Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde

I enjoyed that far more than the millions of other rap albums I've heard on here. There was some dick worship, there was some gun glorification, but just not as much as is usual for this genre. Musically, lots of jazzy rare groove samples. The sort of records that cost a fortune secondhand and get played by snobby vinyl DJs to a nonplussed audience who just want to hear popular hits. They're good records and I'm very pleased for the DJ, but they sounded better as samples. It was fine. Happy to have heard it once, but won't be returning.

4/5

4.2

So long.

Such a fun rap album. Feels like it took the fun/jazzy beats and flows from the 80's and updated them to be more aligned with their contemporaries in the 90's (in terms of subject matter, lewdness etc). Still really clever and easy to listen to.

Interesting. Little better than this review

Hele dag op achtergrond gedraaid. Beat wel lekker. Tekst te snel voor mij.

The beats are good, but the lyrics pissed me off.

Still looking for another early 90's hip hop group or album that I connect with. This was just fine. I am the problem.

The beats on this one are damn good. 4.5 bumped up to 5.

I’m at a 5. I’m impressed as hell by the Pharcyde. Yes, they’re a bit juvenile. Yes, some members are a bit hornier & more aggressive than others. Yes, Fatlip is probably the very best wordsmith of the group & he’s lyrically outshining them almost every time. I just wanted to say that last one. If you’re frustrated by the juvenile stuff, the hint of transphobia in the main opening track, and the mildly possessive approach towards women that pops up from time to time on the album, you’re probably not going to like this. I think that’s fair. Without necessarily dismissing those concerns, I just think they miss the overall vibe of the album; these guys are just having a ton of fun. For all the people saying this isn’t a gangsta rap album, I’d say they’re correct to a point, and it feels a lot more like the vibe Ice Cube captured when he wrote Friday. It’s a semi-stoner album, and it just feels like a pretty vivid look at life in Los Angeles from a quartet of black dudes having fun in their mid-twenties. It doesn’t necessarily negate everything that Ice Cube & Dr. Dre & Public Enemy were bringing to the forefront at the time; there’s lots of tracks that have these guys adjacent to it, namely the excellent “Officer”. It’s just not the focus here. Let those guys fight the power & try to change the world, as they should. The Pharcyde are here to try to rizz up the ladies, make yo mama jokes, and then smoke some weed. They’re the side characters. They are the Chris Tucker to Ice Cube’s… well, Ice Cube. Just like Chris Tucker, they feel like a star in the making here. I can’t really say there’s a bad track on the album. The only one that left me a little “eh” was “Soul Flower”, and even then, it’s still a fun track. The production work is cool as hell for 1992, infusing some East Coast energy to the west side, sounding nothing like the G-Funk that Dr. Dre was making famous. There’s lots of cool sample work, but the jazzy soundscape to each track really makes them all pop, especially on the interlude skits. J-Swift did a hell of a job here. These guys can rap their asses off, and even when I found the lyrics a little goofy, there’s something in the delivery that keeps them credible. Fatlip & SlimKid 3 are the two best in the group, especially in their lyrics, but Imani & Bootie Brown do pretty good too. You can tell they’re not taking themselves that seriously; they are fine being the butts of the jokes in their own tracks, and it just keeps the whole thing pretty light-hearted. Ice Cube was being misogynistic as hell over on “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted”, but these guys are getting burnt by the ladies on a lot of tracks and just shrugging it off. The album literally ends on getting burnt so badly that they need their weed dealer before getting way too high for their own goods, and then going into an ‘80s rap tribute track that does Run-DMC better than Run-DMC does. You can’t tell me that’s not funny. Overall, it’s just a super enjoyable 56 minutes, and I’m really glad it’s on the list. As far as the whole album goes, I think it’s a 5. The floor should at least be a 3. Much like “Doggystyle”, even if you can’t get down with the lyrics, there’s just something in the beats & delivery that carries a natural charisma. If nothing else, listen to “Passin’ Me By”. That one rules.

Rating: 4.8/5 Short Review: What a ridiculously fun album. While gangsta rap was dominating the West Coast, The Pharcyde went in a completely different direction: goofy humor, jazzy beats, self-deprecation, and wonderfully unpredictable flows. The chemistry between the four MCs is fantastic, and the production feels warm and effortlessly funky. It’s occasionally chaotic, but that’s half the charm. Nearly 35 years later, it still sounds fresh. Favorite Track: Passin’ Me By

