Slum Village Reflects on Making 'Fantastic, Vol. 2'

Slum Village delivered an all-world classic with their second album, Fantastic, Vol. 2. The project made the Detroit-based crew critical darlings and further cemented the reputation of producer J Dilla, who co-founded Slum Village with high school friends Baatin and T3 in 1994. While both Dilla and Baatin tragically passed away in 2006 and 2009, respectively, SV has remained active (with longtime affiliate Young RJ joined in 2012) and the group’s legacy has continued to hold strong. Okayplayer caught up with Young RJ and T3 to talk about the album’s legacy on the occasion of Fantastic, Vol. 2’s 25-year anniversary.

Okayplayer: What’s the first memory that comes to mind when you think about makingFantastic Vol. 2?

Young RJ: Mine would be the DATs coming in. Hearing what they’d worked on in the basement. That’s the firstmemory. The best memory would be them asking me to help finish “Climax (Girl Shit)” and mixing on the record.

If you could play one track fromFantastic, Vol. 2 for someone who’s never heard the album, what song would you choose and why?

Young RJ: Imma go [with] “Tell Me.” Because it got that vibe. It don’t really sound like nothing on the album – but it’s got that vibe. D’Angelo came through extrabuttery. And the way it was put together.

Did you all know you were making a classic at the time, or were you just going with the flow in the moment?

T3: At the time we made the record, I knew we was probably on to something because we had so many artists that wanted to be a part of it. Shoutout to everybody that contributed on that album; from Busta Rhymes to Q-Tip, D’Angelo, Common, Questlove and The Roots. Jazzy Jeff. Kurupt. Pete Rock. All the people that showed us love. Everybody.

I knew we was onto something because we had just came out of the buzz of doing Fan-Tas-Tic Volume 1. It was bubbling in the streets already. So I was like “We ‘bout to make some shit.” And Dilla was like “Yeeeaaaah, nigga.”