Keep Holding On - Slum Village

The passing of Baatin is really taking a toll on Detroit, especially the hip-hop community and the people that were close to him. Yesterday, Hexmurda posted his first column on AllHipHop.com and it was dedicated to Baatin. Not only did it raise many internal questions about life and death, it included Hex's own memories as well.

The last time I saw Baatin was at a clusterf**k in L.A. called "The Breaks." Some real amateur bulls**t. He was with Slum Village, I was with Black Milk and Guilty Simpson. Bunch of acts, n***as not gettin' paid, security about to body the promoter, Psycho Realm fans about to riot, the promoter slithering out the back, sheriff's in riot gear, that type of s**t. When we realized we weren't going to get paid, n***as prepared to go back to the hotel, (which is another story in itself) and to Bishop Lamont's gig and H.O.B. Any n***a that knows me or Tim Maynor knows we ain't gonna have our clients do s**t for free. We were all like "f**k it." We got the deposit, free money let's bounce.

Not Baatin.

Baatin said, "Man,we're here. We got fans here. Let's just do it, give them a show." We all looked at him like he had a toaster for a head, and he returned our looks like we were wearing lampshades.

Well today, producer Black Milk posted this video on YouTube about Baatin in his own words. Apparently Baatin was the one that discovered that Black Milk had skills as a producer. Peep It.




Slum Village Lives On.

*Edit (1:26 p.m.) Talib Kweli made a blog post today about Baatin as well. In it he discusses how Slum Village as a whole influenced hip-hop culture, not just Dilla's beats.

I learned on Saturday that we lost another bright shining light in Hip Hop, Titus "Baatin" Glover passed away, leaving T3 as the only surviving member of the original Slum Village. Slum Village has had an incredible influence on me as an artist. When that Fantastic Volume 1 cassette was making the rounds in the industry, their style was so free and musical, it made me re evaluate my approach. Many assume that Dilla beats and were the main reason for SVs ascension into hip hop greatness but that assumption does a disservice to the rhyme styles of both T3 and Baatin. T3 would sometimes mumble, maybe not even complete the rhyme before he shifted gears, but it was so funky and in tune with the music it made me realize I could grow by having more fun and bending my voice to the music. J Dilla, like most producers, found the perfect vocal tone and flow to fit his tracks, he was like an anchor when he rhymed. Baatin, however, would take you to outer space. While T and J were rhyming about a 3 Screw, Baatin was rhyming about tantric sex. While the underground was hailing SV as saviors of pure hip hop, Baatin was like "fuck this rap shit I listen to classical." His spiritual references, willingness to approach unheard of subject matter and his incredible energy on stage, made me an instant fan. I had the pleasure of touring with the whole crew on the Okay Player tour in 2000 and again with the addition of the prolific Elhzi this year on Rock the Bells. He was a gentleman and very passionate about everything he said and did. He will be missed, for real. RIP Baatin.