Review #482: Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, The Pharcyde
#482: Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, The Pharcyde
I feel like Freedom Writers is one of those movies that hasn’t aged super great (why is Hilary Swank looking over all of her students of color like a beatific shepherd?), but the soundtrack for that movie essentially made rap music click for me. It’s got all the best rappers of the Nineties — 2Pac, Gang Starr, and of course, the Pharcyde.
The Pharcyde is made up of three high school buds from Los Angeles — Slimkid3, Imani, and the excellently named Bootie Brown, as well as their friend Fatlip. After first being featured on their labelmate Brand New Heavies’ album Heavy Rhyme Experience (on a song which they remixed for this record, “Soul Flower — Remix”), they put out their debut and messed with everyone’s perception of what West Coast hip-hop was.
West coast hip hop in the Nineties was a little more gangsta funk than anything else — Dr. Dre’s The Chronic came out the same year as the Pharcyde’s debut, and Snoop’s Doggystyle a year later. G-funk is a little groovier than straight gangsta rap, but it inherited all the lower-lip jutting and firm self-confidence. It rocks, don’t get me wrong, but it tends to lack what the Pharcyde has in spades: humor. Coupled with producer J-Swift’s offbeat style, the chaos of Bizarre Ride is straight up addictive.
The four emcees mostly take turns on the verses, and seem to be trying to out-gross one another — see “Oh Shit,” which is just increasingly graphic descriptions of sex until they end up in a “Lola” by the Kinks situation, and “I’m That Type Of N****,” which drops: I am the one that kicked your daddy in the ****/ That’s why your mental state was ****** before you hit your mama’s guts. It honestly reminds me a lot of Eminem, especially on some of the songs that start out grounded and normal before going completely off the rails. “4 Better Or 4 Worse” starts out with a relatively wholesome verse about starting a family, then devolves into a demented crank call. The verses of “On The DL,” on the other hand, discusses topics ranging from egoism, masturbation, and murder, with seemingly no rhyme or reason.
It could be disturbing, but in the Pharcyde’s hands, it’s just hilarious. “Officer” is my personal favorite (and not just because it’s on the Freedom Writer’s soundtrack). They mimic Flavor Flav, then whine and wail about getting pulled over, while still snarkily talking down to the cop doing so — it’s so dramatic and catchy that it reminds me of West Side Story’s “Officer Krupke.” And “Ya Mama” takes part in the grand tradition of trading insults, taking a cue from Bo Diddley’s “Say Man.” (Though I think the Pharcyde would smoke Diddley in terms of devastating insult quality.) I also really enjoyed the skits here, which tended to be musical and just as funny as the actual songs — “Quinton’s On The Way” is a joyous anticipation of the weed man, but “It’s Jiggaboo Time” and “If I Were President” are equally funny. (Though I did think that instrumentals “4 Better Or 4 Worse (Interlude)” and “Pack The Pipe (Interlude)” didn’t add much.)
But as the record goes on, they take their tongue out of their cheek and show off some genuine rap skills. “Passin’ Me By” is an unrequited love song about a teacher, with a desperate chorus that genuinely makes you feel for the narrator. “Otha Fish” is similar, a Slimkid solo track in which he tries to brush off rejection and almost succeeds. And they’re clearly smarter than simple shit-talkers. “Pack The Pipe” is a delightful mashup of samples: John Coltrane and “Jump Around” by House Of Pain, all underneath a passionate ode to weed. “Return Of The B-Boy” is even more brilliant, full of references to Eighties rap legends, including “Rapper’s Delight,” “The Roof Is On Fire,” and, of course, Run-DMC, the OG murderers of sucker MCs.
The Pharcyde’s debut experienced a paradoxical kind of success: Kanye West has said it’s his “favorite album of all time.” Yet there were no charting singles. They released three more albums after the fact (one of which was produced by J Dilla!), none of which were critically or commercially acclaimed. Maybe that had something to do with the firing of producer J-Swift due to personal and financial disagreements — J-Swift has been open about the crack cocaine habit that plagued him afterwards. Or maybe not, who knows. In any case, this might be my favorite rap album that we’ve reviewed so far.
Fun Fact: Bootie Brown is featured on the Gorillaz song “Dirty Harry.”
Review #481: If You’re Feeling Sinister, Belle and Sebastian
