I think it is clear right off the bat, that Atmosphere’s song “Trying to Find a Balance” has a lot of different contexts. I think the type of context that jumps out at me right off the bat would be institutional context of the video. It is based in a gritty warehouse-type setting, and shows images of the streets and other gritty images. This really adds to the anger of the song that the singer is trying to get across. For instance when he says “Lets pray on the blind, deaf, dumb, dead”; the video shows pictures of homely people. This trend continues with the images of people getting shot and gangs in the street. However, there are some positive images, like a baby and a happy family. I think this is there to reinforce the message of “trying to find a balance”. He isn’t looking for your suburban style lifestyle, but on the other hand he isn’t looking for your hard knock life on the street either. He is trying to find a happy medium.
I also find a lot of strong hate to mainstream society throughout the video. I noticed a steady theme of people who are not getting respect, or being treated fairly. This corresponds with the lyrics in the song when he says things like “In the days of kings and queens I was a jester. Treat me like a God, no they treat me like a leper”. The rapper is getting across his point that as an underground artist I think he really gets his point across when he states “yeah I got some last words, fuck all yawl. Stop writing rhymes and start playing volleyball.” He goes out and attacks those who don’t respect him. I think it is clear that his overall message is that we need to respect and take time to consider those who are less fortunate than us.
