HipHopUG.com interviews Atma in regards to his recent album - Beyond Birth And Death.

Atma is a conscious godcore hip hop artist from Chicago, Illinois, notable for incorporating deep metaphysical lyricism. He is a member of hip hop supergroups Masta Buildas and Lost Children Of Babylon.

Atma full bio on HHUG

HHUG: Incorporating conscious lyrics with a metaphysical/spiritual/esoterically approach, what influences in rhyming with this style?

Atma: Growing up as a kid, I loved Rakim, KRS-One, Guru.They influenced me very much. I also had a near death experience in 1997. I was stabbed in the stomach in Chicago in a fight, and had emergency surgery. I spent a month in the hospital, and had many deep realizations. I experienced the presence of God, and got direct perception that I was not this material body, that I was the eternal soul, and began to get self realization. All I could do was meditate for a month - I couldnt go anywhere. When I got out of the hospital, I saw the world in a new way. Walking down the street, I noticed how people were unaware of their divinity. People giving hard looks at me not knowing what just happened to me, I had a big hole in my stomach, with gauze stuffed in it, with cloth wrapped around my waist. I began to realise how people were really lost, and suffering within from lack of knowledge of themselves. So, being an emcee, I began to write about God consciousness and metaphysics, about our eternality, cosmic consciousness, and our relationship with God as eternal souls having this human experience.


HHUG: For those not fully aware of the depth of your lyricism, how are you able to captivate such listeners with your music? And what do you hope they will gain from it?

Atma: I just try to spit from the soul & from the heart, hoping they will be sparked within, and get some realizations about who they really are. That we are beyond these temporary bodies, and that the real you, the soul, is eternal. The spiritual anger I have felt in the past was lyrically aimed at unconscious materialistic emcees spitting garbage with no substance whatsoever, but I have had deeper realizations as of late as we near the end of a 26,000 year cycle, that people need more knowledge light and love, so I have stepped away from darker lyrics to go deeper into the truth, as time is running out.


HHUG: Many fans whom praise your work, have often said they find your background biography obscure or unclear. Who is Atma and how did you arrive as an underground emcee?

Atma: I'm from Chicago, and came up in the underground scene there by going to open mics at the Double Door, The Elbo Room, Subterranean, etc. I became friends with different underground emcees and producers in Chicago. I became friends with Panik of Molemen, and did a demo with him in 1999, but it never came out because I decided to take my spiritual life very seriously after meeting a guru named Radhanath Swami. I was amazed by his knowledge and became a monk in 2000. But after five years of deep study of Sanatna Dharma and the Vedanta, and the ancient mystics traditions of the east, I hooked back up with Panik and recorded Beyond The Speed Of Mind released independently in 2006, which became an underground classic LP worldwide by 2007.


HHUG: Who are your top 5 favorite artists?

Atma: Rakim Allah, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, EPMD, Gangstarr


HHUG: With the knowledge you constantly showcase in your music, which religion(s)/spiritualities do you follow or study? What beliefs and/or philosophies do you follow?

Atma: I study the Vedanta, which means the end of knowledge, Sanskrit - is an eternal language, with descending knowledge predating every language in the universe. The Bhagavad Gita as it is, the Srimad Bhagavatam, being the two ancient scriptures I study the most, that were put into written form over 5,000 years ago. The path I follow is called Sanatna Dharma, or the eternal truth. I also read every metaphysical book I can get my hands on, from Sumerian knowledge, Mayan knowledge, the teachings of Christ, Buddha, and the saints and sages of all different mystic paths.


HHUG: Beyond Birth And Death [BBD] is your second studio album officially released on February 1st 2011 on LCOB Productions. However, it was leaked prior to signing with LCOB Productions. What caused the delay of its official release?

Atma: I decided to leak it prior to it getting picked up by LCOB Productions because all the songs were lost in a studio crash. I only had mp3s, so I put it out for free download, but the people still loved the LP. The songs spread all over YouTube quickly, and became popular, so it ended up being picked up by LCOB Productions and getting promoted and serviced to iTunes and other digital sites.


