Arts & Entertainment
 

'Bizarreride' set standard for hip-hop

Group brought genre to new level with 1992 debut before disbanding like other greats
 

Chris Griffin

All of my favorite groups break up. The Fugees, A Tribe Called Quest, N.W.A., Slum Village have all dismantled. Even OutKast will soon join the list -- it never fails. But one group's break up hurt the most, The Pharcyde. 

In the spring of 1992, West Coast rap was just coming into the dominance it kept for much of the early and mid 1990s. Classics such as Dr.Dre's The Chronic, Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle and Warren G's Regulate…G Funk Era were ruling the airwaves and walkmans of many, but they were not the only California hip-hoppers making noise. Groups such as Souls of Mischief, Tha Alkaholiks, The Nonce and Freestyle Fellowship were staking claims among the underground with classics of their own, and gaining notoriety nationally and worldwide. Determined to show that California was more than gang-banging and 1964 Chevrolets, these groups debuted at a time when the hip-hop was innovative, fresh and plain good. But the group that was most appealing, most talented and most liable to "blow up" was The Pharcyde. The Pharcyde had "it." California fashion, De La Soul daisy-age dialect, Digable Planet's jazz infused rhythm, an innocent youthfulness, gut-busting humor and just plain craziness led to one of the best rap records of all time: 1992's BizarrerideIIThePharcyde.

The Pharcyde had no boundaries or limits with this album, which included content ranging from police brutality, government spending and sometimes just plain nothing. Fat Lip, Bootie Brown, Imani and Tre were just as good at producing as they were at rhyming, and freshman mistakes that usually take place on a debut album were nonexistent. Perfectly sequenced, just the right length, equally balanced and recorded and mixed with high quality, BizarrerideIIThePharcyde showed that The Pharcyde were veterans from listening to classics before they made one. Each member was special to the group, with Fat Lip and Tre being the standouts, and Imani and Bootie Brown doing most of the composing, or backbone. 

Most remember "Passin' Me By" from commercial airplay, but Bizarreride was much more. The hilarious and wonderfully produced "4 Better or for Worse" is vintage Pharcyde. A simple but effective Fender Rhodes keyboard chord aids the chorus and superb drum programming make the beat excellent. But the treat is Fat Lip's now infamous phone conversation at the end. "Officer," recorded around the time of the Rodney King verdict, commented on an indictment of racial profiling. In their own special way, the group chose a comic tale that parodied Public Enemy's "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" for the song's introduction. The laughs are plentiful as Imani raps "awaaaay / to our destination / no license, no insurance, not even registration." The song "Pack the Pipe," an ode to a certain habit, is perfectly placed on the album. Just as funny as it is good, "Pack the Pipe" shows the groups cohesiveness as Fat Lip and Imani rhyme the same verse simultaneously. A brilliant cello sample and The Pharcyde's antics make this one of the album's highlights, and the break in the song may scare listeners upon a first listen. 

Unfortunately, after another classic album in 1996, Labcabincalifornia, The Pharcyde called it quits due to "internal issues." Rumor has it that members of the group wanted to take different creative paths, which led to one album without Fat Lip. But The Pharcyde's impact is still felt today, through new artists such as Little Brother, Kanye West and Jurassic 5.

If you're in your mid 20s and are a true hip-hop fan, then you can relate to how this album depicted a typical week in your life at the time it was released. A group of hip-hop loving teenagers using comedy to try to make sense of what they thought was a world against them showed Pharycde's honesty. The truth is, many teenagers poke fun at issues to help get through them, whether these issues are poverty, relationships, sex or confrontations with peers and/or the police. The Pharcyde took it one step further and made us laugh and dance while bringing up these issues. 

BizarrerideIIThePharcyde is more than a record. It's nostalgic, meaningful and evidence of hip-hop's simpler times. It reminds many of a time when the music was just as good as the parties, the friends and the times. If you don't have it, get it.

The Pharcyde

BizarrerideIIThePharcyde

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