the german Splash Magazin had a talk with El…you already know the topic…
Elzhi on…
…Plans for a new Slum Village…
From 2002 to 2010 you had that era of Slum when El was a part of the group. Problems started around the Villa Manifesto EP time. At this time they threatened to take me out of the group. I had the feeling they were trying to brand a new Slum Village at this time and take it in a direction which was more like a pop kind of fanbase. Don’t get me wrong- I think Slum will always make great music, but those popfans don’t know nothing about the Slum Village legacy or Dilla, Baatin and me. They just care about songs played in the radio.
…Appearing on 7 Tracks of the new Slum Village Album …
I recorded 13 to 14 records for the new Slum Village album. For some reasons RJ Rice, the label head of Barak Records and NeAstra Music Group decided to take me off 7 tracks. At first they even threatened to take me off the whole album. Then my new management and the label started talking amongst themselves and decided to put me on 5 Tracks then five became 7. I didn’t get the choice on which tracks I wanted to be on. The thing is this, we got different guest appearances on this record. One of the features is Little Brother. I reached out to Phonte if they wanted to be a part of this record. He accepted, but it is crazy that they took me off that specific record. I don’t like the negativity of this album. I don’t like it that they say T3 is the victim. No, he’s not. He’s still the leader.
…Communication within the crew…
I’ve not been talking to T3 for 5 days. That is true. But the thing is, he was calling me up because he read some bad comments on twitter and 2dopeboyz.com. But what really rubbed me the wrong way was he went to New York with Young RJ for 5 days to do interviews without me. They didn’t call me up or my management to ask if I wanted to go with them to do those interviews. To me that was a big slap in the face because T3 calling me when ships go down is one thing. When things start to clear up don’t holler no more is the other thing. For me it was like they left me out in the cold, when they shot this reunion video but didn’t try to reach out for me before they did that.
…Financial Situation…
I’ve not been fully paid for the album that came out today. They tried to offer me a certain amount of money which was real low. So I have the 
feeling that this is really disrespectful and we got lawyers handling that.
…T3…
T3 is looking on Slum Village as if it was his baby. That’s cool. He is the leader of Slum Village so I gave him the right to take the group in any direction he likes. At the same time I do raise my voice. But they don’t wanna listen to me. I asked them to put Black Milk on the LP, I asked them to put Black Thought on the LP, but they didn’t want to listen to me. But like I say: T3 is the leader of the group. He is the only existing member of Slum Village. I leave it up to him to decide in which direction Slum Village is going to. Now he has to holler at me. You know, he keeps on saying that he is under a contract with Barak Records and NeAstra Music Group. But actually he isn’t. At least that’s what he told me.
…Illa Jay…
The thing is, they talk to the media and say that this album is the album T3 and Dilla talked about before Dilla passed. And yes, there were plans to record an album with T3, Dilla, Baatin and me. Dilla passed R.i.P. Baatin passed R.i.P. So they were saying: “We have the Baatin Vocals, we have T3 and Elzhi. Let’s bring Illa Jay in”. I believe they brought him in, because he bares an incredible likeness to Jay Dilla. He looks like Dilla, and on certain tracks he vocally sounds like Jay Dee. But the thing is: He is still Illa Jay. RJ Rice of Barak Records and NeAstra Music Group had the nerve to talk to my manager, saying: “We don’t need Elzhi on this record. We got Illa Jay.” I don’t have anything against Illa Jay. He’s my man. But I think they should have talked to him about the ills that go on in a record label. Nobody told Illa Jay what was going on in Barak Records. The only persons who sat down and talked to him were DJ Dez and Phat Kat. Illa Jay always thought he was doing a good thing, but Phat Kat told him what Dilla thought about Barak and NeAstra Music Group. He said: “Your brother would be rolling in his grave if he knew you are dealing with RJ Rice.” The best of luck to Illa Jay. I think they’re playing him.
…RJ Rice…
He is the Label head of Barak Records and NeAstra Music Group. He told me that he was to go bankrupt. So RJ Rice licensed our music to NeAstra. Before I signed the Slum Village record deal with RJ Rice I was talking to T3, our manager and a lawyer, if everything was alright with that contract. All three told me that it was alright. About a month later I found out that RJ Rice was the uncle of our crew manager but even more twisted than that, T3 told me that the lawyer who was present when we signed the deal, was sleeping with our manager. So no one was on my side when I signed that contract which is for 9 or 8 LPs. RJ Rice is real funny about paying people. He is still trying to play me after all this years. This guy is basically saying: “Fuck all ya”.
…Baatin…
I think they brought Baatin back just to get the attention of old Slum Village Fans. The reason why I feel that way is because I was told by T3 himself that they paid Baatin just 100 Dollars for every part he recorded. This is disrespectful. When Baatin was recording his vocals for the new Album, RJ Rice of Barak Records and NeAstra Music Group was even saying to me: “Baatin is killing them records. He sounds so aggressive. You know what I think it is. Must be the crack he’s smoking.” You can’t say things like that.
To book shows with Elzhi please contact: booking@jaebgroup.com
Elzhi Webpage: www.elzhi.com
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