Fantastic Damage

Fantastic Damage is the first solo studio album by American hip hop artist El-P. It was released through Definitive Jux on May 14, 2002.^[1] It peaked at number 198 on the Billboard 200 chart.^[2] Music videos were created for "Stepfather Factory"^[3] and "Deep Space 9mm".^[4]

Fantastic Damage
Studio album by El-P
Released	May 14, 2002 (2002-05-14)
Recorded	2000–2001
Genre	Underground hip-hop, experimental hip-hop
Length	70:18
Label	Definitive Jux
Producer	El-P
El-P chronology
El-P Presents Cannibal Oxtrumentals (2002) Fantastic Damage (2002) High Water (2004)
Singles from Fantastic Damage
"Stepfather Factory" Released: 2001 "Deep Space 9mm" Released: 2002 "Truancy" Released: 2002 "Dead Disnee" Released: 2002

Fandam Plus: Instrumentals, Remixes, Lyrics & Video was released through Definitive Jux on October 1, 2002.^[5]

Production

The majority of Fantastic Damage was made after the breakup of El-P's previous group Company Flow.^[6] El-P recorded the album in his bedroom in Brooklyn using turntables, an Ensoniq EPS-16 Plus sampler, a Kaoss Pad and an Oberheim OB12 synthesizer. According to El-P, he primarily used a DA-88 and "barely touched ProTools".^[7] It took over a year and a half to record the album.^[6]

Public Enemy was a big influence on El-P's production style on the album.^[6] The album contains references to Philip K. Dick and George Orwell, who El-P credits as influences on his worldview and lyrics.^[6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Entertainment Weekly	A[9]
NME	8/10[10]
Pitchfork	8.9/10[11]
Rolling Stone	[12]
Spin	9/10[13]
Stylus Magazine	A[14]
Tiny Mix Tapes	5/5[15]

Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote, "Fantastic Damage constitutes some of the most challenging, lyrically dense hip-hop around, assembled by one of the genre's true independent mavericks."^[8] Kathryn McGuire of Rolling Stone called it "a heavy, turbulent affair".^[12]

Pitchfork placed Fantastic Damage at number 11 on its list of the top albums of 2002,^[16] while Spin placed it at number 27 on its list of the year's best albums.^[17] In 2015, Fact placed it at number 21 on its "100 Best Indie Hip-Hop Records of All Time" list.^[18]

Although interpreted as a "post-9/11 record" which channeled the feelings of New Yorkers and Americans after the September 11 attacks, the album was written and largely recorded before September 11, 2001.^[19]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Fantastic Damage"	3:22
2.	"Squeegee Man Shooting"	4:24
3.	"Deep Space 9mm"	3:47
4.	"Tuned Mass Damper"	4:05
5.	"Dead Disnee"	3:53
6.	"Delorean"	5:33
7.	"Truancy"	5:04
8.	"The Nang, the Front, the Bush and the Shit"	5:37
9.	"Accidents Don't Happen"	4:50
10.	"Stepfather Factory"	4:11
11.	"T.O.J."	4:32
12.	"Dr. Hellno and the Praying Mantus"	4:39
13.	"Lazerfaces' Warning"	4:36
14.	"Innocent Leader"	2:21
15.	"Constellation Funk"	4:58
16.	"Blood"	4:26

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

• El-P – vocals, production, recording, mixing, art direction
• Aesop Rock – vocals (6)
• Ill Bill – vocals (6)
• Rob Sonic – vocals (7)
• Vast Aire – vocals (8, 12)
• Cage – vocals (9)
• Camu Tao – vocals (9)
• Nasa – vocals (15), recording, mixing
• C-Rayz Walz – vocals (16)
• Mr. Lif – vocals (16)
• DJ Abilities – turntables
• Dan Ezra Lang – art direction, design, painting
• Alexander Calder – painting
• Phase Two – painting

Charts

Chart (2002)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[2]	198
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[20]	9
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[21]	14
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[22]	82