The Pharcyde
photo: charice l. from usa · cc by-sa 2.0 ↗Imani, Fatlip, Slimkid3, and Bootie Brown emerged from South Central Los Angeles rejecting gangsta rap's dominance in favor of whimsical, jazz-sampling storytelling shot through with real social anxiety. Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde (1992) turned adolescent embarrassment and crush-song vulnerability into hip-hop's next mode of honesty, all delivered with off-kilter comic timing. They became honorary members of New York's Native Tongues scene despite being a world away in Los Angeles.
De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising cracked open a whimsical, sample-collaged alternative to gangsta rap's dominance, a template the West Coast's own genre outsiders in the Pharcyde picked up and localized a few years later.
listen forPlay De La Soul's 'Me Myself and I' and then the Pharcyde's 'Passin' Me By' — both reject tough-guy posturing for a looser, more self-deprecating voice riding an unhurried, jazzy groove.
The Pharcyde toured with A Tribe Called Quest and were embraced as honorary Native Tongues members, absorbing Tribe's conversational flow and jazz-sample palette into their own decidedly West Coast take on the same alternative hip-hop instincts.
listen forPlay Tribe's 'Can I Kick It?' and then the Pharcyde's own 'Officer' — both float a laid-back, jazz-sampled groove under lyrics that talk to the listener rather than at them.
As founders of the Native Tongues collective, the Jungle Brothers set an early precedent for genre-blurring, communal, unpretentious hip-hop that made room for outsider groups like the Pharcyde to find an audience without conforming to gangsta rap's rules.
listen forPlay the Jungle Brothers' 'I'll House You' and then the Pharcyde's own playful dozens-style single 'Ya Mama' — different eras of dance-floor experimentation, but both treat hip-hop as playground rather than battlefield.