Fantastic, Vol. 2

The album was initially completed in 1998 for A&M Records shortly before the label became obsolete, leaving Slum Village in limbo for over a year. During this period, however, the group's producer Jay Dee greatly increased his profile through work with artists such as Common, Busta Rhymes, Erykah Badu and A Tribe Called Quest. At the same time tremendous acclaim from notables such as Questlove of The Roots and Q-Tip built up anticipation for the long-delayed LP.

Slum Village eventually found an outlet with Goodvibe Recordings & Barak Records, and released Fantastic, Vol. 2 in spring 2000. Although sales were slow (due to heavy bootlegging) the group nevertheless had a huge impact on the underground circuit and were proclaimed torch-bearers for the departing A Tribe Called Quest.

In particular Jay Dee's much lauded production work, full of subtle grooves and soul claps, was a blueprint for the direction that neo soul would take in the coming years. The album was re-released minus the original version of "Fall-N-Love", which was replaced by the remix due to sample clearance issues, as well as their collaboration with Common, "Thelonius" (which originally appeared on Common's Like Water for Chocolate). "Raise It Up" uses a sample from the song "Extra Dry" by Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk. It was initially used without permission, as producer J Dilla obtained a copy of the song from a bootleg recording, and assumed that the artist was an obscure producer who was unlikely to notice. Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo however happened to be fans of Slum Village, and rather than demand a payment for the sample, instead asked the group to remix one of their own tracks; this ended up becoming Slum Village's remix of the song "Aerodynamic".[1]

The album's cover was designed by Waajeed (of the group Platinum Pied Pipers).

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Alternative Press	4/5[3]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[4]
The Independent	[5]
Muzik	[6]
NME	6/10[7]
Pitchfork	8.5/10[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]
The Source	3.5/5[10]
Spin	5/10[11]

The album received highly positive reviews and acclaim upon its release. SF Weekly, for example, commented that "(Jay Dee's) production style has been subtly influencing better-recognized producers for years" and even went as far as to claim that "Slum Village is going to single-handedly save rap music".[12] The group themselves have since acknowledged the impact this record had, and while they benefited greatly from it, it has also overshadowed their later, though more commercially successful work.

The twelfth track "Get Dis Money" was originally featured on the soundtrack to the 1999 Mike Judge cult film Office Space.[13] The second track "Conant Gardens" was featured in the 2002 Frankie Muniz film Big Fat Liar as well as the 2003 Steve Martin film Cheaper by the Dozen.[14]

The album was re-issued as Fantastic Vol. 2.10 in 2010.

• "Once Upon A Time" - was originally titled "On A Mission", and was on a white label before the album's release. This version is also produced by Pete Rock, but without Jay Dee's added touches.
• "Get Dis Money" - a version with an alternative verse from Baatin.
• "The Hustle" (Ft. Busta Rhymes) - white label.
• "Beej N Dem" - one of the many tracks from Slum's demo debut "Fantastic" that was re-recorded for Volume 2, this was the last and most high-end cut of this song that was released.
• "Forth & Back" - the second of three recordings for "Forth & Back", another song concept from "Fantastic", this version uses a more radio-friendly beat, sampling Tom Browne's "Funkin' for Jamaica (N.Y.)". The order of verses remains intact, including the feature from Kurupt, except Jay, T3, and Baatin's verses are all older vocal takes with completely different lyrics.
• "2U4U" - a version with drums by Jay Dee & Karriem Riggins.

All of these outtakes are on the re-release of the album.

• "Raise It Up" music video on YouTube