HHUG: BBD is a double feature CD as a digital only release. Can you explain the concept and approach to the album, most notably being a double feature CD?

Atma: Well I listened to the songs I compiled, and decided to just put them all out at once as a double LP, instead of doing a conscious LP, and a hardcore dark LP, I just mixed them up and tried to balance them out.


HHUG: Your debut album - Beyond The Speed Of The Mind: Reincarnated - was entirely produced by Panik of the Molemen production group. What can you tell us about the production of BBD noticing it features an array of different producers?

Atma: Well after dropping Beyond The Speed Of The Mind in 2006 with Molemen, I ended up meeting so many people on the internet, so many artists and producers from all over the world. I ended up working with many different people as the next few years went by. I still have some tracks produced by Panik on the LP, as well as newcomers to the underground scene with lots of talent, such as Vint Mentalz, Amos The Ancient Prophet, Lord Gamma, Anahata Sacred Sound Current, Blunted Sultan, and of course the single from Snowgoons, "Halls Of Amenti" and some tracks from the main producer of the Masta Buildas LP Reptilian Body Snatchas - Annex from The Society Of Invisibles.


HHUG: The album also features emcees, such as Sick Since, Rasul Allah of Lost Children Of Babylon, among others. Can you elaborate more on that?

Atma: These are artists I became friends with over the internet and some of them in person as well that. I did some collabs with Deep Souls with Great Minds, and we think alike as far as metaphysics and spiritual lyrical content. Sick Since, Rasul Allah, Vega X, Decipher, Sinister Stricken, and I put some tracks with my crew members Masta Buildas - Jahnigga Da Baptist, and Apakalypse on the LP too. All these emcees are incredible lyricists in the underground, and its always an honor to work with them.


HHUG: There is a track - "Soul Bendaz" - with Apakalypse produced by Stoupe of Jedi Mind Tricks that leaked a couple years ago and greatly peaked the interest of fans.  Why was the track not officially released on any project?

Atma: It was accidently leaked by letting a couple friends hear it, then it got leaked somehow or other in this way on the Internet. I met Stoupe in Chicago at a Jedi Mind Tricks show and we got in touch shortly after our meeting. He sent me a beat that was originaly supposed to be on the Decalogue LP, but it didnt make the final cut. Instead it will end up being released on a Masta Buildas LP coming out soon though.


HHUG: Surprisingly, last year another track leaked that shocked many fans. "Near Death Experience" is the track with Son Of Saturn aimed as a diss to Vinnie Paz of Jedi Mind Tricks. What caused the diss?

Atma: This was caused through a misunderstanding on the Internet. Vinnie Paz had threatened us, and we recorded a song because of it. We had the track up on YouTube for a week or so, and took it off, because the beef was stupid in the first place, .though we didn't like being threatened. We are both positive conscious emcees, and decided that we didn't want to represent ourselves in this way. It was all from a thread on the Internet where Paz said he hated people that had near death experiences because they were so full of shit. So I wrote him saying - "hey, you're full of shit" - then some words were exchanged and a threat was made. But the beef is squashed now, and the song will not be released on any LP.


HHUG: Being a member of  Masta Buildas with Apakalypse and Jahnigga The Baptist, and in August 2009, released Reptilian Body Snatchas LP, how was this collective formed? What can you tell us about the LP's bold title for those unaware of the reptilian agenda theory?

