The Pharcyde are arguably the MOST slept-on group in hip-hop history. This foursome of extremely talented emcees from the west coast made a name for themselves in hip-hop in the early 90s, and their music is still listened to by heads such as myself even nowadays. Composed of SlimKid, Booty Brown, Fatlip, and Imani Wilcox, and backed by mind-boggling J-Swift production, it would be certain that this group would attain success. Each member brings his own rapping style and unique voice to the table in a creative mix rarely seen by most hip-hop groups. Sadly, The Pharcyde, even to this day, remain in the underground with little recognition for their unbelievable classics that they brought us. The Pharcyde define the term "forgotten", but im taking it upon myself to put the name out of this unbelievable group in hopes that they sell a few more records. In 1992, The Pharcyde released their seminal debut album which was well-recieved by fans and got quite a bit of airplay, that being Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde.



Track List & Rating

1. 4 Better Or 4 Worse (interlude)
2. Oh Sh*t (5 Stars)
3. It's Jiggaboo Time (skit) (NOT RATED)
4. 4 Better Or 4 Worse (5 Stars)
5. I'm That Type Of N*gga (4 Stars)
6. If I Were President (skit) (NOT RATED)
7. Soul Flower (remix) (4 Stars)
8. On The DL (5 Stars)
9. Pack The Pipe (interlude)
10. Officer (5 Stars)
11. Ya Mama (5 Stars)
12. Passing Me By (5 Stars)
13. Otha Fish (5 Stars)
14. Quinton's On The Way (skit) (NOT RATED)
15. Pack The Pipe (5 Stars)
16. Return Of The B-Boy (4 1/2 Stars)




Throughout Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde, The Pharcyde have decided to grace us with some pretty creative musical interludes. Even though there is basically no rapping within these instrumental portions of the album, i still personally enjoy them because of how they set up what is to come. For instance, the opening interlude is a nice jazzy, sort of laid back piano medley with drums which acts as a simple, yet effective way of introducing the album.

Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde kicks into high-gear with "Oh Sh*t".

Kicking off with up-beat production featuring an amazing piano medley reminiscent of the one found on the opening interlude. After a simple, yet catchy hook, we are immediately introduced to the unique rhyming style which has to be heard in order to understand exactly how good it is. The perfect blend of the powerful instrumental and well-written, humorous and creative lyrics is enough to listen to it, but of course the subject matter is the most creative part. The Pharcyde spit some creative rhymes about their ordeals with females, sort of poking fun at themselves due to their ability to get women, but always wind up in a hair-raising situation, hence leading to somebody saying "Oh Sh*t". Of course, the most hilarious verse has to come at the end: "B*tch was frontin but I didn't say nothin, Then all of the sudden after someone pushed the button, I got a funny feeling like something was real wrong, Looked at her shoes and her feets was real long, Then it hit me oh please god no, Don't let this ho turn out to be a john doe, He pulled a fast one on me yo, I guess that's one of those things that make you go: sh*t!". HILARIOUS.

Just from the opening song it is easy to see where many of our unique hip-hop groups such as Outkast and The Roots perhaps were inspired from, as the styles used just on the first song is reminiscent of their uplifting work. But wait... Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde gets even better...

Besides the musical interludes which feature only instrumentals, The Pharcyde also inserts some musical skits with vocals. "It's Jiggaboo Time (skit)" is basically one of these musical skits. Though not a song nor interlude, its sort of like a musical skit similar to those done by Onyx on their debut Bacdafucup. Featuring just some simple singing and such, The Pharcyde try to explain what a Jiggaboo is. After a few listens, its easily skippable, but not unlistenable.

"4 Better Or 4 Worse" is another creative effort with a surprising twist. The Pharcyde speak about their dealings and situations with a certain female named "Rhymealinda". Basically, the Pharcyde use a crazy female as a metaphor for rhyming. To all of those heads out there, this is basically Common's "I Used to Love H.E.R." metaphor, BEFORE he even came out with the song. The only notable difference is that The Pharcyde use rhyming instead of just the history of hip-hop. The creativity is off the charts, and the rhyming and production itself is also top-notch. Featuring a banging beat with drums, some unique saxophones, light bass-clicks, and uniquely laced samples to give the track a positive, light-hearted feel.

Skipping ahead to "On the DL", we get a great piece of introspection, with a humorous twist. On this track, we find each member of The Pharcyde openly making extremely embarrassing confessions, some more serious than others, and others just plain out funny. Among the confessions, we discover such things as their former praisement of street violence, drug use, and more humorously: masturbation. The witty lines are funny, and each member of The Pharcyde makes a different confession to us. The beat is very cartoonish, with some nice xylophone, thumping bass, and some saxophone. This track is an instant classic in my book.

