Benz and a Backpack

T3′s Stamp of Approval

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Late last week, rumors were confirmed via Twitter that the lyrical monster eLZhi would no longer be a part of the legendary hip hop group Slum Village. The rumors had been circulating for a couple weeks, but their affirmation made real something SlumVill fans everywhere could only hope wasn’t true. The group endured two particularly harrowing tragedies, losing two of their three founding members (master-producer J Dilla in 2006, then spiritually-gifted emcee Baatin last year). The lone founding member of the group, T3, seems just to be just that: alone. Accusations emerged from several different camps that T3 had handled the business around the most recent Slum Village album, Villa Manifesto, in a shady fashion.

These managerial mishaps are nothing new for SV. In 2003, just a year into eLZhi’s tenure with the group, Baatin stepped away to handle a mental health issue and lapsed briefly into a coma. Upon waking up he found out he’d been completely terminated from the group. Allegations of misdoing in that case were leveled mostly at Barak Records (SV’s home), but in 2010 they’re aimed squarely at the surviving third of the original Slum Village triumvir: T3. Elzhi’s claims that he personally was cut out of much of Villa Manifesto (and the subsequent video) aren’t even the most extreme. Detroit emcee Phat Kat, a longtime collaborator with Dilla, SV and many of Detroit’s best hip hop artists, called T3 during his interview on the Motor City’s 98WJLB and declared that T3 “single-handedly dismantled the whole group.” We got a chance to catch up with the homie T3, and in addition to touching all the musical topics we could conjure, he delved into the politics of his relationship with eLZhi and the future (or lack thereof) of Slum Village.

Dizzy: How do you feel about Elzhi right now? You guys have your differences, is he fam in that same way?

T3: You know what, I support Elzhi. What happens is this: he had issues with the label. Okay, I get that El, I’m not mad at that. And I’m still not mad at El, because you gotta handle your business. But my situation with the label is different, because you know I was signed before him. We have different situations. It is what it is, I just don’t like anybody discrediting the legacy of Slum Village. I’m not saying that El was doing that, what I’m saying is that’s when I have to say something. But as far as me supporting El, I support all of his stuff. I don’t get into the drama, and that’s why you don’t see me responding to El. You know El this and that, nah I’m not getting into that. Because at the end of the day, me and El could end up doing something else down the line. And not only that, I feel like El paid his dues with Slum Village, he was there for 8 years, and he paid his dues. He is always gonna be a part of Slum Village. There is no Slum Village without Elzhi. It is what it is, I just think there are too many people around both circles. And that just happens in business, I just don’t like the fact that it’s out in the open. It’s cool to have beef, or have situations you need to rectify, but I don’t put my business out in the open, I don’t think it’s necessary.

Dizzy: That’s a very last resort for me. If it can’t be resolved in a discreet way, then you might just have to air it out, just to you know… it’s like the President going public; he can’t get shit done with Congress so he goes directly to the people.

Hit the skip for the audio and full transcript.

Interview With T3 of Slum Village:

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Dizzy: T3, how are you?

T3: Whats the word? I’m good.

Dizzy: Good, thanks for joining us today. This is Dizzy and Clutch with Slum Village’s T3. So I know two days ago was the anniversary of Baatin’s death. Correct?

T3: Correct.

Dizzy: Do you wanna talk a little about Baatin’s role in Slum and his influence on the game? I know he’s got that classic quote about “Fuck rap, I like classical,” ya know?

T3: (Haha) Yea. Mos def. I feel like Baatin was misunderstood. Ya know what I’m saying, people don’t understand….Some people got Baatin and some people didn’t. But they didn’t really understand what he brought to the game. Baatin was a singer, he could play the keys, he could rap, he wrote a lot of songs. I mean, Baatin was a super-talented dude. Also he was very spiritual. Ya know, from meditation, and herbs, and eating right, vegetarian, you know what I’m saying? He was just a good souled brother, a good hearted dude, that just got caught up in a lot of situations. Ya know what I’m saying? And its sad that his life had to end so early, because anybody that met Baatin knows he was the most down to earth guy; the type of guy that would give you his shirt off his back. You know what I’m saying? Just a real down to earth dude. To me the most saddest thing about coming out with this album is that Baatin is not here.

Dizzy: Yea to enjoy the success of it now, right?

T3: Right, because I wanted….one of the reasons for bringing him back, one of the reasons was for him to get on his feet. You know what I’m saying? So he could get out here and get his life back together. It’s real sad for me. I’ll just make sure his kids get what they got coming. I’ll make sure things keep motivating, ya know?

Dizzy: Yea. So we did an interview with Questlove, about 2 months ago, and he talked about Dilla, your other brethren in the group, and he likened Dilla’s beat making to, he said, “watching a 3 year old put together a 250,000 piece puzzle in 2 minutes.”

