Frenchy’s Favorites: The Pharcyde – Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
General Description
Artist/Band: The Pharcyde 
Album Title: Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde
Year: 1992
The title says it all!!
How I Got Into This Music
Hmmm.. 1992, do you know how phar back that is?!? Come on, give me a break.. Okayokay.. Round that time I guess I was into De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest and a very faithful viewer of the YO! MTV Raps program. I’m almost sure it was there that I first heard and saw these guys. It’s been almost 15 years (ouch!) but still I got some of those songs in my head. Just the different approach and style was so unbelievably refreshing! It still is fresh if you listen to it in ten years, trust me..
Review at Answers.com || Google Search: Reviews of Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde || Album credits at Artistdirect.com
Tracks that got my attention:
Oh Shit
West Coast mixed with The Bomb Squad? Can’t really describe the sound.. But the vocals and the lyrics – funny and sharp. Wicked sample of either Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy
It’s Jigaboo Time (Skit)
Jigaboo – excellent skit!
4 Better or 4 Worse
Damn! I remember listening to the lyrics of this track – hilarious, and the phone call.. scary too! Obsessive stalker humor?
I’m That Type of Nigga
Great intro, after that it’s a very typical 90’s chant-along type of song
If I Were President (Skit)
I guess these guys were one of the first to put a piano sound at the foreground, listen to the skits on this album
Soul Flower (Remix)
Still prefer the version they had on the Heavy Rhyme Experience, Volume 1 album of The Brand New Heavies – ohwell, a great groove is a great groove..
On the DL
Wow.. The lyrics.. just the lyrics.. I mean, The Lyrics!! All about stuff you don’t tell to others easily, on the downlow.. It’s been done before, you know? Being bad-ass and all that, but here? It’s different, more intense and with a very different take on Confessional Rap..
His story’s soundin’ sad like the movie Ben
But um, anyway I’m just protectin’ my shit
‘Cause if it wasn’t me he’s killin’ then my moms mighta got it
It’s on the downlow don’t tell nobody I killed him all right?
Officer
Heheh.. This one’s so inside joke material.. The song is a parody of an epic track by Public Enemy called Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos. A very, very intense song (check out the link for more).
And these guys? They use it for their slaphappy song about getting caught by the cops for driving without a license. Now, in those times, that was almost blasphemy! Very funny blasphemy 
Ya Mama
Read the lyrics, heheh.. Just do it!
Ya moma is so fat (how fat is she?)
Ya mama is so big and fat that she can get busy
with twenty-two burritos, but times are rough
I seen her in the back of Taco Bell with handcuffs
and also:
We drove into the drive-in and she didn’t have to pay
because we dressed her up to look just like a Chevrolet
So, maybe it ain’t your type of humor, but here’s some more info on the dozens (your mama jokes)
Passin’ Me By
Oh, wow.. One of my all-time favorite tracks, seriously.
I like the theme: choosing to let the girl to pass you by or not being able to prevent her from passing you by. Love versus Wisdom. Heart versus Brains. Protecting Yourself From Harm versus Naked Vulnerability. Topics include:
- Puppy love for some teacher
- Semi-fatal attraction
I’m shootin for her heart, got my finger on the trigger
She could be my broad, and I could be her (nigga) - Waiting for her to dump her man
She was kind of like a star, thinking I was like a fan - Unrequited love letter
Now there she goes again, the dopest Ethiopian
And now the world around me be gets movin in slow motion
when-ever she happens to walk by – why does the apple of my eye
overlook and disregard my feelings no matter how much I try?
And if I was your man then I would be true
The only lying I would do is in the bed with you
Then I signed sincerely the one who loves you dearly, PS love me tender
The letter came back three days later: Return to Sender
Damn!
And that’s just the lyrics.. The vocals? The first part seems like almost 15 seconds of rap without a pause to breathe.. The last part by rapper Fatlip is like a scat-singing combo when he starts to write his letter. Un-fucking-believable! Nobody ever used that style in a rap before.. Damn!
Not done yet! HellNo! There’s the music: like I said earlier in my review of Nightmares On Wax, I was totally, mega-crazed about those soft keyboards on the background. Later, much later I found out that it was a sample of Quincy Jones’ rendition of Summer In The City (screw Joe Cocker, Q’s version is almost as good as The Lovin’ Spoonful’s original). Okay.. I’m done.. Where’s my tea?
Otha Fish
Nice band-aid for the heartbreaks of the previous track. Again, that style of rapping was different, a kind of scat-singing.
Quinten’s On His Way
Weird and funny..
Pack The Pipe
A crude yet effective way of discussing one of the biggest social problems of that time: crack cocaine.
Return Of The B-Boy
Heheheh! Delicious!! Great samples (from a track of Prince’s Madhouse Project), loops and hooks. Just love the little tributes to LL Cool J and Kurtis Blow
Conclusion
I knew I would get carried away reviewing this album..
Still one of the most innovative and intelligent (rap) albums of all time: it’s party music, it’s serious music, it’s funny music, some tracks are still fresh. And.. I kinda remembered where I got this album from: thanks Hieronymus Fox!
[...] Catchy dance grooves! How I Got Into This MusicWell, if you stroll around stuff by people like Zero 7, Jazzanova and Groove Armada, you kinda get this group in your sights very quickly. First time I really connected with their music was when I heard ‘Night Interlude’ (or remix, can’t remember), a very mellow track that triggered quite some memories. I knew the keyboard sample from The Pharcyde’s ‘Passing Me By’ and that made me go nuts coz I was happy with the discovery but I still didn’t know the original track, dammit! So, one nice Sunday morning, enjoying my brunch over at Dizzy’s Jazz Cafe I was pleasantly surprised coz they were playing the original track: Quincy Jones’ excellent version of ‘Summer In The City’.. Weird, huh?Anyways, this album came out and I just had to gave it a listen.. [...]
[...] a parody of an epic … I knew the keyboard sample from The Pharcyde??s ???Passing Me By?? and …http://www.frenchysfracas.com/2006/09/27/frenchys-favorites-the-pharcyde-bizarre-ride-ii-the-pharcyd…Music Sampling – Interpolations and Adaptations: Songs You Heard BeforePassing Me By. The Pharcyde. [...]