Over the weekend, Atmosphere released their twelfth studio album, WORD?. The project is made up of 14 tracks, and sees the Minneapolis duo link up with the likes of Aesop Rock, Nino Bless, Nikki Jean, and the late MF DOOM.
During an interview with HipHopDX, Sean “Slug” Daley opened up about what it was like realizing that the verse sent to him by his friend last year may have been the last one he recorded.
“That was really intense for me. And by no means were me and him super close friends, but whenever we saw each other, it was on.”
The 49-year-old then went on to explain that while the two didn’t often check in with one another or say, “happy birthday” they still had a great connection and maintained a friendship over the years.
“I didn’t even know until New Year’s Eve when the public announcement came out. I was doing the math, because he gave me that verse and was like, ‘I’m good. I like it.’ And that was in October.”
The verse Slug is referring to can be heard on the track “Barcade,” which serves as a follow-up to Atmosphere’s two-decade old collaboration with MF DOOM, “Put Your Quarter Up.”
“He was one of the last people to give me a part for the album. And so when he gave it to me and then when I did the math and they said that he died on Halloween, I was just like, ‘Yo he gave me this verse right before he died.'”
Slug told HipHopDX that his thoughts are with the late rapper’s friends and family, most notably, his wife, Jasmine.
“I know dude had a struggle from afar. Even I could see how much struggle he had. If you know his career and you know the story behind his career, there’s obvious struggle there,” he said, referring to the 1993 murder of DOOM’s brother, Subroc.
“But then there were other struggles that as an older dude, I could see that we all deal with — the food, the alcohol, self-sabotage, self-medication, all these things — that I would get little glimpses of it and be like, man, I relate to this fool. So when he passed, it definitely emphasized a lot of stuff for me.”
Check out “Barcade” featuring MF DOOM below. RIP.
[Via]