# Slug (rapper)

Sean Michael Daley (born September 7, 1972), better known by his stage name Slug, is an American rapper from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Slug is best known as one-half of the hip-hop group Atmosphere, which he founded with Derek Turner (Spawn). Turner has since left and Anthony Davis (Ant) produces Atmosphere with Slug. In 1995, Slug, in collaboration with Anthony Davis, Musab Saad, and Brent Sayers founded the Minneapolis-based independent hip hop record label Rhymesayers Entertainment.

## Biography

Slug was born Sean Michael Daley in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on September 7, 1972. The son of Valerie and Craig Daley, he is of Irish, Norwegian, African-American, and Native American descent. Slug's nickname comes from his father's; his dad was known to his friends as "Sluggo" and thus they began to call Sean "little Sluggo," which he shortened to "Slug". In Atmosphere's early years, Slug DJ'd behind the scenes and let Spawn handle lyrics. The group eventually formed a strong relationship with Ant (Anthony Davis) and began collaborating on music. Along with solo MC Musab (then Beyond), and groups Black hole, Phull Surkle, and the Abstract Pack they formed the mid-1990s crew Headshots, with Slug appearing on the underground tape series HeadShots (1-7).
Another notable project of Slug's is Felt, a collaboration with his friend, another underground rapper, MURS. Other projects he has been a part of include The Dynospectrum, in which he was known as "Sep Se7en", and Deep Puddle Dynamics. He is a member of a loose collective known as The Orphanage, along with Aesop Rock, Illogic, Eyedea and Blueprint.
In 2005, Slug and MURS started up Women Records, a record label through which they would release the albums of rock bands that they were friends with. The label was set up as an imprint through Rhymesayers Entertainment.

## Lyrical themes

A prominent theme in lyrics is his allegorical usage of women, especially in his earlier work. A notable use of women by Slug is in the song "Woman with the Tattooed Hands", which Slug has said is "a metaphor for that same stuff that everybody has already made songs about". Further uses come in the form of the song "Abusing of the Rib" from Headshots: SE7EN: it has been said that the "lover" that Slug speaks of is actually an allegory for a girlfriend addicted to heroin.
A character Slug refers to as "Lucy", who has been purported to symbolize a range of different entities, is the most notable of these allegories. In earlier Atmosphere songs, it is believed that Slug used Lucy as a means of writing about ex-girlfriends. Lucy became so prominent that Atmosphere's 2001 album bore her name, Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs, with the record itself concentrating fairly heavily on women and relationships, in songs such as "Don't Ever Fucking Question That" and "Mama Had A Baby And His Head Popped Off". Slug himself has since said of Lucy that he originally believed "her" to be a representation of the dichotomy between himself and women. He acknowledges now that Lucy became a demonization ("Lucy Ford" being a play on words for Lucifer) of himself and his dependency on alcohol, drugs, sex and validation.
Slug raps in an introspective style, as seen on the song "Little Man", in which he confronts the complaints that people have about him by looking at his relationship with his father and son. This introspective style has become less prevalent as of Atmosphere's 2008 album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold in which Slug navigates through other people's lives. Slug has stated that in and around the year of 2005, he began to move in a new direction lyrically as he became more aware of the effect his lyrics would have on kids, especially his own son who was becoming a teenager at the time.

## Discography
### Atmosphere
#### Studio albums

* Overcast! (1997)
* God Loves Ugly (2002)
* Seven's Travels (2003)
* You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having (2005)
* When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold (2008)
* The Family Sign (2011)
* Southsiders (2014)
* Fishing Blues (2016)
* Mi Vida Local (2018)
* Whenever (2019)
* The Day Before Halloween (2020)
* WORD? (2021)
* So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously (2023)

#### EPs

* Overcast! EP (1997)
* Ford One (2000)
* Ford Two (2000)
* Sad Clown Bad Dub II (2000)
* Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs (2001)
* Happy Clown Bad Dub 8/Fun EP (2006)
* Sad Clown Bad Summer 9 (2007)
* Sad Clown Bad Fall 10 (2007)
* Sad Clown Bad Winter 11 (2007)
* Sad Clown Bad Spring 12 (2008)
* Leak at Will (2009)
* To All My Friends, Blood Makes the Blade Holy: The Atmosphere EPs (2010)
* Talk Talk (2023)

### Felt

* Felt: A Tribute to Christina Ricci (2002)
* Felt, Vol. 2: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet (2005)
* Felt 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez (2009)
* Felt 4 U (2020)

### Deep Puddle Dynamics

* The Taste of Rain... Why Kneel? (1999)

### Dynospectrum

* Dynospectrum (1998)

