Music
Baatin
1974–2009 · rapper
Slum Village co-founder whose playful, spiritual verses helped define the group's sound alongside J Dilla and T3 in the 1990s.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 35- Birth name
- Titus Glover
- Also known as
- Baatin the Slumlord · Scandalous-T
- Detroit years
- 1974–2009
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Titus Glover grew up in Detroit's Conant Gardens neighborhood with T3 and James Yancey (J Dilla) and started rapping at Pershing High School under names such as Scandalous-T. In the early 1990s he took the name Baatin, Arabic for “hidden”, to reflect a new spirituality. With T3 and Dilla he founded Slum Village, rising through the Detroit underground to national acclaim with Fantastic, Vol. 2 (2000) and opening for A Tribe Called Quest's farewell tour in 1998. From 2002 he struggled with mental illness, later diagnosed as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, together with drug problems, and he left the group in 2003, recording solo as Baatin the Slumlord. In 2008 he reconciled with T3 and Elzhi and worked on Villa Manifesto. On July 31, 2009, he was found dead at his home in northeast Detroit, aged 35; the medical examiner ruled the death accidental, caused by cocaine.
Highlights
- Co-founded Slum Village with T3 and J Dilla.
- Rapped on Fantastic, Vol. 2 (2000) and Trinity (2002).
- Rejoined the group for Villa Manifesto (2010), released after his death.
- A posthumous single, “Don't Stop”, appeared in 2018.
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · early 1990s
Pershing High School
Where he began rapping and met his Slum Village partners.
Lived here · 1970s–1990s
Conant Gardens
His childhood neighborhood.