Finally freed from the vagaries of major label politics, Slum Village has finally released their long awaited Fantastic Vol. 2. Critically acclaimed by such musical luminaries as ?love of the Roots and Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, Jay Dee, T3 and Baatin have a lot to prove. Fortunately, they're more than up to the task.

SV are quite possibly at the forefront of a new movement in hip-hop. Jay Dee's productions are deep, varied, soulful. They manage to be intricate and simple at the same time, no mean feat. T3, Baatin and Jay himself also provide rhymes which see them not as separate entities from the beats, but as additional intruments in a hip-hop orchestral score. Many longtime Slum Village fans will recognize many of the tracks from this album. In fact, several people have had the album in its entirety on bootleg for years. Luckily, this doesn't detract anything from the excellence of the music.

Jay Dee quietly made a name for himself as 1/3 of the Ummah, who produced he last couple of Tribe albums. He also did some production for The Pharcyde on Labcabincalifornia (Runnin'), a few tracks from D'Angelo's Brown Sugar (Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine), a remix of "Stakes is High" for De La Soul, "Ill Vibe," "It's a Party," "Abandon Ship," "Do My Thing," and "Still Shining" from Busta Rhymes' debut, The Coming, a "Soul Food" remix for Goodie Mob, "Love Is All Around" from Adriana Evans' debut, as well as tracks for Fela, Cypress Hill, Towa Tei, Janet Jackson, Something For The People, Michael Jackson, Maxwell, Jon B and others. In other words, he's quietly in huge demand. More recently, he is part of the Soulquarians, consisting of himself, D'Angelo, ?love and James Poyser. Together, they were responsible for the sounds of the amazing Voodoo, D'Angelo's long awaited sophomore album and Common's Like Water For Chocolate. It's small wonder then, that he produces nearly everything on the album, the only exceptions being "Tell Me," which is produced by fellow Soulquarian D'Angelo and "Once Upon A Time" produced by Pete Rock. Both of these songs are co-produced by Jay Dee, and they fit into the overall flow of the album brilliantly.

Lyrically there's nothing that groundbreaking here, but all three are solid and fit the production brilliantly. This is one of the rare albums where the production and lyrics are in perfect balance, no more and no less. Baatin in particular is an expert at bending his voice to fit the particular mood of a track while T3 has seemingly unlimited energy. There's just an excellent group dynamic here, showing how tight this crew is (having been around for 12 years). The guest artists are strictly of the highest caliber. Jazzy Jeff provides counterpoint for the group's lyrics on "I Don't Know," Q-Tip passes the torch to the SV on "Hold Tight," D'Angelo blesses "Tell Me," Busta Rhymes comes trhough with "What's It All About," Kurupt blazes a verse on "Forth and Back," and Pete Rock guests on "Once Upon A Time."

While just about everything on this album is hot, "I Don't Know," "Jealousy," the lead single "Climax (Girl Sh**)," "Tell Me," "Forth And Back," "Untitled," "Fall In Love," "Raise It Up," "Once Upon A Time," "Players," and "CB4" stand out above the rest.

The final verdict: You'll be doing yourself a grave disservice if you don't check this piece out. Although released later, it is a musical precursor to both Voodoo and Like Water for Chocolate, both classics in the making, most likely right along with Fantastic Vol. 2.