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Growing up in the slums of Detroit wasn’t always easy for T3; but some odd years later, the word Slum couldn’t sound more beautiful to the seasoned rapper.
As a freshman in high school, T3 free styled everywhere from the cafeteria to his grandmother’s basement, with his friends Jay Dee and Baatin. There they found a unique chemistry and later formed the hip hop group Slum Village.
After putting together a 22 song demo called Fantastic Volume 1 that landed in the hands of Q-Tip, The Roots, D’Angelo, and other industry leaders, Slum Village signed their first record deal with A&M Records in 1998.
Shortly after their first official album, "Fantastic Vol. 2," was finished, A&M’s rap department was closed and Slum Village was back to square one. But T3 was kept busy, by learning how to make beats, after being urged by group member Jay Dee. With an SP1200, an S950, and an MPC3000 beat machine, T3 sat down and learned the fundamentals.
By 2000, Slum Village had run into a series of group and label transitions and was down to just T3 and Baatin. T3 was still determined that this was only the beginning of his career, so he began working on side projects managing the young rapper Elzhi, creating the compilation album “Dirty District,” and still working hard at perfecting his production skills.
He finished “Dirty District” with fifty percent of the production credits and a vehicle to promote his artist Elzhi. Simultaneously, he was working with Baatin on Slum Village’s 2nd album and had taken on the role of the group leader.
Elzhi showed so much promise on “Dirty District” that T3 made him the 3rd member of Slum Village. By 2002, their 2nd album called “Trinity: Past, Present, and Future,” was released and T3 received major label credits for his production on two songs and was also responsible for co-arranging the hit single “Tainted”.
By 2003, after another series of unfortunate events, Slum Village was back to only two members; but this time it was T3 and Elzhi. Once again T3 stepped up his game and held the group together for the 3rd album entitled “Detroit Deli”, which featured former member Jay Dee and two songs (“Closer” and “Count the Ways”) produced by T3.
Now in 2005, T3 is occupied by many projects on his to do list. Currently he is finishing up his solo mixtape dubbed “Olio” for its assortment of production and lyrical styles. He continues to master the art of production, and is working on Slum Village’s 4th album. Aside from music, he is creating a movie based on the lives and careers of Slum Village’s members, and designing a casual shoe line called MeCart.
Life really is fantastic………. |
