Slum Village...Past, Present and Future

         Slum Village is a group out of Conant Gardens, Detroit, Michigan. When the group emerged in the late 1990’s, the group tri which consisted of Dilla, T3, and Baatin, made an announcement that their group was an association of people that would be coming and going throughout the groups evolution. The group stayed true to their word and rapper/producer Dilla had left the group after releasing their first national album in 2000, Fantastic Vol. 2. After Dilla had left the group, rapper Elzhi was then added to the mix for the group’s 2002 album Trinity: Past, Present and Future. After this album was released, the group than consisted of just T3 and Elzhi. Although the group has undergone many changes since its creation, they have always had the same consistency when stating their goal and mission as a group which was to “Deliver Soul-Stirring Sonics that represent Detroit to the fullest” (Sing365.com).

            On the tracks “Do You” produced by Dilla and the track “Selfish” that featured Kanye West, Slum Village steadily represented that Midwest-funk heritage that they have always been about. Although Slum Village has always been about this form of lighthearted music, they show on Detroit Deli that they are also able to hit the audiences with more serious subject matter. On the track “Keep Holding on”, the group talks about not losing faith in their lives, and staying true to what they do as a group. After Dilla had left the group after Fantastic Vol. 2, it was looked at by many as losing the backbone to the group. Slum Village disproved this theory to the utmost by producing and releasing “Trinity” which would prove that the group can actually make hits, and speak to an audience with the same passion even though they were missing their sonic architect, Dilla. In conclusion, Slum Village has always been about the same core concepts in their music and quote from T3 will exemplify this perfectly. "We've always stuck to our guns," T3 says. "We've never tried to change to get commercial success. We always just did what we did and when you do what you do, eventually somebody's going to have to give you your respect for having the courage to do what you do."