Sometimes you have to flip it on these cats. KnowwhatImean? I approach life as if I am the all seeing, voice, heart, and life force of this Hip-Hop movement. My B-Boy vision runs deep. I can leap a project building in a single bound, and spot the pure essence of the Hip-Hop culture in the grimiest locations. I am Moses Miller…editorial superhero.I don’t slip…I don’t fall. But, like I said, sometimes you have to flip it on these cats. Use some of that stuff you learned in How to conduct an interview 101. That’s how I approached this interview, like some partially retarded cat. This was a phone interview, but if we were face to face, I would of let a flow of spit dribble down my chin, just for an added effect.
There's a technique involved in this... Ask the same question multiple times, act like you can’t remember the group member’s names, etc, etc, etc. Sometimes you have to go into that mode with cats. You know…to keep them type humble. At the end of the day, I made these cats think that I thought that Slum Village was a grungy rock group full of dirty white boys. Well, I didn’t exactly act like I thought they were Nirvana, but I acted like I wasn’t familiar with the music. No doubt, "Raise It Up”, and "Fall In Love"” was bangin’ in the Miller Mobile earlier this week, but did Slum Village really need to know that?
I started off my interview by getting right to the point. "I consider myself to be a knowledgeable Hip-Hop entusiast. Can you explain to me why I didn’t hear about the group until a couple of months ago? Was the first album under promoted? What happened?
“The first album was underground. But, we had a lot of love in the industry more so than the underground scene.” Explained T3.
The dumb role worked. Even though Moses Miller can give a damn about the industry, I had convinced these cats that I was some misinformed "rap" industry reporter. Enough with them games and the Mase impersonation...Let me breakdown to you what I do know about Slum Village and stop messin' around.
Slum Village reminds me of a time period in Hip-Hop. Imagine if you were able to capsulate the music resulting from the Native Tongue movement, transfer it to the present day, and mesh it together with some street grit that the original sound lacked. That’s my best description of the Slum Village sound. When I saw SV put it down at SOB’s in NYC one night, they brought me back to the L.O.N.S, Tribe, and De La days. This is due in part to the energy that they exhibit during their stage performances, and the soulful backdrops that producer Jay Dee (who has also done production for The Pharcyde, Tribe, and De La) created for their previous hits.
Their debut album, Fantastic Volume 2 was an underground classic. Volume 1 was a demo, that secured the groups record deal, but was never released commercially. However, this demo circulated around the industry, and resulted in artists like D’Angelo, Busta, Pete Rock, and Jazzy Jeff inquiring about the group, and making guest appearances on their first album.“It was a great learning and evolving experience for us as a group. We got to work with some amazing musicians.” Says Baatin.
SV consists of T3, Baatin, and the latest addition to the group, Elzhi. Elzhi, is a freestyle wordsmith who was recruited to bring a different edge and sound to the group. He arrives on the new album, replacing Jay Dee lyrically and eliminating the need for any guest appearances from other MCs.“
PART 2 coming soon