BIZARRE RIDE (EX/2CD

The Pharcyde: Slim Kid 3, Imani Wilcox, Booty Brown, Fat Lip. Additional personnel: Cedra Walton, Leslie Cooney (vocals); Buckwheat (rap vocals); J-Swift (piano, bass, Fender Rhodes electric piano, scratches, background vocals); JMD (drums); Rahsaan, Greg Padilla, Brandon Padilla (background vocals). Producers include: L.A. Jay, Slim Kid 3. The Pharcyde: Tre "Slim Kid 3" Hardson, Imani Wilcox, Romye "Booty Brown" Robinson, Derrick "Fat Lip" Steward. When the Pharcyde burst onto the scene in the summer of '92 with its brilliantly disconnected grab bag BIZARRE RIDE II THE PHARCYDE, it seemed at first an innocuously enjoyable, goofy if somewhat lightweight disc. However, it would swiftly become clear that there were deeper waters stirring within the Pharcyde's rhymes and rhythms, and that the group's style was unlike that of those who came before. The main distinction came in the Pharcyde's subject matters, which run the gamut from the usual sexual conquests all the way to rejection and masturbation. The group's lyrics are often reflective and vulnerable, bordering on self-deprecating at times. While many rappers who came before poked fun at themselves as a gimmick, the Pharcyde relates its rebuffs with confident candor as on its hit single "Passin' Me By," where one by one each member of the foursome recounts a story of a woman he didn't get. Furthermore, though the samples used on the album are pretty much from the usual well (jazz and James Brown), there's something skewed about their interpretations. One particularly revealing track is a throwaway half-skit/half-song "Quinton's on His Way," a juke-joint improv that's sincere and straight out of a Roaring '20s backroom.