Wu-Tang Clan

The Wu-Tang Clan /ˈwuːtæŋklæn/ is an American hip hop group from New York City, originally composed of East Coast rappers RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa and Ol' Dirty Bastard. The group was formed in and is associated with the New York City borough of Staten Island.

The Wu-Tang Clan has released seven gold and platinum studio albums with worldwide sales of more than 40 million albums, including members' solo projects, since 1992. Its debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), is considered to be one of the greatest albums in hip-hop history and it is said to have been groundbreaking for hip-hop and one of the most important albums of the hip-hop golden age.

The Wu-Tang Clan has introduced and launched the careers of a number of affiliated artists and groups, often collectively known as the Wu-Tang Killa Bees and it has been mentioned to be one of the most influential hip-hop groups of all-time. In 2008, About.com ranked them the No. 1 greatest hip hop group of all time". Kris Ex of Rolling Stone called Wu-Tang Clan "the best rap group ever". In 2004, NME hailed them as one of the most influential groups of the last ten years.

Group Home

Group Home is a hip hop duo, composed of members Lil' Dap (birth name James Heath) and Melachi the Nutcracker (birth name Jamal Felder). They came to prominence as members of the Gang Starr Foundation. Lil' Dap made his rhyming debut on Gang Starr's 1992 classic Daily Operation on the song "I'm the Man". Both members appeared on Gang Starr's critically acclaimed 1994 effort Hard to Earn, on the tracks "Speak Ya Clout" and "Words from the Nutcracker". In 1995, the group released its debut album, Livin' Proof. The album was very well received, mainly due to DJ Premier's advanced production work, described by Allmusic as "rhythmic masterpieces". A second album A Tear for the Ghetto was released in 1999, this time with only one track produced by DJ Premier.

Since then, little has been heard of the group. Lil' Dap released a solo single, "Brooklyn Zone", in 2001, and guested on several other releases.As of 2007, Lil' Dap is an independent artist, He released in 2008 solo album called I.A.Dap He was featured on Large Professor's 2008 album Main Source.

Slum

A slum is a heavily populated urban informal settlement characterized by substandard housing and squalor. While slums differ in size and other characteristics from country to country, most lack reliable sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, timely law enforcement and other basic services. Slum residences vary from shanty houses to professionally built dwellings that because of poor-quality design or construction have deteriorated into slums.

Slums were common in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States and Europe. More recently slums have been predominantly found in urban regions of developing and undeveloped parts of the world, but are also found in developed economies.

According to UN-Habitat, around 33% of the urban population in the developing world in 2012, or about 863 million people, lived in slums. The proportion of urban population living in slums was highest in Sub-Saharan Africa (61.7%), followed by South Asia (35%), Southeast Asia (31%), East Asia (28.2%), West Asia (24.6%), Oceania (24.1%), Latin America and the Caribbean (23.5%), and North Africa (13.3%). Among individual countries, the proportion of urban residents living in slum areas in 2009 was highest in the Central African Republic (95.9%). Between 1990 and 2010 the percentage of people living in slums dropped, even as the total urban population increased. The world's largest slum city is in Mexico City.

Slum Village

Slum Village is a hip hop group from Conant Gardens, Detroit, Michigan.

The group was formed by three members, rappers Baatin (1974–2009) and T3, plus rapper and producer J Dilla (1974– 2006). J Dilla left in 2001 to pursue a solo career with MCA Records. Elzhi joined in his absence, after which Baatin also left due to health complications. Following J Dilla's death in 2006 and Baatin's death in 2009, T3 remains the sole surviving member of the original lineup. Over its history the group has been through several line-up changes, which once included J Dilla's younger brother Illa J, but now the group currently exists as a duo of T3 and producer Young RJ.

Formation and early years

Rappers Baatin and T3 along with producer J Dilla grew up together in the Conant Gardens neighborhood of Detroit and attended Pershing High School together. It was here in the early 1990s that they formed the group, which originally went by the name of Ssenepod ("dopeness" spelled backwards). Around this time the group would hone their skills during open-mic nights at Detriot's Hip-Hop Shop along with a young Eminem. Ssenepod was renamed to Slum Village in 1991.