When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold is the fifth studio album by the Minneapolis hip hop group Atmosphere. It was released on Atmosphere's own Rhymesayers Entertainment label on April 22, 2008. It was praised for Ant's synthesizer-based production and Slug's storytelling rap.[1] The album features a cameo performance by singer-songwriter Tom Waits, who performs guitar and beatboxing on the song "The Waitress".
| When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 22, 2008 | |||
| Genre | Hip hop, alternative hip hop | |||
| Length | 54:36 | |||
| Label | Rhymesayers RSE0095 | |||
| Producer | Ant | |||
| Atmosphere chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Alternative cover | ||||
 Hard cover book cover | ||||
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 68/100[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| About |  [2] |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| The A.V. Club | B+[4] |
| HipHopDX | [5] |
| The New York Times | (favorable)[6] |
| Paste | (favorable)[7] |
| Pitchfork | 7.0/10[8] |
| RapReviews | 9.5/10[9] |
Release edit
The album was released in two different packages: a standard digipak and a limited edition (25,000 copies) 36-page hard-cover book featuring an illustrated children's story written by Slug and a bonus DVD entitled Sad Clown Bad Dub 13 containing over an hour of live footage and extras.[10]
Reception edit
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 68 out of 100 based on 15 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[1]
When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold debuted at number 5 on the US Billboard 200, selling about 36,000 copies in its first week. It is Atmosphere's first album to reach the top ten of the Billboard 200 and the highest charting release from the independent label Rhymesayers Entertainment.[11]
Track listing edit
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Like the Rest of Us" | 3:20 |
| 2. | "Puppets" | 3:41 |
| 3. | "The Skinny" | 3:36 |
| 4. | "Dreamer" | 4:04 |
| 5. | "Shoulda Known" | 3:06 |
| 6. | "You" | 3:14 |
| 7. | "Painting" | 3:00 |
| 8. | "Your Glasshouse" (featuring vocals by Tunde Adebimpe) | 3:58 |
| 9. | "Yesterday" | 3:23 |
| 10. | "Guarantees" | 4:32 |
| 11. | "Me" | 3:40 |
| 12. | "Wild Wild Horses" | 4:14 |
| 13. | "Can't Break" | 3:33 |
| 14. | "The Waitress" (featuring vocals by Tom Waits) | 3:00 |
| 15. | "In Her Music Box" | 4:20 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 16. | "Vanity Sick" (live) (video) | 2:52 |
| 17. | "Sunshine" (live) (video) | |
| 18. | "Guarantees" (live) (video) |
Personnel edit
Atmosphere
- Anthony Davis – keyboards, turntables, production
- Sean Daley – vocals
Additional personnel
- Brett Johnson – bass guitar
- Erick Anderson – piano, synthesizers
- Brian McLeod – drums
- Nate Collis – guitar
- Joe Mabbott – percussion, engineering
- Mankwe Ndosi – vocals
- Rajiah Johnson – flute
- Tom Waits – beatboxing, guitar, shaker (on "The Waitress")
References edit
- ^ a b c "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold by Atmosphere". Metacritic. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
- ^ About review
- ^ Brown, Marisa. "Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold". AllMusic. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
- ^ Bahn, Christopher (April 28, 2008). "Atmosphere: When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold". The A.V. Club. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
- ^ J-23 (April 23, 2008). "Atmosphere – When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold". HipHopDX. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "New CDs (Published 2008)". The New York Times.
- ^ Paste review
- ^ Strew, Roque (May 2, 2008). "Atmosphere: When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
- ^ RapReviews review
- ^ "Rhymesayers Entertainment – Releases". Rhymesayers Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2008-04-17. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
- ^ Hasty, Kate (2008-04-30). "Mariah Carey Remains Atop Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
- ^ "When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold (Deluxe Edition) by Atmosphere". iTunes. 22 April 2008.
Further reading edit
External links edit
- When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold at Discogs (list of releases)