Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1)

Untitled

Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1) (sometimes spelled as Fantastic, Vol. 1), is the first album by Detroit group Slum Village. It comprises of songs from their demo album, which was never officially released but was nonetheless leaked onto the underground circuit and caused quite a stir in 1997. The whole album was produced by J Dilla.

Background & Influence

Recorded during the period 1996-97 in J Dilla's home studio, Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1) quickly became a classic among those familiar with Detroit hip hop, when bootleg copies of it began to circulate on the underground. It's buzz on the underground was so much that, at one point copies of the record were collecting $50 apiece on eBay.

The group recieved much for their seemingly freestyled approach (which they later admitted to), and also for the production style of the then-upcoming producer J Dilla (known as Jay Dee at the time), who's subtle use of low end frequencies, intricate basslines, and offbeat drums, coupled with the tag-team rhyming of his partners, T3 and Baatin, was a refreshing change from much of the formula driven commercial hip hop which enjoyed a boost in 1997.

Re-issue

One of the album's most vocal fans is the Roots' drummer ?uestlove who, upon the album's re-issue, wrote the following in its sleeve cover:

Tale Of The Tape It was March of '97, I was in Hamburg, Germany. Fresh off a 3 hour throw down on a stage that had to have been 105 degrees. Although I had no business doing so, I snuck a phone call on the club managers' phone to check my messages. I'll never forget what happened next. "message 6 at 10 pm" "yo... you ain't up on this is ya?"(plays music...) I can barely hear between the static and the club noise but I hear what sounds like the music from the Beastie Boys/Q Tip collabo "Get It Together" but there is this 'funk-geek' chorus thing going on that I can hear loud and clear. "we say fan-tah-sero-you say-huh -whut?-you-know-its yo.." what the hell?!?! I've NEVER secluded myself more for any album ever in my years than I did for Fantastic Vol 1. I mean, I can recall every landmark record I've ever purchased from 'Songs in the Key Of Life' to 'Off The Wall' to 'It Takes A Nation Of Millions' to 'Paul's Boutique' and on. All those records I would spend hours upon hours upon hours upon hours absorbing. If I'd get bored listening on 33, I'd sneak when my dad wasn't around and play it on 45. Then I'd spin it backwards. Then I'd listen on 18 (old turntable kids). But this shit?!?!? WHOOOOOOOOO!! I mean this 'tape'. The 'tape of all tapes' NEVER left my side. I loved this tape so much I copped a high end walkman for it (97 was pretty much the year we kissed walkmen goodbye), I loved this tape so much I did my first 'stage walkoff faking a piss break' during Hub's bass solo just to sneak a peak at a song or two. I loved this tape so much I swear I was gonna break the Roots up when I discovered Black Thought took my tape without my permission. Im mad as fuck now just thinking about that day, I would sleep with this tape in auto reverse praying to God I could be inspired to make something this impactful. Fantastic, Vol. 1 was THE soundtrack to Electric Lady Studios. The chord structures made us shiver ("Fantastic" part one is a great example of Dilla's ability to take an obscure sample and chop to his heart's content, sheeeeeit it took D'Angelo 4 listens before he realized his own "Jonze In My Bonze" was chopped beyond unrecognizability. The drum patches were as perfect as ANY drums done in current music (yes played OR sampled) and even their presentation was unique. I mean they weren't gangsta but they weren't Huxtablized either. That was the strangest irony of all: musically they were the next level A Tribe Called Quest. But lyrically? They were closer to N.W.A. than De La Soul, obviously a result of their Detroit 7 Mile surroundings. Of course the success that was deserved eluded the original lineup for Slum Village. And even crazier is the fact that they were not even allowed to shine on the music style they helped pioneer. And in light of founding member Jay Dilla's untimely death, perhaps now those who were 10 years tardy to the party can find their invite within the selections of this disk. This is where the revolution began. Long live the revolution!!!!!!!!

In 2005, Slum Village released Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1) through Counterflow Records.

Track listing

1. Fantastic (1:28)
2. Keep It On (This Beat) (3:09)
3. I Don't Know (1:01)
4. How We Bullshit (1:16)
5. Fat Cat Song (feat. Phat Kat) (2:53)
6. The Look Of Love (4:17)
7. Estimate (1:24)
8. Hoc N Pucky (1:38)
9. Beej N Dem (2:15)
10. Pregnant (T3) (1:17)
11. Forth & Back (Rock Music) (3:36)
12. Fantastic 2 (0:50)
13. Fantastic 3 (1:35)
14. This Beat (Keep It On) (Remix) (2:59)
15. 5 Ela (Remix) (feat. 5 Elementz) (3:00)
16. Give This Nigga (1:35)
17. Players (2:59)
18. Look Of Love (Remix) (2:46)
19. Pregnant (Baatin) (1:01)
20. Things U Do (Remix) / Uh-Ah-Wu-Ah (3:27)
21. Fat Cat (Remix) (2:44)
22. Fantastic 4 (1:20)
23. Whats Love Gotta Do With It (Look Of Love Remix) (3:26)
24. 2 You 4 You (instrumental) (2:11)

• Contains samples from "Jonz In My Bonz" by D'Angelo