Atma: I have known Jahnigga since 2000 and we are both from Chicago. We have been good friends for a long time, then I moved to Miami in 2007, and I met Apakalypse. We became good friends as well, and in 2008 we all got together in Chicago and recorded the LP. At this time we were all studying the Sumerian knowledge, and the information on the reptilian agenda, the Illuminati, and ancient knowledge. So our lyrics were all about this andwe called it Reptilian Body Snatchas, with the understanding that we would snatch reptilians, subtle beings that are etheric and live off the life force and fear of humans. Snatch 'em off the spines of unaware sheeple who were being brainwashed through mass media hypnosis and evil masonic tricknology. There are many different theories on our origins as a human race. The Sumerian knowledge says that early hominids and Australopithecus had their DNA spliced by extra chromosomes by the Annunaki - a highly advanced extraterrestrial race from the planet Nibiru, which is in a 3,600 year elliptical orbit around our solar system. The Washington post actually announced the sight of Nibiru or Planet X in 1982, but it was never heard about again in the public. Many books have been written about it, and Sumerian knowledge has been deciphered in to English about it. We were all studying this information very deeply and decided to do an LP on this subject, as well as the shift in consciousness that will take place soon at the end of 2012, as we near the end of a 26,000 year cycle of the 4th sun, into the 5th sun of the Mayan calendar. The planets will align with the galactic equator of the Milky Way, causing a pole shift, and mass coronal ejections of the sun, that will affect the entire energy grid of the Earth. So having this knowledge, we decided to share it, and continue to do so. We are not alone in this universe. I could write a book on this subject, but I encourage people to do their research on this and prepare themselves spiritually for the consciousness shift coming to this planet.


HHUG: Your debut solo album and Reptilian Body Snatchas LP with Masta Buildas were released under Nod Records. Why did you decide to release your latest installment - BBD - under LCOB Productions?

Atma: We are still cool with Nod Records, but LCOB Productions had a better promotion deal, so I signed my LP with them instead. Nod Records also just released some tracks we did in 2009 on an LP last month. It's an Atma Apakalypse Masta Buildas LP. It's on CDBaby.com right now for sale.


HHUG: What future plans can fans anticipate from Atma?

Atma: I am currently working on the next Masta Buildas LP produced by Panik of Molemen, with Apakalypse and Jahnigga. It should drop by the fall of 2011. And I'm also working on my next solo LP produced by Panik as well. Be sure to cop Atma Beyond The Speed Of Mind, Atma Beyond Birth And Death, Masta Buildas Reptilian Body Snatchas, Masta Buildas, Apakalypse and Atma LP with Nod Records, Apakalypse Trust In Self (featuring myself), Son Of Saturn Apotheosis (featuring myself), all on iTunes for digital download.


HHUG: Any closing thoughts?

Atma: "As we pass through a major transition coming soon, there is a colossal,
global convergence of environmental destruction, social chaos, war,
and ongoing Earth Changes. but Humanity will continue, but in a different way.
Material structures will change. From this we will have the
opportunity to be more human. We are living in the most important era
of the Mayan calendars and prophecies. All the prophecies of the
world, all the traditions are converging now. There is no time for
games. The spiritual ideal of this era is action."
The indigenous have the calendars and know how to
accurately interpret it -- not others. The Mayan Calendars
comprehension of time, seasons, and cycles has proven itself to be
vast and sophisticated. The Maya understand 17 different calendars
such as the Tzolk'in or Cholq'ij, some of them charting time
accurately over a span of more than ten million years.
All was predicted by the mathematical cycles of the Mayan calendars.
-- It will change --everything will change. Mayan Day-keepers view the
Dec. 21, 2012 date as a rebirth, the start of the World of the Fifth
Sun. It will be the start of a new era resulting from and signified by
the solar meridian crossing the galactic equator and the Earth
aligning itself with the center of the galaxy.
At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the
Sun rises to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane
of the ecliptic. This cosmic cross is considered to be an embodiment
of the Sacred Tree, The Tree of Life, a tree remembered in all the
world's spiritual traditions.
Some observers say this alignment with the heart of the galaxy in 2012
will open a channel for cosmic energy to flow through the Earth,
cleansing it and all that dwells upon it, raising all to a higher
level of vibration.This process has already
begun. Change is accelerating now and it will continue to accelerate.
If the people of the Earth can get to this 2012 date in good shape
without having destroyed too much of the Earth, we will rise to a new,
higher level. But to get there we must transform enormously powerful
forces that seek to block the way."