The Pharcyde continue the introspection, with a tiny bit of political influence on "Officer". The interesting thing about the song is that it sort of parodies a Public Enemy song itself. Besides the obvious Flava Flav samples and the scratching, Bomb-Squadish noise, the Pharcyde themselves integrate their own rhyming style with Chuck D's, providing powerful and preachful vocals. Its easy to see this is going to be classic just by the opening lines, quoting Chuck D's famous: "I got a letter from the DMV, the other day... I opened and read it, it said they was suckas!". The beat is a nice mixture of fast, bomb-squadish production mixed with pianos and much more softer elements. Besides the obvious PE Tribute, production, and well-written lyrics, the subject matter is what carries the song. Ripping a page from N.W.A.'s book, The Pharcyde rap about the injustices and racism of police officers stemming from the recent Rodney King situation of the times. Their abilities on the mic and creative mind are seemlessly shown on this track.

"Ya Mama" is a perfect blend of humor, simplicity, and stupidity, but its all good. Each member of the Pharyde insert humorous stories as they rip on each other's mommas. Pretty simple, yet surprisingly it hasn't been done before. The production is amazing, the lyrics are outstanding, and the concept itself is unique, creative, and funny.

Possibly the greatest song ever recorded by The Pharcyde has to be the heartbreak anthem known as "Passing Me By".

In my opinion, this song is the only true hip-hop song that deals with heartbreak and has the ability to be a classic at the same time. This song truly goes without mentioning, as it is one of the unarguable classics and is untouchable in every sense of the word and its worth purchasing the cd simply for this song. Immediately from the onset we are treated with perfect production from J-Swift, with a beautiful mix of deep, shifting bass, some weird computerized jazzy, slamming drums, and some incredible saxophones. The sound of the track is up-beat, smooth, jazzy, yet retaining a sort of underground feel to it, specially with the nice scratches and Quincy Jones samples inserted into the track.

Lyrically the track shines like nothing. Each verse is extremely well-written, vividly giving us their stories. Each member of The Pharcyde drops their own unique style and story relating to the subject matter. The first tale is of a student who has a unique infactuation with his teacher, but realizes that he simply cannot get her due to age difference and that it is simply a lust factor. The second story is about a female who he's had a crush on since childhood, yet realizes that he is simply in love with her looks and not her personality. The third story reflects on an interesting notion where Fat Lip has a secret crush on an Ethiopian girl, and always notices her, but she never even looks at him. He speaks about his own failure, as he secret admired her but never had the guts to tell her. Therefore, he writes her a letter, which was unfortunately sent back to him. The humorous lines and situations will keep you pressing rewind. My personal favorite piece of the song is near the end where we find The Pharcyde harmonizing the outro hook, which is nothing short of a masterpiece.

"Otha Fish" is basically, to me, a sequel to the last track. On this masterpiece of a song, The Pharcyde realize that there are plenty of women in the world and to not focus on just one, specially if changes of getting her are slim. The lyricism on this track is off the charts, as well as the various deliveries which switch to sing-song to monotone rapping, which is done seemlessly. The production is another fine point, as we get a nice bass driven, jazzy track, with a few saxophones, at a steady tempo. Definetely another highlight of Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde.

The Pharcyde pay their respects to their favorite green on the drug anthem "Pack the Pipe". Each member of the Pharcyde drops uniquely delivered rhymes about the exact feeling of getting high, sort of reminiscent of many of Bone Thugs & Harmony's song. The tempo of the song is at a much slower pace, as the bass drives the track as well as the bizarre background. Personally, i do indeed believe that this is a great song to listen to while drugged due to the frankly bizarre nature of the way it is produced. The humorous lyrics, overall sound, and nice production fits together perfectly once again.

Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde closes with "Return of the B-Boy". The track is pretty simple, featuring some old-school braggadiocio and a very party vibe, sort of sounding like some of Run-DMC's earlier work. The lyrics are old-school sounding, so they are simple, yet powerful, and the production is a nice mix of pounding bass, quick scratching, and old school drum / bass kicks. This is the definition of old-school, as im guessing its a worthy tribute to close out the album.

Labeled as the Court Jesters of hip-hop, The Pharcyde debut extremely strong with the classic Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde. Lovely Beats, Illuminary Lyrics, Diverse Styles, Creativity, everything that makes music worth listening to is on this album. This gem is one of those uniquely bizarre listens which very few albums manage to have. Years before the plague of materialistic rap, when artists would drop knowledge, and hip-hop was just plain fun, we get this slept-on wonder. Fans of groups like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and The Roots should definetely purchase this album and support whatever it is that the Pharcyde touches...


5 Stars






Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving