Slum village.

I BOUNCED OUT OF ALI'S SKATEBOARD STORE ON MELROSE--running late and I had to get over to Capitol Records on Hollywood to meet Angel Biotek and SV. I'm skating like a mofo down Vine, it's 90 degrees and the Moroccan hashish I smoked earlier was kicking in. The celly vibrates, it's Shelblack: "Word up, I'm surfing in Waikiki and skating with Jay Adams." Dope, I high as fuck, soaking in sweat and demanding water. Angel was just staring at me with that look. What? We jumped in the elevator and headed up 13 floors to the roof, where we were hit by a breath-choking 360 view of LA. A minute later the mystical rap trinity from the D materialize. Baatin grabs a red "Don't Bite Bitch" shirt from Angel and starts wildin' out. Elzhi grabs my skate and starts grinding the roof. And Angel, T3 and me find a cool spot in the shade to kick back and handle our bitness.

T3, what's SV doing out in Hollywood?

Working. We got a couple of shows out here; Knitting Factory tonight, that's about it.

How is the new album Trinity dropping?

It's starting to do well. The single "Tainted" is doing well.

What's the next single you're going to release from Trinity?

It's either going to be "Get Live" or "Disco."

Baatin, on "Get Live" ... You're rapping in Hebrew?

Yeah! It's the translation of the language you saw in Stigmata.

How did you get into Hebrew?

We were actually taught by our teacher, he came and schooled us. It's just breath. We had to up it up, you know, just up the vibration. After that it just came fluent man.

Did you study the ancient Hebrew tree of life, the Kaballah?

Yeah a little, but I'll tell you man, that breath we learned, that's a burnt sacrifice. The breath, the Hebrew alphabet of 22 fire letters, they aren't letters. They are codes of this universe and when they are pronounced right, deep things happen. So it ain't recommended for anyone under 40.

T3, are SV and Jay Dee still cool?

Yeah, we still fam, man. Jay Dee's just doing his solo thing.

Now that Jay Dee has left, who's doing your beats?

Kareem Wirggins, R.J Rice JNR, Black Milk--our in-house producers mainly. We used Hi-Tek too.

How come cats in the industry are still frightened of disco beats?

I don't know, why is that? I don't know why they are scared to rock them. I mean, all music that is good, we'll do it. That's just us and how we get down.

What's your favorite disco beat?

"Funky Town, won't you take me to Funky Town..."

Ever dreamt of rocking Studio 54, if you could go back in time?

Yeeaah! Studio 54, but there's so much dope music around now. We're into '70s, '80s, rock, soul, funk. We've just got to incorporate every kind of music together and do it.

How long have Slum Village been around?

Officially since '98.

You're descendants of the Native Tongues. Didn't Q-Tip discover you?

We first got noticed by Q-Tip and from there we toured with Tribe Called Quest's Love Movement. Then Lyricist Lounge, D'Angelo here and overseas, Paris, France. Who else? Lucy Pearl, Okay Player. Those are all family. Common, Erykah Badu, Busta Rhymes--a lot of people gave us a lot of love when we first started out.

Who is coming up in Detroit that we should know about?

You got Phat Kat, OB Trash. Everyone know about that. One thing about Detroit is that they all so diverse. You listen to Eminem, Royce 5'9, OB; three different sounds. Slum Village is different too. Everybody is all in their own lil' world and I like that. No one can say Detroit sounds like this or that and I like that too. Detroit's changed from the Motown era to the techno era. It's just diverse in Detroit like that.

You down with Eminem?

Oh yeah! we know Em, there was this spot in Detroit called the Hip Hop Shop and there used to be us in there, Eminem, all the D-12 guys, Royce 5'9. It was a freestyle kind of place, everybody used to go in there.

In the video "Tainted" you were dissing all the ice and flossing.

I wasn't really dissing it--it's good and bad. I would never say I wouldn't wear jewelry, but if you love an inanimate object like that, it's tainted.

Hip-hop is evolving into a new music. Where do you think it's going?

Lots of underground artists are becoming more mainstream now. Like I was saying, if you take the Roots, they're becoming more mainstream. They are doing rock now and that's good. I think that hip-hop needs that change. It's got to evolve or it gets boring. We incorporated elements of rock into our thing--I call it "alternative hip-hop."

Baatin, let's talk about yoga.

I don't do it as much as I used to. I did it to open up my meridians and get another wind, you know, some extra wind. I was crazy for a second. I'm still crazy.

What style of yoga did you practice?

Rhaja yoga.

Is that one-legged shit you do on stage a martial art or is that yoga?

Oh man, it ain't really a martial art or yoga. I just go freestyle, free flow and free movement. It's just balance.

Who you feeling in hip-hop?

Jay Z. He's always changing his style. Clipse, I am feeling their new joint, and Neptunes are always producing dope shit.

Are SV going to work with the Neptunes?

Yeah! That's my planet, man.

Mine too. Elzhi, when did you join SV?

In '98, and I'm in here for the long haul. We got this Trinity album out now and we are working on a new album as we speak.

What's that going to be about?

On this next album I am the present. On Trinity I'm the future, T3 is the present, and Baatin is the past. But on the next one Baatin is the beyond figga, the future, and T3 is the past. The way this next album is going is like Fantastic Vol 3--along the lines of a quest, more vibed-out, and the music is much more up tempo. We're trying to work with Stereolab. I want to work with Coldplay and Radiohead.

How do y'all feel about King George Bush invading Iraq any day to get control of the world's oil supply?

Elzhi: Oh maaan, that is going to fuck shit up. All I got to say is that everything is divine. Whatever seems negative right now is divine, because if there is a negative there has to be a positive. I was writing the "Insane" song for the album Trinity back in Detroit and we had a bomb scare. We had to evacuate the building. I'm like, "Can I live?"

T3: 9.11 was a wake up call. We needed that, we got too complacent. It happens all the time in other countries so, what, we think we're immune in America to all that? I am just hoping Iraq is not a situation 'cause then we going to have a real wake up call. I ain't hating on Bush, it's just we need someone in power who has a little more love.

Baatin: Bah hama halu, al hunga moraque, akbar hama halu--these are pronouns, these are the verbs, the adjectives. Now get live, throw your hands up. Harmony is what we need now. One.