Slum Village returns: New album 'F.U.N.' spells good times for classic Detroit hip-hop

As rapper T3 tells it, Slum Village has "shaken off the fatigue, shaken off the chill moment, and now it’s go-mode time.”

After a nearly decade-long break, the fabled Detroit hip-hop group is back with its most substantial release in years, and another one is already on deck for early autumn: On the new, return-to-form album “F.U.N.,” co-founder T3 and his rapper-producer partner Young RJ capture a classic Slum feel while serving up a sunny, funky record that makes an ideal on-ramp to summer 2024.

“We were just trying find a vibe of what we feel is missing in the market,” says RJ.

The 12-track project is lined with guest features — an array of contributors such as Detroit compatriots Phat Kat, Karriem Riggins and Drey Skonie, along with far-ranging friends like England’s Abstract Orchestra and jazz pianist Robert Glasper.

The album is a worthy addition to the catalog of a group that emerged from Detroit’s underground in the ’90s and has borne its share of tragedy, including the deaths of founding members J. Dilla and Baatin.

T3 and RJ say they’re reenergized and feeling the moment. The duo is fresh off a successful European tour and has more dates lined up this summer, including a long-awaited return to a Detroit stage, still to be announced. And then it’ll be right back to the lab — RJ’s home studio in Milford — as Slum Village polishes up its planned fall release.

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“We’re blessed to still be here,” says T3. “We’ve got a loyal fan base and a new fan base, and new people still coming up. We’re able to work, man — this is all we do, and we've been blessed to be able to do it for so long.”

T3 and Young RJ recently spoke with the Free Press about Slum Village's past, present and future:

QUESTION: Let’s start off by stepping back. As you look back on three decades of Slum Village, through all the changes and lineup shifts, what’s the one consistent theme in it all?

T3: Number one, we always rep Detroit. We’ve always got that Detroit flag. That goes without saying. And as far as sonically: We all came under the tutelage of J. Dilla. The three of us crafted a great sound with the original members of Slum Village. And Dilla showed (RJ) some stuff.

That essence is always going to be a part of whatever we do, which is us just pushing the boundaries a little bit and having a great time while we make our music. That’s always been part of the Slum Village thing. Most of our songs, even back in the day, started off as just comedy, laughing at stuff. From there, it was trying to find some of the rarest records we can, to see if we can make something out of it. Some of that process we still use today.

Q: During that period in the mid-’90s, most of the hip-hop attention was on the coasts, maybe Atlanta to some extent. Did it feel like it was difficult for a hip-hop act to break out of Detroit at that time? Was that an extra hurdle?

T3: Yeah, it was super hard because all the labels were in the East and West, so you had to get on by getting attention there. In Detroit, we were able to funnel through. It all started off with us giving our demo to (A Tribe Called Quest’s) Q-Tip at Lollapalooza and him working with Dilla from there, but he wasn't really liking the songs (on the demo), not loving the beats.

But we developed that relationship, and when we actually did come with (the debut album “Fan-Tas-Tic [Vol. 1]"), they were blown away. (Q-Tip) played it for Questlove, who played it for D’Angelo, who played it for this person. … And now we start blowing up from there, just off that. So that's the only way you could get on — you had to cross over to the coast. We had a local base, but now we were getting national recognition through those artists.

Q: RJ, how much were you around during those days, when Slum was working out of the studio your dad (R.J. Rice Sr.) operated in Southfield?

RJ: I was around all the time. I would come there from school and just sit and watch everybody work until I developed an interest in music. And then it was on from there.

I was already working on music for the group since (the 2000 album) "Vol. 2." It went from that, to roadie-ing, to being a sound engineer, to road-managing, to DJ-ing and whatever, to keep the legacy moving forward until becoming an official member.

Q: Talk about the making of this album. It’s been almost a decade since the last one.

RJ: Honestly, the longest part was figuring out what we wanted to give to the fans, what we wanted to put out in the world for people to vibe to. We were bouncing around with traditional Slum sounds, but me and T were having a conversation and he suggested: ‘You know, let’s pick the tempo up. Let's go back to having fun with disco, funk, stuff like that.’ And then it was just a matter of time, maybe six, seven months. We were done with the album once we locked in and focused.

Q: I get the sense you guys really wanted to capture kind of a live sound and not so much a sample-based approach.

RJ: We wanted it to have the feel that we got back in the day with live instrumentation and human error — you know, things that just made records feel special.

Q: At the same time, it still sounds fresh — it’s not just a retro album. When you're working on a project like this, how conscious are you of the expectations the fan base might have of what a Slum Village album is supposed to sound like? Or do they give you the leeway to stretch the way you want?

T3: We try to just do what we like. And our fans are usually with us. (Laughs) But I’ve got to please me first, you know what I'm saying? Then I will put it out. And I think my fans like that. The fans are constantly growing and changing. We’re constantly getting a younger fan base, which is incredible. We learned that after we jumped off the European tour.

The fans are getting younger and younger, which is good. That means they’re evolving, and it means my generation is playing the music for their children and it’s trickling down. Hip-hop is finally becoming a bigger genre, not just something that’s hot for the times. It’s become something you can pass down.

Q: With these live shows, how many of the new songs are you working into the set?

RJ: We’ve got quite a few. Almost half of the album, it not more, in the new set. From day one, we were just testing songs on tour — like “F.U.N.” with Drey Skonie is a song we have been performing for a year, before people knew it. And they were responding like they already knew it.

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Slum Village returns: 'F.U.N.' album means classic Detroit rap good times