Slum Village

(Live at the Comfort Zone, Toronto, 1998)

Their first show in Toronto. And believe me, legendary isn’t overstating it.

This is one of those shows you make your friends feel shitty about not going to. Former Real Frequency member Samantha captured 53 minutes of Baatin, T3 and Jay Dee (aka J-Dahmer!) on a handheld recorder standing by the stage.

So in the tradition of the Real Freqs, it’s raw. But that’s definitely part of its charm. And the quality ain’t actually bad.

But how did Slum Village end up in Toronto over a year prior to their first official release, Fantastic Volume 2? How did the Comfort Zone end up packed full of people singing the words to songs that weren’t even out? Who the hell were these guys?

Their first effort, a cassette entitled “Fantastic Vol. 1″ crossed the border into Toronto with Moss (yes, the producer behind Ghostface’s “Kilos”) almost 2 years before. I can’t remember if he was returning from school or if he and Mr. Attic (Da Grassroots) had just gone down to Detroit to shop for records.

We were already fans of Jay Dee through the work he’d done for Tribe and Pharcyde. We were already anticipating music from the guy. So pretty much it was a no-brainer for Moss and Pee to pick that up when they saw it in the store.

They ran that shit all the way back to Toronto and that was that.

Moss and Attic are notorious for holding back heat.

But once that tape got into my hands it was over.

Of course I brought it to the show.

And I gave that shit to everyone. And they gave it to everyone.

At the time I was still going to York and I can even remember a younger DJ P-Plus asking for a dub. Of course, there was no Serato. Most people had third generation dubs, better known as a “dub of a dub”.

Dudes would have layers of hiss on their copies. Of course they had hiss.

Moss got the original. I got my dub from him. Dudes would actually come to me cause they knew I had the first generation dub. They had no hope of dubbing the original because Moss isn’t really into hanging with human beings. The fucking tape era baby!!

Anyhow, thanks to that tape and a couple of others (Jake One, whaddup!!!), Slum formed a following in T.O. before a lot of other places.

Even though people were using the internet, it wasn’t as widespread.

And that’s part of what makes this show so special.

There are moments in the show where Slum themselves are in disbelief at the crowd’s familiarity with their catalogue.

It’s definitely in my top 5 concerts of all time. Da Grassroots opened up and I even got to be a part of the show, which is something I’ll never forget.

And for everyone else there, this was the first night they heard actually heard Slum Village.

Without tape hiss.

Special thanks to Musiklee Inzane for not being at the show. Without you, there wouldn’t have been anyone to record it for.

-Arcee