T3: (laughs)

Dizzy: So would you talk a little about Dilla’s genius?

T3: Ya, I mean the thing about Dilla is that his beat making skills were infinite. Ya know what I’m saying? I can’t say that about….There’s a lot of guys that make beats. Okay?

Dizzy: Mmhmm.

T3: Anybody can make a beat. But, Dilla was like a producer. He could make records that don’t make sense, and make it make sense, ya know what I’m saying? And also he could play a little bit. Dilla could pick up any instrument and figure it out, even if he never touched it before. Like from the colomba that he played on the Pete Rock joint, or just anything man! He was just that type of dude. He was super talented. Not only was he a close friend, but I think he changed the way a lot of people just made music. Ya know? Especially in hip-hop, in a lot of ways. He’s definitely gonna be missed, and his legacy is definitely gonna he upheld with the foundation and all that. And Ma Dukes. So we gotta make sure we keep it alive, ya know what I’m saying?

Dizzy: Absolutely. Support the raw.

Clutch: So in regards to Slum Vill, unfortunately you’ve had two members pass away. You’ve had Elzhi, and then Illa J join you as of late. What does Slum Village represent to the hip-hop community? For some reason I feel like with Slum Village, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts in a lot of ways.

T3: I feel like that too. I feel like we represent….with Slum Village we’ve been around so long that life gets in the way. I talked to a lot of groups….well, I researched a lot of groups, like, The Temptations, who changed members like seven times. It just happens. You know life gets in the way; people pass away, situations happen. And, with Slum Village, we kinda like, we’re a real life hip-hop group. A lot of times people think about just the music, and we are just supposed to be in this time capsule, where life don’t happen. But life happens. Ya know what I’m saying? That’s what it is….as far as our legacy, I feel like we changed the way people did music in a lot of different ways. And number 1, we was like, an inspiration for a lot of people’s favorite musicians. Ya know what I’m saying?

Dizzy: Yup.

T3: That’s one thing we did. But also, just patterns and styles and how we did stuff. People gravitated to that as well. As well as how Dilla did the beats, as well as how me and Dilla wrote the hooks. With all that being said, with this last album, I’m happy that I got a chance to put all four members on there, and I’m excited about it.

Dizzy: That must be a good feeling. You know it’s funny you said that, because back in the day, Jazz musicians would gig with different bands all over the place. Like Johnny Hodges, he’d go on tour with Duke’s band here, and then come back home and travel with his own group, and whatever presented the most money, or whatever was most conducive to his lifestyle, he would do. It’s funny that people don’t treat contemporary musicians, especially rappers, like that. Ya know?

T3: Yea, exactly. It’s funny. It’s like okay….but that’s the nature of the game. Things have changed….but ya know…I have to give hats off to De La helping keep their whole situation together for so many years.

Dizzy: Forreal.

T3: Ya know what I’m saying? Because most groups, hip-hop groups are not together. What happens is that the audience likes to pick apart whose the best. I see that a lot of times, that happened with Tribe. They say Tip this, then they say Little Brother, and they’ll be like Phonte this, then they say Pharcyde, they say Fat Lip this, instead of just appreciating it as a whole. Not saying they can’t do things solo, but don’t pick the group apart. That’s that magic that we loved first. Ya’ll came out as a group, we loved ya’ll first as a group. That’s just my personal opinion though.

Dizzy: Yea, I feel you on that. I feel like part of the magic of your group, though, was you guys coalescing around Detroit. Who are some other Detroit artists that you think are doing there thing right now and are repping the D to the fullest, like Guilty, Black Milk, Phat Kat, you know….

T3: Ya, you have a lot of cats coming up. You have my man Majestic coming up, Majestic Legend. You got my homegirl Keys who is on this album [Villa Manifesto]. But its a lot of cats, Big Tone doing his thing. There’s a lot of cats coming out thats really doing their thing. Marv One. As far as the Detroit hip-hop scene, its a small scene, ya know? And there is a lot of cats who are doing there things. We try to keep it tight, you know what I’m saying, as far as musically, and trying to put out heat as much as we can.

Dizzy: So what direction do you want to take your music now, and what direction is Detroit music going?

T3: I think we need to take our hip-hop to the next level. This is what I mean….as far as Slum Village, I mean, you got big artists, you got Eminem, and then down the line you got Slum Village. But, I think we just need to take our stuff to the next level. I like what Big Sean is doing. We have to make our recognition outside of just underground. It’s gotta be underground that transcends….

Dizzy: Gets the shine.

T3: Yea, and that’s where I think Detroit hip-hop needs to go. I don’t know if everybody else feels the same, but that’s my goal for where to take it. You know what I’m saying?

Dizzy: Definitely. You know that Drake song “Fear” where he goes “whaddup Lil Bro, whaddup Slum Vill/I hope you know that y’all the reason I have fun still.” What do you think is your roll in the game now? You went from being really cutting edge in the underground to being influential vets who mold emcees that are coming up now. How have you adapted to your changing role in the game?

