[youtube id=”_r55QFYw4qc”] Young RJ questions corruption in his video for “Huh?” The rapper and producer steps outside his place in Slum Village is getting ready for the release of his solo album BLAQ ROYALT. Young RJ’s ‘s affiliation with Slum Village started when he was a teenager and learned from J.Dilla how to program a drum machine. He used those skills to help Dilla complete “Climax” from their seminal Fantastic Vol.2.  After Dilla left the group, and Baatin became ill Young RJ solidified his place in the group with his work on Trinity. By  2012 he officially joined the group and after five years of touring and two albums he returned to his studio to began his solo album.

“Creating my first solo project gives me a different sense of freedom, although my Music is based on the Slum Village philosophy of sound, people will now get insight into one of the men behind the music,” states Young RJ.

[youtube id=”7NHr8J4ScXw”] Watch rare footage of J.Dilla and Slum Village from the documentary The Unseen A Detroit Beat Tape. Gus Sutherland’s film about Detroit’s hip-hop production put the footage with J.Dilla’s “Ghetto Wish” instrumental. Watch the trailer for the film below and see the full-length documentary at the LOVETURL site on February 3rd.

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Photographer Ymandau Roo has put together a limited edition photo book of Slum Village on a tour of Amsterdam in 1999. The black and white book captures the group on the streets, in the clubs and onstage. You can buy one of the books while they last at Dirt Tech Reck.

[youtube id=”8ZTcta21Dh0″] Elzhi pays tribute to his mentor and friend, J.Dilla in the video for “February.” J.Dilla’s birthday and death day is in February and Elzhi’s memory of the time is a gloomy scene played out in bed, on the field playing football, drinking and cuddling with a girlfriend. Elzhi’s Lead Poison comes out March 25th.