Slum Village

Slum Village
Slum Village (Young RJ & T3) performing at the Nouveau Casino, Paris, in September 2014
Background information
Origin	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Barak/Capitol
Members	T3 Young RJ
Past members	J Dilla (deceased) Baatin (deceased) Elzhi Illa J

Slum Village is a hip hop group from Conant Gardens, Detroit, Michigan.

The group was formed by three members, rappers Baatin (1974–2009) and T3, plus rapper and producer J Dilla (1974– 2006). J Dilla left in 2001 to pursue a solo career with MCA Records. Elzhi joined in his absence, after which Baatin also left due to health complications. Following J Dilla's death in 2006 and Baatin's death in 2009, T3 remains the sole surviving member of the original lineup. Over its history the group has been through several line-up changes, which once included J Dilla's younger brother Illa J, but now the group currently exists as a duo of T3 and producer Young RJ.

Rappers Baatin and T3 along with producer J Dilla grew up together in the Conant Gardens neighborhood of Detroit and attended Pershing High School together. It was here in 1990 that they formed the group, which originally went by the name of Ssenepod ("dopeness" spelled backwards). Around this time the group would hone their skills during open-mic nights at Detroit's Hip-Hop Shop along with a young Eminem. Ssenepod was renamed to Slum Village in 1991.

From 1996-1997 the group recorded their first album Fantastic (Vol. 1), however it was not officially released until 2005, 8 years after original recording.

Slum Village signed their first record deal in 1998 with the now defunct Barak/A&M records. Due to internal politics with the label, the group was forced to release their 2000 album Best Kept Secret under the alias "J-88". Best Kept Secret featured remixes and leftover material from the heavily boot-legged Fantastic, Vol. 1. That same year Fantastic, Vol. 2 was released on GoodVibe Recordings, which featured appearances from Busta Rhymes, Common, D'Angelo, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Pete Rock, Kurupt, and Q-Tip.