Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde

Der oft nervige Sprechgesang wird schnell ermüdend. Die Produktion ist zwar kreativ und verspielt, aber die Stimmen wirken für zu übertrieben und nehmen den Tracks die Balance.

Nearly an instant classic. Great energy for the first 2/3 of the album. It does drop a little after that, but this is a very strong album.

I’m at a 5.

I’m impressed as hell by the Pharcyde. Yes, they’re a bit juvenile. Yes, some members are a bit hornier & more aggressive than others. Yes, Fatlip is probably the very best wordsmith of the group & he’s lyrically outshining them almost every time. I just wanted to say that last one. If you’re frustrated by the juvenile stuff, the hint of transphobia in the main opening track, and the mildly possessive approach towards women that pops up from time to time on the album, you’re probably not going to like this. I think that’s fair. Without necessarily dismissing those concerns, I just think they miss the overall vibe of the album; these guys are just having a ton of fun.

For all the people saying this isn’t a gangsta rap album, I’d say they’re correct to a point, and it feels a lot more like the vibe Ice Cube captured when he wrote Friday. It’s a semi-stoner album, and it just feels like a pretty vivid look at life in Los Angeles from a quartet of black dudes having fun in their mid-twenties. It doesn’t necessarily negate everything that Ice Cube & Dr. Dre & Public Enemy were bringing to the forefront at the time; there’s lots of tracks that have these guys adjacent to it, namely the excellent “Officer”. It’s just not the focus here. Let those guys fight the power & try to change the world, as they should. The Pharcyde are here to try to rizz up the ladies, make yo mama jokes, and then smoke some weed. They’re the side characters. They are the Chris Tucker to Ice Cube’s… well, Ice Cube. Just like Chris Tucker, they feel like a star in the making here.

I can’t really say there’s a bad track on the album. The only one that left me a little “eh” was “Soul Flower”, and even then, it’s still a fun track. The production work is cool as hell for 1992, infusing some East Coast energy to the west side, sounding nothing like the G-Funk that Dr. Dre was making famous. There’s lots of cool sample work, but the jazzy soundscape to each track really makes them all pop, especially on the interlude skits. J-Swift did a hell of a job here. These guys can rap their asses off, and even when I found the lyrics a little goofy, there’s something in the delivery that keeps them credible. Fatlip & SlimKid 3 are the two best in the group, especially in their lyrics, but Imani & Bootie Brown do pretty good too. You can tell they’re not taking themselves that seriously; they are fine being the butts of the jokes in their own tracks, and it just keeps the whole thing pretty light-hearted. Ice Cube was being misogynistic as hell over on “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted”, but these guys are getting burnt by the ladies on a lot of tracks and just shrugging it off. The album literally ends on getting burnt so badly that they need their weed dealer before getting way too high for their own goods, and then going into an ‘80s rap tribute track that does Run-DMC better than Run-DMC does. You can’t tell me that’s not funny.

Overall, it’s just a super enjoyable 56 minutes, and I’m really glad it’s on the list. As far as the whole album goes, I think it’s a 5. The floor should at least be a 3. Much like “Doggystyle”, even if you can’t get down with the lyrics, there’s just something in the beats & delivery that carries a natural charisma. If nothing else, listen to “Passin’ Me By”. That one rules.

I think this is Pharcyde's greatest work, it's also a fun album. Oh Shit is such a banger. The hook on I'm that Type of ----- is so catchy. Passin' Me By is an icon in its own right too. Apparently, Pharcyde was using the term "simp" with it's present usage all the way back in 1992. Turns out, that meaning of simp dates back to some writings in 1967-68.

Just a fantastically classic 90's hip-hop album.

"Passin Me By" is a fantastic 90s jazz rap song that Lupe Fiasco basically created his whole career around. But the rest of the album? BORING

Rock and country music that demeans and victimised women 😃

Rap music that demeans and victimises women 😡

Sure it’s fun but it’s also dumb. The beats are good but not touching De La or Tribe.

Fun rhymes. Nice relaxed beats.

Wild

Great beats. Really good. Lyrical content = meh

Likte det her ganske godt

Fine, funky lyrics at times.

Great album. Probably shoulda listened to it by now, but whatever. Anyway this album’s great. If it doesn’t blow your mind in some way, you’ve probably already become accustomed to how good music can be, or you’re not listening to it right. The rapping is great, don’t get me wrong, and each emcee has incredible presence and personality, as well as a lot of the songs being incredibly funny in a way I forget is possible in music. But the beats are where the album’s really at in my opinion. J-Sw!ft does some fucking wild work on some of these songs, with a common feature of the album being the beats constantly changing throughout the song’s structure. I mean, “Soul Flower (Remix)” just fucking killed me dude. Obviously the song people talk about a lot here is “Passin’ On Me,” but jeez, yall heard “Otha Fish?” That song might be the best one here. Not by a large margin mind you, if it even is the best song here, but come on.

I was really impressed by this joint. It’s shit like this that reminds me that there’s really nothing hip-hop can’t do, including still surprising me, like this album did.
9.3/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: fundamental building block in a journey of listening to hip hop.

Surprised by this one.
While definitely more on the old-school side of things, the flows are generally so fast that they don't come off as stilted or dated.

And the music, while having this alternative/jazz style, also has this kinda carnival vibe to it that I really enjoy. Soul Flower is a great track.

Probably the best "old school" style hip hop album I've come across on the list not made by Tribe.

Класний позитивний джеззі хіп-хоп. І чітка сподобалась і продакшн. Здається я слухав їх раніше, але точно не пам'ятаю, коротше цей фарсайд клас (як і хардкор фарсайд - може це такий прикол що гурти з цією назвою всі хороші).

Fairly generic early 90s hip-hop, so I like it better than a lot of the modern stuff, but it doesn’t grab me too closely.

Reviews are like "it's so much more fun than the gangsta rap of the 90s!", and I'm like "yeah, that's true". But if that section of 4 Better or 4 Worse is your idea of fun then you need to be locked in a psychotic hospital. Transphobia had me worried early on, but the horribleness peaked there. How do so many men of the hip hop scene have such inflated egos, like every woman instantly wants to be stripped naked and beaten by you? You're mid! Nobody cares about you! Write something from the heart! It went from offensive to inoffensive in sections, so it gets a 2.

This is a fun album. I liked it. Good vibe hip-hop and, in that sense, it sounds pretty refreshing. Both the music and the lyrics are ok. Some lyrics are actually very good. However, as always with hip-hop albums, I also found this one a bit too long. I guess, that's also because I'm not a big fan of the genre. Overall, a solid 3 star (though I can totally see some people rating this higher). Some songs I enjoyed, "Officer", "Passin' My By" (probably my favourite), or "Otha Fish".

I only liked that one with yo mama jokes. The rest was mediocre. That was funny. Yo mama jokes are funny. I sound like a dad. Fuck.