T3: First of all, I gotta shout out Drake for doing that, because he didn’t have to do that with all of what he’s doing. But it’s good to see that, just like when I came up and I was giving shout outs to Big Daddy Kane and those cats, that there are still people out there that feel like the people who came before them are still relevant. You know? You don’t see a lot of that in hip hop, you see a lot of disrespect; tearing each other down instead of building each other up. So it’s great to see that Drake is keeping that alive. I feel like that’s a great, positive thing for hip hop. We can’t forget the people who started this, or who came before you. You know, everybody is inspired by somebody in the game, and that’s just how the music goes.

Dizzy: Word. We both really likedd the album. We especially loved that everybody’s on it, everyone you mentioned, Baatin and Dilla are both on it. We’ve been reading that this may or may not be the final SlumVill album, Elzhi might be leaving the group, we’ve been keeping tabs on the beef. What are the chances that there’ll be another official SlumVill album?

T3: To be honest, the chances are slim. Just because with this album I feel like I completed an impossible task. Me and Young J (Young RJ), we got people who weren’t here in physical form blended with people who were here in physical form, and made a great album. So it’s like, really Slum Village, where can you take it from here? That’s why we came up with that song “Where Do We Go From Here” featuring Little Brother. I don’t know where I would want to take Slum Village from here. I don’t want to add new people to Slum Village, and I’m happy with the legacy that we’ve put down. So as of now, unless the response is just so overwhelming where I’d just have to—but right now, I don’t know what I would do even if the response was overwhelmingly positive, like, so if you guys have some suggestions, I’m listening.

Clutch: You mentioned Illa J, what do you guys have in the works?

T3: We’re working on his solo album. The reason why I put him on this album is because if Slum Village was to do something again he would be the distant future. Because you gotta start giving back to the younger cats, you can’t always hog it all for yourself. We’ve been doing this for 10-some-odd years. So it’s time to give Illa J his shot. And with Illa J, what I like about him is he’s not just a rapper. He’s a rapper, he’s a singer, he plays keys, he plays the bass. There are a lot of talents that people don’t know that Illa J has that need to be channeled. So being that we’re family, I’m going to make sure that his music is right. When we were coming up, we all were critics. You had me, Dilla, Baatin, Waajeed, and we were all critiquing each other, all at the same time, which makes you better. I think sometimes people just try to hype you up and don’t analyze enough to make your product great.

Dizzy: That’s definitely true. People could benefit a lot more from constructive criticism than just constantly being told that they’re fine the way they are, that they can make it. You just mentioned Illa J is fam, obviously he’s fam. How do you feel about Elzhi right now? You guys have your differences, is he fam in that same way?

T3: You know what, I support Elzhi. What happens is this: he had issues with the label. Okay, I get that El, I’m not mad at that. And I’m still not mad at El, because you gotta handle your business. But my situation with the label is different, because you know I was signed before him. We have different situations. It is what it is, I just don’t like anybody discrediting the legacy of Slum Village. I’m not saying that El was doing that, what I’m saying is that’s when I have to say something. But as far as me supporting El, I support all of his stuff. I don’t get into the drama, and that’s why you don’t see me responding to El. You know El this and that, nah I’m not getting into that. Because at the end of the day, me and El could end up doing something else down the line. And not only that, I feel like El paid his dues with Slum Village, he was there for 8 years, and he paid his dues. He is always gonna be a part of Slum Village. There is no Slum Village without Elzhi. It is what it is, I just think there are too many people around both circles. And that just happens in business, I just don’t like the fact that it’s out in the open. It’s cool to have beef, or have situations you need to rectify, but I don’t put my business out in the open, I don’t think it’s necessary.

Dizzy: That’s a very last resort for me. If it can’t be resolved in a discreet way, then you might just have to air it out, just to you know… it’s like the President going public, he can’t get shit done with Congress so he goes directly to the people.

T3: Right. I think people are choosing sides, and I haven’t even really told my story, I haven’t told my half. And certain stuff I don’t want to explain. I just want to focus on the legacy of Slum Village. Regardless of how many songs Elzhi is on, this is a great album. So instead of people asking me how many songs Elzhi is on, they should be asking how many songs is Dilla on? Baatin though? Not sayin that they’re better, I’m saying that everybody has a position in Slum Village. This album is not about Elzhi, it’s about us as a whole, and I need people to focus on that. That’s why I take that position, no this ain’t about Elzhi, this about Slum Village, and yes El is a part of Slum Village, but he’s a part. We all play our position. Regardless, it’s a great album, and that’s it.

Dizzy: That’s all we got T3, thanks for sitting down with us.

Clutch: Yea, thank you.

T3: Thanks for having me guys.

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