It’s been a trying past few years for Detroit’s Slum Village, to say the least. As if the passing of the legendary J Dilla in February 2006 wasn’t enough, group founder Baatin went on to join the ancestors late last year. But anyone that says SV isn’t resilient isn’t paying close enough attention, as evidenced by the group, now made up of surviving founder T3, eLZhi and long-time producer Young RJ releasing their sixth studio album
Villa Manifesto on July 27.
In a recent interview on
HipHopDX.com, T3 and Young RJ talked to reporter Sean Ryon about everything Slum-related, from the ups and downs and personal changes over the years, break-up rumors that have been surfacing around the Internet recently, the memories and legacies of Dilla and Baatin, and what fans can expect from the new offering.
“This album is like a spectrum of all aspects of Slum Village, which is great,” T3 tells HipHopDX about
Manifesto. “You’ve got a song on there with just me, Baatin and J Dilla, and then you’ve got the other Slum Village, which is me, Baatin and eLZhi, and then you’ve got the other Slum Village which is just me and eLZhi, and then you’ve got the possible future Slum Village [with] Illa J…you’re getting a full spectrum of Slum Village, and that’s why if this [album] is the last album, I’ll be happy with that because the chapter is ending on a whole broad spectrum. If you like Slum Village in any form of Slum Village, then you’re going to be happy with this album.”
The video for the first single, “Faster” featuring singer Colin Munroe, is currently posted on
YouTube and
WorldStarHipHop.com. According to Young RJ, “this was actually the first record we recorded for the
Villa Manifesto album. I came with the beat, and I called T3 and said ‘Man, I’ve got your single.’ And he said ‘Oh really?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m not sure what you’re going to think, but I love it’…so I played it for him, and he said, ‘Oh, I’ve got something for that.’ He ran in the booth, and 20 minutes later, he had his verse done and we went and got Baatin, he put his verse down, then El, he put his verse down.”
Addressing questions of this possibly being Slum’s final album, T3 tells HipHopDX that he personally put out the statement that
Villa Manifesto could be the last offering from the group. “It’s not because of any beefs or anything, it’s just the fact that the way this album is put together with me, J Dilla, Baatin and eLZhi and featuring [J Dilla’s younger brother] Illa J on there, I really don’t know where to take it from there…it’s kind of up in the air right now whether we’ll do another album or not because half of the group is not here anymore. They’re only here in the spiritual form. I don’t know what to do from there. Mostly, that’s the biggest drawback.”
The full interview with Slum Village is available at
HipHopDX.com.
Villa Manifesto is available online and in stores now. Fans can follow the group on
MySpace,
Twitter and on their website at
SlumVillage.com.
