Raised on Chicago's infamous South Side, Thomas Kendricks a.k.a. DJ Slugo signed to influential Dance Mania imprint in the mid-1990s, representing the label's new generation of house music artists alongside people like DJ Deeon, DJ Funk, and veterans like Paul Johnson, who at the time sped up and stripped down Chicago house tracks until arriving at a distinct style of their own, furthermore known as ghetto house and Juke. Since 1995, Slugo is running his own label, Subterranean Playhouse.