Bizarre Ride II

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ALBUM INFORMATION

Total Tracks: 16   Total Length: 56:43

eMusic Review

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Hua Hsu

eMusic Contributor

Hua Hsu edits the hip-hop section of URB Magazine and writes about music, culture and politics for Slate, the Village Voice, The Wire and various other magazine...more »

04.22.11
Self-deprecating tales of schoolyard rejection and unrequited crushes.
2005 | Label: Delicious Vinyl

“I guess a twinkle in her eye is just a twinkle in her eye…” — there are few rap songs that express the kind of child-sized yearning and despair of the Pharcyde's 1993 hit “Passin'Me By.” Built on a sweltering Quincy Jones loop, “Passin'Me By” was a hip-hop anomaly, the then-teenaged Pharcyde spinning self-deprecating tales of schoolyard rejection and unrequited crushes, using words like “rooty-toot” and “nincompoop” and generally peddling themselves as the softest guys in the room. Mike Ross, the head of their label, Delicious Vinyl, perfectly captured their sensibility: “The Pharcyde were trying to dodge the bullets, not shoot them.”

The Pharcyde's 1992 debut, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, was a revelation, balancing sunny moments like the sappy “Soul Flower,” the slapstick “Oh Shit” and “Ya Mama” and the wistful “Passin'Me By” with the dark “4 Better or 4 Worse” and the caustic “It's Jigaboo Time” (check out the rarely seen, natives-gone-wild video here). Bizarre Ride stoked many imaginations — Ross called it Los Angeles'version of De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising — but the moment for a breezy, carefree rap outfit, even one hailing from South Central Los Angeles, would be brief. Later that… read more »

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mind-blowing

stopbeatingme

I bought this album when it first came out - it was mind-blowing then, and it still is now. Although there is a lot that might offend and disturb some people, the sheer creativity and exuberance of Bizarre Ride II is undeniable. Still one of my favorite hip-hop albums of all time.

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Groundbreaking

flysi3000

You know in cartoons when a character sees something so incomprehensible that their head spins around 360 degrees? That's what this album was like for me - but in a good way. I had never heard rappers - who normally ooze confidence and machismo - cover topics like the ones the Pharcyde filled this album with. One of the rare albums where you can press play on the first song, and just let it run all the way through.

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Essential

BitchesBrew

Simply put, this album is Classic.

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A true contribution to hip hop

JonnyRoyale

Bizarre Ride was truly a musical achievement, even though it had no intention to be whatsoever. This album showed how rap could be both relaxed and significant; silly while genuine. Without a doubt, it's one of the greatest albums hip-hop has ever produced. It's one of those rare records that just gets better and better with time. Essential.

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back,n,day

rexjames201

I,am thirty-two,(this was one of my first tapes!) I played it in my parents car in 1994,and my parents let me install the stareo

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one of the best hip hop albums of all time

matt_eff

a must for real hip hoppers. this is a piece of the foundation of hip hop. you must have this album

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the bestemest

gerzilia

I loved hip hop growing up and still appreciate it just not quite as much as I did once upon a time. Anyway, to keep things simple, this is the best hip hop album ever. Above the Wu's first album, above PE's "it takes a nation...", above "3 feet high and rising". It's just so damn good and so damn funny and so damn sad. I just wanna keep buying this it is so good.

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So good so funny so much

Goobertron

I can't recall another album that makes me laugh ever time I hear it, particularly when I've heard it a zillion times. Perhaps that's because the lyrics are so tightly woven, quickly delivered and overlayed with great music that zinger lines still emerge a dozen years after I bought this. Non-rap fans can find delight in most of this. Must-haves are "Soul Flower," "Officer," "On the DL," "I'm the Type," "Oh Sh**," "President"--which is biting social commentary in one-minute snapper. (I think the one to skip is "4 Better" which has a slow beat and some offensive lines.)

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Good Times

ChiBreaks

I still have this tape in my crate. Good to see it here, for all hip hop fanatics out there, this is fundamental!

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sooo goood and mellow

abombregardless

I came late to the game with these guys, but damn if Pharcyde isn't the perfect laid-back lyrical hip hop music. Get this and their other early 90s album on eMusic, Labcabincalifornia, plug em in your car's CD player, and cruise around your hood - nothing feels better.

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They Say All Media Guide

The cover shot of a Fat Albert-ized Pharcyde roller coasting their way into a funhouse makes perfect sense, as the L.A.-based quartet introduced listeners to an uproarious vision of earthy hip-hop informed by P-Funk silliness and an everybody-on-the-mic street-corner atmosphere that highlights the incredible rapping skills of each member. With multiple voices freestyling over hilarious story-songs like “Oh Shit,” “Soul Flower,” the dozens contest “Ya Mama,” and even a half-serious driving-while-black critique named “Officer,” Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde proved Daisy Age philosophy akin to De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest wasn’t purely an East Coast phenomenon. Skits and interludes with live backing (usually just drums and piano) only enhance the freeform nature of the proceedings, and the group even succeeds when not reliant on humor, as proved by the excellent heartbreak tale “Passing Me By.” The production, by J-Sw!ft and the group, is easily some of the tightest and most inventive of any hip-hop record of the era. Though Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde could have used a few more musical hooks to draw in listeners before they begin to appreciate the amazing rapping and gifted productions, the lack of compromise reveals far greater rewards down the line. – John Bush

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