell whether you would like this latest release or not. As I see it there are two types of Atmosphere listeners. One type are drawn to Atmosphere for Slug's charisma, the other type likes Slug's more introspective and intellectual side (Ant's beats are a given I think). I'm more part of the second group, and after listening to the album front to back four times (which is already a good sign) I can safely say that this is my favorite release since I first came to this duo with Lucy Ford. Though I like a lot of the fun and clever songs that you hear on the Felt Tributes, and the more hard hitting and upbeat songs last few releases, what really gets me is when Slug sits down to really write something introspective and maybe even depressing. I feel like Slug spent a longer time with the writing process on this one than in the past.
With that said, I really enjoyed the music on this album, and music it is. The days of simply using some tight hip hop loops seem to be something of the past for Atmosphere, they are branching out. Most of the songs use live instruments, have a lot of crescendos and breaks which gives the songs more complexity and less of a head nodding groove than a past albums. If you like hip artists that are taking more musically complex directions rather than being devoted to some stuff you can slap in the car and feel the base thump, I would recommend this highly.
Also I think that this is more of a cohesive album than the previous two. Slug deals with some consistent themes in this album including addiction, hypocrisy, disappointments, and the need to grow up and deal with them. This is a very mature album made by two artists that are by this time wanting to branch out and expand and do things that interest them. There is nothing artificial about Slug's delivery, but you get the feeling that if he was as good at singing as he is at being an MC than this might be very well have been a rock album.
In the end, if you look to Atmosphere's music more for escape than for reflection this probably won't interest you and you should get the "Strictly Leakage" free download from their website, which is also a great album, and maybe stay away from this album.
Bust Out That Gold Spray Paint! (4 Stars) May 5, 2008
Alan Pounds (Minneapolis, MN)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I've been an Atmosphere fan since 2003, and seeing them flourish over the years has been an exciting process. The strategic approach counting down to the release of their 6th full-length album "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Sh** Gold", is among the best marketing scheme's you'll ever see spawned by an independent record label. So good in fact, that is has seemingly stripped them of underground status as the album debuted at an astonishing #5 on the Billboard Top 200 alongside other fluffy pop artists such as Mariah Carey & Ashlee Simpson.
Leading up to it's release, Atmosphere released a string of 4 excellent 5-song EPs, and the undeniably dope full-length "Strictly Leakage" for FREE through the official Rhymesayers web site. In addition to creating a plethora of solid material, Slug & Ant tirelessly promoted their new album through a series 10-minute You Tube episodes entitled "Paint It Gold", where they answered endless questions from fans throughout the world, and also provided them an outlet for that extra promotion they needed for the album.
In all actuality, the formula for "Lemons" is not sonically different from most Atmosphere records. Ant's beats creep into a bit more synth-heavy territory on some tracks, and on the whole, comes through with some of his cleanest, and most memorable set of beats to date. Slug is also maturing very nicely. His songwriting skills and his close-knit connection with his fans have reached an all-time high. I have a hard time thinking of a rapper that would be more in touch with the game of hip-hop today than Slug is. He seems to stay truly inspired, and it comes through in his writing and delivery. The album does slightly favor conscious, introspective material over straight bangers. In other words, it's nothing like "Strictly Leakage".
"Like The Rest Of Us" & "Puppets" kick the album off. They are notably slow for openers, and really sets up the mood for the album. "The Skinny" is one of the more unique gems here. The production is filled with grimey synth, and works quite well. Slug boasts clever lyrics about cigarettes through the metaphor of a pimp. "Dreamer" includes nice hooks, choruses & some beautiful production; definitely a favorite of mine. "Shoulda Know" is the first video/single off the record, and stands strong as well. "You" is definitely my favorite in the bunch. Ant's production is addictive here, and that chorus will get stuck in your head for days. And as Ant stated in one of their episodes of "Paint It Gold", this song makes you smile every time you hear it. The piano-filled "Yesterday" is equally dope in my opinion. "Guarantees" may be the most different song you'll hear here. Just Slug & a nice quiet guitar with a nice singer-songwriter piece. It would be served better with a better guitarist and a straight up acoustic, but it's still very nice. "Painting" & "Me" are also a couple of excellent tunes that border on melancholy. "Wild Wild Horses" works excellent here. Nice samples and beat all around. Closing out the album, we get some beautiful tunes. My favorites being "The Waitress" & the banger "Can't Break". The deluxe edition includes a 40-page gold embossed hard cover book with an illustrated book written by Slug, and a bonus DVD of an entire live performance straight from First Avenue in Minneapolis!
Overall, this is one of Atmosphere's most gorgeously crafted albums in their entire catalog; and of 2008. And I can't think of a much better album that could break into the Billboard charts with such presence than "Lemons". And it definitely holds a much different vibe than your typical mainstream rap affair, which will hopefully shine some light on more of the "real" hip-hop released in the days where mainstream rap is in a world of hurt. Excellent job Slug & Ant. You are making Minnesota proud!
 Long wait sad release April 22, 2008
Rye
8 out of 13 found this review helpful
I've been waiting for this album to hit and I'm disappointed in it. I kept listening to the album waiting for it to kick in to high gear and never does. There are few tracks that I really enjoyed but, just a few. The entire album is slow and dark. Not as good as the last album. Perhaps, they should have saved some of them good tracks from all of the EP's they keep pumping out and stuck them in this album. I'm sad to give them only three stars but, the album just didn't do it for me.
People are stupid. April 23, 2008
Adam P Boots (Valley Village, CA United States)
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
I'm not trying to say that people aren't entitled to their own opinions, and I can see how this might not be everyone's favorite album, but the beats are excellent and the rhymes are amazing. It's not a 5 star album. I haven't even had a chance to watch the DVD yet. But it is a great album and I see myself listening to it a lot at home when I want to mellow out and listen to something more downtempo. I don't really like the track "The Skinny" that much, but aside from that, the entire album is solid.
And for the record, if you're looking for a "happy fun" album from Atmosphere then you should find their free pre-release record "Strictly Leakage". It uses old school party beat samples and is party and fun album. This is an introspective story album and it is what it is. Slug isn't going to change from being a depressing storyteller anytime soon so take what you get and don't keep expecting the greatest album in history every time out.
 What a disappointment! April 22, 2008
Matthew J. Schwartz (Houston, TX)
5 out of 25 found this review helpful
I kept listening, waiting for the album to drop, waiting for a song I can jam to. I didn't get one till 2nd to last, with "the waitress", possibly the only redeeming song on the whole album.
The story-telling lyrics are poetic and inventive, but depressing. Every tale is traggic. Most of the songs are slow songs and the ones that are more upbeat have this cybersynth sound like in "the skinny", "dreamer", and "can't break" which I did not care for.
Tracks like "Wild Wild Horses" are a little more what I am use to from Atmosphere. But most of the album brings you down with sad tales and bad or sleepy-downtempo samples. I was wanting something upbeat with classic samples like "Gun's and Cigarettes".
I would not recommend this album to anyone other than fans that already have their old material. I am going to see if the store will let me return it.
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