Slum Village have returned with an electrifying new album, F.U.N., their first in almost a decade.
The 12-track project was released on Friday (May 3) and includes collaborations with Robert Glasper, Cordae, Larry June and more.
While the group have become synonymous with a certain sound since their formation almost 30 years ago, F.U.N. finds them branching out into unexpected sonic territory — but one that shares musical DNA with their hometown of Detroit.
“We wanted to just try something new, so we focused on making Disco-inspired music,” Young RJ explained in a press release, while T3 added that the recording process “began with collecting old Disco records.”
Explaining the meaning behind the title, T3 said: “Slum is still here. We’re still relevant and we’re still trying to push the envelope. Sometimes people put too many rules on music, and without sounding cliche, we wanted to just have fun with [this album].
“So, in three words: Fuck U N-ggas.”
Slum Village’s first album since 2015’s Yes!, F.U.N. can be streamed below.
While preparing to release their new album, RJ made a surprise revelation about a classic release from founding member, the late, great J Dilla.
In an interview with Shirley Ju, the Detroit native revealed that Dilla’s beloved 2006 LP Donuts was inspired by Kanye West.
RJ remembered Dilla — who had left Slum Village a few years earlier but continued to occasionally produce for the group — coming down to the video shoot for the Kanye-produced “Selfish,” where he was taunted by an associate over Ye’s soulful beats.
“He shows up to the video and we sitting back there. A guy named Scrap Dirty like, ‘Man, this your group and you gon’ let Kanye come through and do this? He killing the soul shit!’” he recalled.
“Dilla’s sitting in the stands like, ‘Oh word? That’s what you think?’ He goes back… that’s when you get all the stuff that you heard on Donuts, all the soul stuff. He was making his point that, ‘I’m unfuckwittable.’”
In the same interview, RJ and T3 also revealed that Kanye charged the group $90,000 for his work on “Selfish” as “payback” against a record label executive who had passed over him when he was trying to land a deal.
“We walk in the studio and he’s like, ‘This is the joint.’ Ain’t no options. This the beat for y’all. We’re like, ‘Okay, we can work with this,’” RJ recalled.
After T3 revealed Ye’s price tag, RJ said: “The only reason he charged that is because of a certain A&R that turned him down when he was looking for a record deal. He was getting payback.”
