The Pharcyde is an Alternative Hip Hop group. The original four members of the group are Imani (Emandu Wilcox), Slimkid3 (Trevant Hardson), Bootie Brown (Romye Robinson) and Fatlip (Derrick Stewart). DJ Mark Luv was the group's first DJ, followed by producer J-Swift and then J Dilla. The group is best known for the hit singles "Drop", "Passin' Me By" and "Runnin'", as well as their first album, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde.
Discography
- Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde (1992)
- Labcabincalifornia (1995)
- Plain Rap (2000)
- Humboldt Beginnings (2004)
The Pharcyde provides examples of the following tropes:
- All Love Is Unrequited: A reoccurring theme throughout their discography. Either the guys keep getting snubbed for various reasons, or the relationships simply just never work out in their favour.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Quite a few songs, but "Passing Me By" and "She Said" stand out. The guys either get rejected by girls rather cruelly, put into the friend zone, or simply just get screwed by circumstance.
- Failure Is the Only Option: Romance very rarely works out in the group's favour. Either relationships will go sour("Otha Fish"), end up friend zoned ("She Said"), or the women they like simply don't return their feelings ("Passin' Me By"). And sometimes, it can be some combination of the three, plus the issues of having one-night stands with groupies and gold diggers ("Groupie Therapy").
- Jazz Rap: The Pharcyde was a pioneer in fusing Jazz and Hip-Hop, along with A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Jungle Brothers; and were an anomaly among the west coast rap scene, being among the few major artists there not drenched in G-Funk.
- Let's Just Be Friends: Fatlip's verse on "She Said" tells a story about how he tried to knock boots with a lady he met at the House of Blues, only to get rejected at the last possible moment. Instead of getting mad, he decided to let her stay at his house and chill as friends; despite knowing the rest of the group will clown him when he tells them what happened later.
- Love Letter: The last verse on "Passin' Me By" by Fatlip involves him attempting to make his feelings known to the woman he likes in this manner. The girl sends the letter back days later, without even a reply.
- Melodic Rap: Used occasionally in their music, with Labcabincalifornia having the most melodic influence among their releases.
- Murder Ballad:
- "On The DL" contains a verse from Imani about killing somebody.
- Fatlip spends his verse on "4 Better Or 4 Worse" crank calling a lady and then detailing exactly how he plans to murder her and mutilate the body. She reacts how you'd expect.
- Record Producer: J-Swift produced the bulk of their first album, but left after the group tried to cut him out of his share of credit and royalties, though they would eventually patch things up enough for J-Swift to drop a remix on their third album, and also produced a chunk of Fatlip's solo debut. J Dilla, at the recommendation of Q-Tip, produced the bulk of Labcabincalifornia alongside the Pharcyde themselves.
- Rewind Gag: The video for "Drop" runs entirely in reverse. Thus, we see the band members spring to their feet from a lying position, rolling up stairs, repelling a bucket full of water upwards, and near the end, instantly piecing together a mural painted on glass with a hammer before wiping the paint off with paintbrushes.
- Supergroup: The lone west coast rap crew to officially be a part of the largely east coast-based Native Tongues collective, which also had A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, & Queen Latifah in its roster. They also have ties to the Hieroglyphics collective, and Gorillaz as well.
- Teacher/Student Romance: The first verse of "Passin' Me By" involves Bootie Brown singing about how he used to have a crush on one of his teachers and made a point to always attend her classes.
- Unusual Euphemism: "Should I pursue to do you, or just stroke my knot?" A knot would not be a unusual description of the anatomy of a canine, but unless the narrator is a Funny Animal, this lyric is strange.
