Trinity (Past, Present and Future)

Trinity (Past, Present and Future) is the third studio album by American hip hop group Slum Village. It was released on August 13, 2002, via Capitol Records. The recording sessions took place at RJ Rice Studios in Farmington Hills, Studio A in Dearborn Heights, and The Studio in Philadelphia. The album was produced by T3, Waajeed, J Dilla, Karriem Riggins, Young RJ, Black Milk, Ess Man, Hi-Tek, and Scott Storch.

Trinity (Past, Present and Future)
Studio album by Slum Village
Released	August 13, 2002 (2002-08-13)
Recorded	2001–2002
Studio	RJ Rice Studios (Farmington Hills, MI) Studio A (Dearborn Heights, MI) The Studio (Philadelphia, PA)
Genre	Hip hop
Length	1:08:32
Label	Capitol
Producer	Black Milk Ess Man Hi-Tek J Dilla Karriem Riggins Scott Storch T3 Waajeed Young R.J.
Slum Village chronology
Best Kept Secret (2000) Trinity (Past, Present and Future) (2002) Detroit Deli (A Taste of Detroit) (2004)
Singles from Trinity (Past, Present and Future)
"Tainted" Released: July 2, 2002 "Disco" Released: November 5, 2002

The album peaked at number 20 on the Billboard 200 and number 5 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in the United States. Its lead single, Dwele-assisted "Tainted", made it to number 87 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Overview

Trinity marked the group's first shift away from its original lineup, due to J Dilla's departure following Fantastic, Vol. 2, to pursue a solo career. Longtime affiliate Elzhi, joined the remaining members; a move which was initially disapproved by hardcore fans, but with time has been accepted, and even praised.

Another major change was Slum Village's new recording home, Capitol Records, which would subsequently cause problems for the group. Although the first single "Tainted" was a respectable success, the album received poor promotion thereafter.

With the production element of Fantastic, Vol. 2 receiving the most acclaim the last time around, filling Dilla's shoes was always going to be a hard task for even the most competent trackmaster, but the team assorted for Trinity (including Dilla himself) didn't stray too far from the feel of the previous album. The beats are, perhaps, less jazzy and subtle but even further left of field on tracks like the aptly titled "Insane", and the first of three Dilla contributions, "One". The group's chemistry, while not as freeflowing and snappy as before, remained intact, and there seemed to be a more concentrated effort by each member to match each other's flows and subjects on the same songs.

While on tour to support the album, Baatin began to experience health problems, which led to a diagnosis of schizophrenia. He was soon kicked out of the group while still in the hospital, which greatly upset him. The dispute was later resolved, and Baatin reunited with T3 and Elzhi in 2008, before dying of a suspected drug overdose in 2009.

Critical reaction

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	59/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Robert Christgau	[3]
HipHopDX	3.5/5[4]
Pitchfork	4.5/10[5]
RapReviews	5/10[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]

Fans were split between those welcoming the addition of Elzhi and those who were against it and felt that J Dilla was too instrumental in the group's previously established identity to be replaced.

Trinity (Past, Present and Future) was met with mixed or average reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 59, based on twelve reviews.^[1] A few critics, however, wrote favorable reviews and gave praise for the group's original song concepts as well as Elzhi's lyrical abilities.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro 1"		T3	0:32
2.	"Intro 2"	Jason Powers Titus Glover RL Altman III Robert O'Bryant	Waajeed	2:26
3.	"Insane"	Powers Glover O'Bryant	Waajeed	2:37
4.	"What Is This"	Powers Glover Altman III Curtis Cross Dani Siciliano Matthew Herbert	Black Milk T3[c] Young RJ[c]	2:25
5.	"Tainted" (featuring Dwele)	Powers Glover Altman III Andwele Gardner Karriem Riggins	Karriem Riggins	4:26
6.	"La La"	Powers Glover Altman III O'Bryant Ralph J. Rice Jr. Vernon D. Hill Michel Colombier	Waajeed T3[c] Young RJ[c] Vernon D. Hill[c]	4:52
7.	"All-Ta-Ment"	Powers Glover Altman III Rice Jr. Marvin Gaye	T3 Young RJ[c]	3:42
8.	"Disco"	Powers Altman III Ernest "Que D" Toney	T3 Young RJ[c] Vernon D. Hill[c]	3:05
9.	"Trinity (Interlude)"	Powers Glover Altman III	Black Milk	2:09
10.	"One"	Powers Glover Altman III James Yancey	Jay Dee	3:50
11.	"Hoes"	Glover Altman III Yancey	Jay Dee	3:28
12.	"Star (Interlude)" (featuring T. Banks)	Altman III O'Bryant	T3	0:22
13.	"Star" (featuring Dwele)	Powers Glover Altman III O'Bryant	Waajeed	3:20
14.	"Slumber"	Powers Glover Altman III Tony Cottrell	Hi-Tek	4:10
15.	"Let's"	Powers Glover Altman III Yancey	Jay Dee	5:18
16.	"S.O.U.L."	Powers Glover Altman III Riggins	Karriem Riggins	3:25
17.	"80's Skit"	Powers Glover Altman III	Slum Village	1:48
18.	"Unisex"	Altman III Rice Jr.	T3 Young RJ	1:49
19.	"Love U Hate"	Powers Glover Altman III Shelton Rivers Claude Bolling	Ess Man	3:38
20.	"Get Live"	Powers Glover Altman III Scott Storch	Scott Storch	4:43
21.	"Harmony"	Powers Glover Altman III Riggins Hen Elliott	Karriem Riggins	3:28
22.	"Who Are We (Interlude)"	Powers Glover Altman III O'Bryant	T3	1:05
23.	Untitled			0:04
24.	Untitled			0:04
25.	Untitled			0:04
26.	Untitled			0:07
27.	"Fall in Love" (featuring Samiyyah)	Samiyyah Dixon Alice Cooper Dennis Dunaway Glen Buxton Michael Bruce Neal Smith	Jay Dee[o] T3[r] Ess Band[r]	1:35
Total length:				1:08:32

Notes

• ^{^[c]} signifies a co-producer.
• ^{^[o]} signifies an original producer.
• ^{^[r]} signifies a remix producer.
• Tracks 23 to 26 are a few seconds of silence.
• Track 27 is a bonus track often listed as track 23.
• In the liner notes, Black Milk was originally credited under the name Curtis "Nottyhead" Cross.

Charts

Chart (2002)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[8]	20
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[9]	5