It is finally good to see Detroit hip-hop group Slum Village release their 6^th studio album and their first in about five years. Always adding soulful production and quality rhymes to their music, many longtime fans were glad to hear that the group would be releasing “Villa Manifesto”.  The good thing about “Villa Manifesto” is that some new flavor was added as well. T3 and Elzhi as always hold it down, but also the late Baatin and J. Dilla add icing to the cake as well.  Surprisingly J. Dilla’s younger brother Illa J is on the album as well. 

Slum Village is straight up real hip-hop and this is easily seen with the albums first track “Bare Witness”.  The emcees are in a cipher-mode mentality showing the skills of what it means to be an emcee. A lot of times when this happens you always have a weak link.  Proud to give credit this Khrysis produced record was a good way to get the engine started.  Digging more into the album you get a nice anthem for the woman you respect on “Scheming”. Featuring the legendary Posdnous from De La Soul the crafty emcees all gave their solid game lines when approaching that beautiful lady. Yeah you have to come correct when trying to spit game and with the ill-beat to compliment this record, makes this a banger. 

Slum Village indeed received nice beats from Young RJ who contributed to most of the album. “2000 Beyond” gives you the feel of proud to be from Detroit type. The group emphasizes on the environment in which they come from and how it made them who they are. Young RJ’s guitarish sound over the dope rhymes exemplified the perfect chemistry on this record. Another dope record provided by Young RJ to showcase his dope beat-making skills was “Where Do We Go From Here”.  Good scratching cuts showed that RJ knows his hip-hop history. It was good to see a double duo have chemistry as well with Slum Village getting down with Little Brother.

The highlight and lead single of the album features Colin Munroe titled “Faster”.  This record you can add to the collection of classic Slum Village records. Some might hear this record and could feel that Slum Village slightly went for a cross-over sound. The fact of the matter is the sound was soothing and Colin’s voice on the hook is an easy thumbs up. In reference to the production RJ cooked up another heater and this is arguably his best cut on the album for the fact he went out his lane to make something fresh. Moving on past “Faster” the album gets a dark edge when you throw on the track “We’ll Show You” produced by the legendary J. Dilla.  

The soul comes into play as well on "Villa Manifesto", especially on the records “Dance” and “Don’t Fight The Feeling”. Getting down with fellow Detroit brethren Dwele “Don’t Fight The Feeling” details a intense relationship in which the hot emotions turns into some good love. After listening to this now we understand why they say don’t fight the feeling. Overall "Villa Manifest hands a hip-hop head a quality album which they'll only have to respect the group even more, for another dope effort.