After being talked about and awaited for months,
Slum Village's
Fantastic, Vol. 2 finally reached the public's ears, reinforcing the fact that the group -- and particularly producer
Jay Dee -- planned to continue where
A Tribe Called Quest left off.
Jay Dee's solid production track record for renowned artists such as
Common and
Q-Tip garnered the majority of the hype for this Detroit trio's second album. He specializes in a clean, musical style of hip-hop beats with an emphasis on crisp acoustic percussion and other classic funk sounds. The synthesizer-based sounds, such as
Mannie Fresh's ass-shaking electro beats,
Dr. Dre's signature West Coast synth lines, and
RZA's hallucinagenic orchestral ambience are nowhere to be found in
Jay Dee's production. Similar to how his production looks back to a classic retro style of pre-
Bernie Worrell funk,
Slum Village's lyrics also have more in common with the past than the present. Gangsta motifs, violence, bling-bling, drugs, misogyny, ice, trash talking, nonsense? These topics are also notably absent here, leaving
Jay Dee,
T3, and
Baatin to rap about less dramatic and more egotistical topics such as their skills. One can't help but notice that
Slum Village sounds strikingly similar to
A Tribe Called Quest,
De La Soul, and
Common, which isn't surprising considering the fact that
Jay Dee produced all three artists. The problem lies in the fact that
Slum Village isn't nearly as interesting as lyricists and their album follows rather than precedes these other groups. If
Fantastic, Vol. 2 had hit the streets in the mid to late '90s rather than in 2000, it would have been a landmark album with
Jay Dee's signature neo-
JB's hip-hop. Unfortunately, his sound isn't new anymore, and though many may like the fact that
Slum Village doesn't rap about decadent topics, one often finds
Eminem's psychosis,
Easy-E's promiscuousness,
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's odes to bud, and
DMX's inner conflicts more entertaining than
Slum Village's mundane topics. In the end, no matter how much one hears
Jay Dee's squeaky clean production, it never gets old, justifying the hype surrounding
Fantastic, Vol. 2 and making it an exciting record for anyone in love with purist hip-hop. ~ Jason Birchmeier
![Cracker Island [B&N Exclusive] [Transparent Red Vinyl]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/5054197345265_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Cracker Island [B&N Exclusive] [Transparent Red Vinyl]")
![Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager [LP]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602527547633_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager [LP]")
![Vessel [Clear Vinyl]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0075678673542_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Vessel [Clear Vinyl]")
![The Money Store [LP]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0886919635119_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "The Money Store [LP]")
