The Tragedy of Slum Village

Courtesy Slum Village

Slum Village’s Baatin died July 31.

by Rob Hamilton
August 26, 2009

Detroit-based hip-hop group Slum Village is best known for producer Jay Dee. A member of the influential production team, The Ummah, he worked with many of the Native Tongues acts in the '90s and early 2000s, including A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, The Pharcyde and Common. He also deejayed in his own right, with his album "Donuts" sitting as one of the better DJ records of the past decade.

When Jay Dee succumbed to Lupus in 2006, many acts with whom he collaborated recognized his contributions on their records or in concert. On July 31, Slum Village lost the second of its three founding members, Baatin, to a non-violent, non-natural death.

Slum Village's most notable album, "Fantastic, Vol. 2," could stand alongside many of the Native Tongues family's better records. It came out under the radar because the Native Tongues had not produced any especially noteworthy hip hop in some time, but the album countered this fading relevance.

"Fantastic, Vol. 2" had the production trademarks of classic Tribe Called Quest. The subtle, improvisational-like rhythms were a stark contrast to the unbridled grandiose beats that rival acts produced. Slum Village's beats had an old-school, live-instrument feel, with keyboards on nearly every song and an added record hiss in the background.

They employed their vocals in a similar fashion to Tribe as well. Just as Q-Tip and Phife's voices complimented each other so effectively, Slum Village's Baatin, T3 and Jay Dee's did as well. They used their voices instrumentally, never allowing them to overwhelm the beat. Rather, they tried to integrate the two. Because of this balance between discipline and restraint, their flows satisfy—the same way as seeing a batter work a 10-pitch walk in baseball instead of swinging for the fences at every pitch he sees.

The album also served as a curtain call of sorts for many Native Tongue veterans. Q-Tip gives what can only be described as a farewell verse on "Hold Tight," and D'Angelo made one of his few post-"Voodoo" public appearances on "Tell Me." Busta Rhymes and Common also join the fray.

Because they were such an unheralded act and because their accomplishments were now out-of-fashion, the news of Baatin's death went widely unreported. "Fantastic Vol. 2" is a lasting testament to his talent as an MC and as a member of a true hip-hop group. The album has aged remarkably well and feels like a breath of fresh air within a genre that has been largely reduced to grandiloquent beats and uninspired self-aggrandizement. While it is a tragedy that this group has lost two-thirds of its original members, its legacy should be recognized and multiplied.

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