Crawling through the thick musical density of Detroit's Conant Garden neighborhood, the hip-hop trio Slum Village rose from the jagged funk-inspired streets to head straight for the top of the rap industry, filling the shoes of soul-flavored hip-hop outfits like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and the Pharcyde while pumping out their own style of Midwest rap, working with several hip-hop outfits along the way to raise the bar for all types of rap music.

Forming while in attendance at Detroit's Pershing High School, MCs Baatin, Jay Dee and T3 bonded together in the mid-1990s with a common love for rapping, becoming the focus of underground rap while in school. Jay Dee eventually jumped onboard as part of the Ummah, a production team responsible for hits from hip-hoppers Q-Tip, A Tribe Called Quest, D'Angelo, the Pharcyde, De La Soul and Janet Jackson. This helped propel Jay Dee's enterprise Slum Village, and the musical trio gained immeasurable attention by opening for A Tribe Called Quest's farewell tour in 1998. In 2000, Slum Village released their breakout album Fantastic, Vol. 2, an album featuring D'Angelo, Q-Tip and DJ Jazzy Jeff. These hip-hop heavyweights helped catapult the album into the top tier of the industry, and after forming an alias called J-88 the group released Best Kept Secret.

Hits like "Tainted" earned Slum Village a name among the MTV (or MTV2, at least) crowd, and after Trinity (Past, Present and Future) was released, Jay Dee slimmed his role in the group, letting new member Elzhi pick up where he left off. Baatin also went on a hiatus from the band after a bout with schizophrenia, but artists like Dirt McGirt and Kanye West covered for the disappearing act, making 2004's Detroit Deli (A Taste of Detroit) a smash success. Slum Village's last record to date is 2005's self-titled release, which made a cameo on the R&B/hip-hop charts that year.