Time and time again rap groups fade away, but those with a strong foundation like Detroit’s own Slum Village are often hard to dissolve. My Mood is Music had the pleasure of speaking with T-3 from Slum Village where he discusses the group’s upcoming album, their role on the Rock the Bells Tour, upcoming projects, and much more. This group is anything, but tainted yet actually refined as they continue to uplift the legacy of J. Dilla by delivering quality music.
MMIM: Your website refers to Slum Village as a “liquid association” with members coming and going during the group’s evolution. Can you tell our readers what the current state of Slum Village is?
T3: The current state of Slum Village ( Laughs). It’s me Elzhi and Baatin.
MMIM: What about Illa J? (J Dilla’s brother)
T: He has helped us with a couple of songs.
MMIM: What is Slum Village currently doing to keep the J Dilla legacy alive?
T3: We are on the Rock the Bells Tour and it started about three weeks ago. We are also getting ready to drop a new album.
MMIM: Speaking of the new album. Your current single with Marsha Ambrosius, Cloud Nine we really like it.
T3: Oh okay, thanks.
MMIM: The album is called Villa Manifesto correct?
T3: Yes
MMIM: What can we expect to see from you all on this album?
T3: Well you will see all three members on this album, which is good. Baatin brings a lot of flavor to the pot, since he has a lot of character. This album will let people know what we have been doing for the last four years since we’ve dropped an album. It’s a real nice album. We are about to shoot the video for our single, Cloud Nine. However, before we shoot the video for that we are doing a skit, which is hilarious. We are shooting that next week where Baatin will be singing and rapping, so definitely be on the lookout for that. The skit is still untitled, but it’s exciting because our fans will see us three together again.
MMIM: Nice! So how do you all plan to release that. Will it be through different online channels?
T3: Yea just online. We want to release it virally, but the skit will definitely be on the album. The skit was produced by Kareem Riggins, who also did our Tainted track.
MMIM: I love the Tainted track, and how you all collaborated with Dwele.
T3: Dwele is actually directing the video for us, so it should be pretty dope.
MMIM: We are looking forward to seeing that and sharing it with our readers.
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MMIM: Since we are talking about the album, will you all be releasing it via Barak Records?
T3: Yes through Barak Records. It’s going to come out virally first. We are going to do a heavy online push and a vinyl album.
MMIM: You mentioned your involvement with the Rock the Bells tour. Can you tell us what you all have been doing to prepare, and what fans can expect to see from your set. Will there be a live band?
T3: We don’t have a live band, but we do have a DJ set with Pete Rock which is kind of dope. Our set includes a lot of energy and just having us three united together on stage again. It’s been five years since we have been on stage together, so it’s exciting. Then there are a bunch of great acts including Big Boi and Common, and others. I know the money is tough, but if you are going to go to one hip hop concert you might as well go to one that starts at one in the afternoon and ends at eleven at night. You cannot beat ten hours of hip hop.
MMIM: Can you tell our readers what else you have been working on in addition to the album?
T3: We are working on a bunch of things, but our main focus right now is the album. I did want to mention a few things that I did not state earlier. On this album we used a lot of different producers, usually “we stay Detroit with it”, but this time we used Pete Rock, Mad Libb, and Focus. Guest wise we got Dwele, Marsha Ambrosius, and Macy Gray. We didn’t put any rappers on it because we wanted to concentrate on the three of us. It should be dropping sometime in late August or September. We are also working on solo projects. I am dropping my solo project Night Gallery on October 31st, Elzhi is working on a mixtape entitled Elmatic, and Baatin is working on an album as well. We are also trying to put out another Slum Village this year. We are just trying to put out a lot of music because we got a lot in the can that we are just sitting on, so we want to put it out there.
T3: We are also doing the tour thing. We are going to be on the Rock the Bells Tour until September. Then we are going overseas after that. We will be touring all year long.
MMIM: How can our readers keep up with what Slum Village is doing?
T3: Yea twitter.com/slumvillage313 and twitter.com/t3sv. Twitter is a great way to connect with your fans instantly.
MMIM: I like how you added the D-Town area code on the slum village twitter account.
T3: Yea you have to do that to differentiate yourselves from the fake pages and flip it.
MMIM: With the recent loss of the King of Pop we could not end this interview without asking how and if he has impacted your career?
T3: MJ is the king of pop like you said. I had a glove. I had a jacket. I almost got a jeri curl(Laughs). From his achievements and his music, he changed the course. That’s a great loss at 50 and I was definitely hurt when he passed away. It was also great to see how everyone embraced him beyond African Americans and that his life was shown in a positive light.
MMIM: Anything else you want to share with our readers?
T3: I just want to let the readers know that we have lots of music to share from mixtapes, albums, and shows. Slum Village is still here! We are not going anywhere and we will continue to make great music!
