El-P - Fantastic Damage

Def Jux

May 14th, 2002.

The sci-fi obscured debut solo album from El-P turns 20 in all its off kilter glory. The Brooklyn based rapper/producer released Fantastic Damage on his own label, Definitive Jux(taposition). A label that is now defunct, but held in high esteem for its ties to some of the most pivotal experimental hip-hop records ever released, Fantastic Damage included.

Droning cascades of impending doom give way to the signature twisted collage of El's chosen approach. Perverted soundscapes are pulled to life - psychotic in their eloquence. Jarring samples of robotic kilt and chilling shades of neglect swarm the listener as Fantastic Damage's journey is traveled through.

Fantastic Damage comes roughly half a year after Cannibal Ox's 'The Cold Vein', released in 2001, an album in which El-P produced entirely. It's something of a hip-hop masterpiece and belongs in the annals of Hip-Hop history. At this point, El-P was beginning to muster up something of an extensive discography - however, usually behind the microphone, in the conductors seat. Producing for your own voice must require a different mindset. Although the soundscapes and spaces in which we find ourselves over the course of Fantastic Damage aren't too far from those found on Cannibal Ox and Company Flow projects, the more present presence of El over the instrumentals does change their feel. They come across more upbeat and playful in comparison with The Cold Vein's chilled essence, although their sound and soul are joined at the waist.

The Experimental Hip-Hop lane has never been as fulfilled as El's slightly psychotic take. His approach and execution scratches an itch that’s not necessarily known until it's stumbled upon.

The damage is, fantastic.

Notable Tracks: Deep Space 9mm, Stepfather Factory

May 14th, 2002.