Music > Interviews
Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde
23/06/15
Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde - Slimkid 3
One of the most seminal hip hop albums of all time, Bizarre Ride to the Pharcyde, is now 23 years old. Shocker. Back in ’92, amidst all the gangster rap coming out, LA crew The Pharcyde kept the Daisy Age alive with this collection of hilarious, clever and just plain weird rhymes. You might know Ya Mama. You might know Passin’ Me By. You might know Otha Fish. There’s honestly not a duff track on this album. Members of The Pharcyde will be playing at Epic this month, and I, rather excitedly, spoke to rapper and producer Slimkid3 about the history of the Pharcyde crew and the huge legacy of Bizarre Ride.
What kind of music were you surrounded by as a child growing up?
Growing up my mom and grandparents had lots of music, from John Coltrane, Eddie Grant, Bob Marley, The Jackson 5, Enchantment, New Birth, Earth Wind & Fire, Richard Pryor to Blow Fly. I was exposed to it all.
So you met Imani and Booty Brown when you were young and started off as dancers and choreographers. Were you intending on doing that as a career at that point?
I met Imani when I was in college, and Booty Brown a little while after; Fatlip was the last to arrive on our musical career. And we were all amazingly dope battle dancers. All of us except for Fatlip taught choreography back in those days as well. It's how we survived.
You met Fatlip and J-Swift at an after school music group. What did you learn form that experience that helped you create The Pharcyde and it’s sound?
We were at a place called SCU (South Central Unit), where we learned how to write music, perform, become producers, and about the music business in general. How did that help form the Pharcyde sound? It was all of the up’s and down’s, the hopes and failed attempts that carved the Pharcyde sound. We gave up trying to be what everyone else wanted us to be. We just let go, and truly stopped giving a shit, became more unfiltered, and BOOM! The Pharcyde was made.
In the early 90’s gangster rap was pretty in, but albums like Bizarre Ride stuck out. What was it that made you want to make a different kind of hip hop?
We weren't gangsters, and LA was a place of respect. You can only talk about what you know; we kept it real ‘cause real was all around us. All of our friends were gangsters, but we were just groovers. But we groovers and gangsters learned a lot from each other!
When you started out, what was your main goal as The Pharcyde?
Our main goal was to get in the game and have a fresh and hard hitting sound like the East coast did. We looked up to De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, KRS, LL Cool J, Brand Nubians, Large Professor, and many others. The bar was high, and we had to meet that standard.
You’ve clearly influenced a lot of rap artists. What do you think of what hip hop sounds like in 2015?
I'm pretty open about hip hop these days, I'm watching it transform. I love 90's hip hop, but I'm one to keep an open ear of the heartbeat of the culture. It may not be what I was feeling whole-heartedly like the 90's, but I'm waiting for that one thing to make me feel like 90's Hip Hop did.
Was it difficult to record Ya Mama? You must have struggled not to laugh throughout the recording!
Ya Mama was easy... no pun intended. Ha ha! We had so much fun and SO MANY JOKES. That's just how we were, even to this day. My crew is crazy.
Passin’ Me By is perhaps the best known track on Bizarre Ride. What’s your favourite line in it and why?
My favorite line is... "When I think of fairytales I think of me and Shelly." That was a marker in my high school and early college life. I wanted every relationship I had to start off good like that one. Being young, you want all the parts to work out right. And when things fall apart you want something just as great to take its place.
How did you manage to find such a perfect order for the tracks on the album? Were there many tracks that got rejected ahead of release?
When I was making the track list or sequence, I wanted it to be in the form of a sentence, like someone was reading it to you or reciting it to you. We wanted all parts of the record to be fun. It just flowed out that way; we were in the divine flow.
Did just one person write the rhymes for Bizarre Ride, or was it a joint effort?
It was certainly a “joint” effort, no pun intended again. Ha ha! But it was a group effort with the help of joints!
After Bizarre Ride did so well was nothing until Labcabincalifornia until a whole three years later. How come?
We were touring like crazy! So non stop. We had to make ourselves stop, to start Labcabin.
Kanye West has described Bizarre Ride as his favourite album of all time. But what do you think of his music?
I love Kanye's music. He is extremely creative.
Why do you think Bizarre Ride has stood the test of time and has been so lauded by critics and fans to this day?
It's just a timeless album. The vortex was wide open for us and we made an amazing mark in time.
You’ve been working with DJ Nu-Mark from Jurassic 5 recently; can you tell us about your most recent album?
The most recent album is called Slimkid3 and DJ NuMark, it’s self titled. But the group is called TRDMRK, a mixture of our two names. The album is a play on what it would be like if J5 and Pharcyde made a record, and we made that happen. The boom bap of it all is completely there. It's an amazing record with a bangin’ sound.
Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde is at Epic on 12th July. Tickets from ueaticketbookings.co.uk
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