## Musical collaborations

| Song | Album | Artist | Year | Label |
| "B.L.A.K. Culture" and "Unaligned Sperms" | Comparison | Beyond | 1996 | Rhymesayers Entertainment |
| "Pea King" | Hank Mobley's Sound of Love | Casino Royale | 1996 | Anal Log Music |
| "I'll Be OK" | Float | Aesop Rock | 1999 | Mush Records |
| "Never" | World Premier | Unknown Prophets | 2000 | Unknown Prophets |
| "Slug & Sage Freestyle parts I & II" | Still Sick... Urine Trouble | Sage Francis | 2000 | Strange Famous Records |
| "Exclusive" | For Persons With DJ Abilities | DJ Abilities | 2000 | Rhymesayers Entertainment |
| "Frisbee" | P.A.I.N.T. | Abstract Rude | 2001 | Battle Axe Records |
| "Forget Me" | The Many Faces of Oliver Hart | Eyedea | 2001 | Rhymesayers Entertainment |
| "Night Prowler" and "Nothing Less" | Almost Famous | Living Legends | 2001 | Legendary Music |
| "Uncle Sam" | Second Nature | All Natural | 2001 | All Natural Inc. |
| "Days Grow Old", "Orphanage Freestyle Parts 1 & 2" | Sick Of Waiting Tables | Sage Francis | 2001 | Strange Famous Records |
| "Put Your Quarter Up" | Ritual of the Molemen | Molemen | 2001 | Molemen Records |
| "All I Have" | Out of Many | Rusty Ps | 2001 | |
| "Global" | The Opening | The Planets | 2002 | Red Sea Entertainment |
| "In Regrets" | Small Steps | Heiruspecs | 2002 | Interlock |
| "Gotta Love 'Em" | Search And Rescue | DJ Murge | 2002 | Battle Axe Records |
| "Lambslaughter" | Madman (single) | Prime | 2002 | Molemen Records |
| "Embarrassed" | Sick Of Waging War | Sage Francis | 2002 | Strange Famous Records |
| "Unsatisfied and Fuck Heros" | Luckiam.PSC | Eligh | 2002 | Living Legends |
| "Edie Brikell" | USSR: The Art of Listening | DJ Vadim | 2002 | Ninja Tune |
| "Blah Blah Blah" and "Missing Teeth" | Shadows on the Sun | Brother Ali | 2003 | Rhymesayers Entertainment |
| "Fallen" | The Darkest Cloud | Vakill | 2003 | Molemen Records |
| "Sex And More" | Phobia Of Doors 12 | Fred Ones | 2004 | Traffic Entertainment Group |
| "The Great Debate" | Fahrenheit 69 | Blowfly | 2004 | Alternative Tentacles |
| "Steel Toe vs. The Rookie" | The Emperor & the Assassin | Micranots | 2004 | Rhymesayers Entertainment |
| "Doomage" and “Stuck” | Sickly Business | Sage Francis | 2004 | Strange Famous Records |
| "Hold Mine" | Vitamins & Minerals (EP) | Blueprint | 2004 | Weightless Recordings |
| "(Even) More Human Than Human" | Revolutions | X-Ecutioners | 2004 | Sony Records |
| "You're A Bitch Too" | "You're A Bitch Too" (single) | D-Tension | 2005 | Brick Records |
| "Track 05" | Block in the Box (promo CD) | Blockhead | 2005 | |
| "My Alien Girlfriend" | Killing Fields | Molemen | 2006 | Molemen Records |
| "Bleeding Hearts Club (MPLS Chapter)" and "Bush League Psyche-Out Stuff" | Audition | P.O.S | 2006 | Rhymesayers Entertainment |
| "Moving At The Speed Of Life" | Legendary Music Vol. 1 | Living Legends | 2006 | Legendary Music |
| "The League of Extraordinary Nobodies" | I'll Sleep When You're Dead | El-P | 2007 | Definitive Jux |
| "Line Of Scrimmage" | The Weatherman LP | Evidence | 2007 | ABB Records |
| "The Office" | Bloody Radio | Grayskul | 2007 | Rhymesayers Entertainment |
| "Dance With Me" | Sweep the Leg | Hangar 18 | 2007 | |
| "O’Silly Me" | MPLS Massacre | Muja Messiah | 2008 | |
| "What’s This World Coming To" | The Adventures of a B-Boy D-Boy | Muja Messiah | 2008 | |
| "Oh Really" | White Van Music | Jake One | 2008 | Rhymesayers Entertainment |
| "Don't Leave (When the Winter Comes)" | Strange Journey Volume One | CunninLynguists | 2009 | QN5 Music |
| "We Made It" | Survival Skills | Krs-One and Buckshot | 2009 | |
| "Supervillainz" | Born Like This | DOOM | 2009 | Lex |
| "!BOOM!" | SAY G&E | The Grouch & Eligh | 2009 | Legendary Music |
| "In Your Soul" | Who the F@%k Are You? | C-Rayz Walz | 2009 | Definitive Jux Records |
| "Work" | Picking Flowers Next to Road Kill | Kristoff Krane | 2010 | |
| "Buzzkill" | Girls Like Me | Intuition | 2010 | Hellfyre Club |
| "Hip-Hop" | Everything's A Gamble Vol. 2 | King Magnetic | 2010 | King Mag Music/Fat Beats |
| "Late For The Sky" | Cats & Dogs | Evidence | 2011 | Rhymesayers Entertainment |
| "Swimming" | Kaiser Von Powderhorn 3 | PROF | 2013 | Stophouse Music Group |
| "Go!" | World View | AWKWORD | 2013 | Sub-City Productions |
| "Astronauts" | Winter and the Wolves | Grieves | 2014 | Rhymesayers Entertainment |
| "Fun-eral" | Have a Nice Life | Murs | 2015 | Strange Music |
| "Tree of Life" | n/a | Logic | 2015 | SoundCloud |
| "Slow Down" | A Perfectly Imperfect Beautiful Naked Creation | ILLUS | 2016 | ILLUS MEDIA |
| "Murals / Changes" | Hempire | Berner and Mistah F.A.B. | 2016 | Bern One Entertainment |
| "Never Stop the Show" | Greatful | Classified | 2016 | Halflife Records |
| "Powder Cocaine" | Weather or Not | Evidence | 2018 | Rhymesayers Entertainment |
| "Sand Dunes", "Pistol Dave" | This Was Supposed To Be Fun | Epic Beard Men | 2019 | Strange Famous |