Ok

I've always heard how legendary this was, but never got around to it. I finally have an excuse to do it, and I couldn't be happier. 01. 4 Better Or 4 Worse (Interlude) Smooth little jazz intro to get us started. 02. Oh Shit Really funny lol. Especially the second verse. Even if the slight transphobia is off-putting in the final verse, it was 1992, I can let it slide. 03. It's J***aboo Time (Skit) Just a fun lil' skit. It's fun. 04. 4 Better Or 4 Worse It's clear they're just having a fun time, but man that third verse is... rough, to say the least. 05. I'm That Type Of N***a Really fun, and an absolute banger. Best lyrics so far, by-far! 06. If I Were President (Skit) Is cute and funny. 07. Soul Flower (Remix) Favorite instrumentation so far! Nice and fun! 08. On The DL Really funny, and a great time! 09. Pack The Pipe (Interlude) Blink and you'd miss it. 10. Officer Funny story, and is a certified bop. 11. Ya Mama XBOOOOOOOOOX LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVEEEEEEE. 12. Passin' Me By A weirdly sweet and pretty song, especially coming right after Ya Mama (I usually do anyways). 13. Otha Fish Really cool song, with some sick lyrics. 14. Quinton's On The Way (Skit) Real silly, and real fun. 15. Pack The Pipe Took a second for me to enjoy it, but it's when he had the child smoke weed where it won me over. 16. Return Of The B-Boy Super old school, even for the time. A cool way to close the album, even if it's one of the weakest tracks. I'm a person that enjoys more sad, serious albums... but this is sick. Is just a complete BLAST of a ride for 57 minutes! Even on the slower, longer songs I didn't get bored at all! That's the job of an album isn't it?

I almost never like rap but this album is understandable with great beats. Very fun.

No private session used for Spotify. Another album that makes me wish hip hop stayed on the fun happy path instead of the dark gangsta misogyny it morphed into. Sure, this album has too many uses of the N word for me to put on heavy rotation, but hey, this wasn't made for me.

2 star, Did not enjoy really.

See pretty much every other rap album on this list, jazzified by 10%.

Great album. I have listened to this a few times previously. I don’t think it really has aged well lyrically but I think it’s an interesting album nonetheless. It’s really great at story telling but also sounds great.

Enjoyed this, manages to be both fun and interesting. Never heard of it at all but I would listen again. Feels like it does something genuinely different.

The jazz-hip-hop DNA connects directly to A Tribe Called Quest — same warm sample aesthetic, same groove-forward approach, same sense of MCs who actually liked music rather than just rap. J-Swift's production has the same quality of finding something genuinely beautiful in a looped jazz fragment and building a world around it. "Passin' Me By" is the peak, a Quincy Jones sample turned into one of the most melodically lovely hip-hop songs of the era, the longing and the humor coexisting in ways that shouldn't work and do completely. The honest limitations are two: the craft doesn't quite reach the level that earned Low End Theory its four, and some of the lyrical content hasn't aged gracefully — material that felt transgressive or playful in 1992 landing differently from the distance of three decades. Both things can be true simultaneously without canceling out the genuine pleasures. A respectful three that acknowledges the warmth and the jazz foundation without pretending the whole record holds up as well as its best moments suggest it might.

#498/1001. I think this album just became my alltime favourite hip-hop album. Groovy, jazzy, fun, and probably because it is not about boosting your ego or showing how tuff or hot you are.

RATING: 7/10 HIGHLIGHT: Otha Fish LOWLIGHT: Ya Mama

It’s so good

60

Lol goobers

Muzički dovoljno dobar album da mi nisu toliko ni zasmetali tekstovi.

That was dope. The fun is infectious.

3.5 pleasant listen with some questionable parts

I simultaneously want to like this album more and less than I did. Quite conflicting, not an unenjoyable experience, but the quality of the musicians is evidently quite strong, and not something that needs to be so perpetually infantile. There's no shame in having some lighter and cheekier songs in your discography that's to be certain, music shouldn't always be taken seriously, but there is one, at a stretch two, songs on this album the snobbiest of us wouldn't raise an eyebrow at. I just feel like a lot was squandered by the tone of the album. Compare them to what, in my mind, are their most obvious rivals in sound and style Outkast achieve and their legacy with a similar disregard for "proper" etiquette in music and very similar style and Outkast's discography still bulges with more serious songs alongside the more provocative tracks. Without that backbone of songs that take themselves more seriously, Pharcyde to me feel like a cultural moment which seems to have passed. I'm a snob and a prude, I confess and will be the first to say, and that absolutely colours how I rank this album, but so much was squandered here.

Greit innslag i lista, men veldig ensformig i lengden.

Immediately a jazzy piano/bass/drums set. Oh Shit, love those chords, reminds me of a Fatboy Slim song? Fucking In Heaven. So we have some sample-based hip-hop. But back to our old school jazz/soul samples. It's fun, has the call and response more like old funk (Funkadelic). It feels communal, it draws you in. Breathless style of vocal delivery on I'm That Type feels like they've performed in a single take, couple of tiny slips. Feels authentic, and even more impressive with the 99.9% that is tight. Compared to lots of hip-hop albums, the skits are decent and worth listening to themselves I realise to me it's halfway between A Tribe Called Quest's Low End Theory and gangsta rap. Best track - Oh Shit, If I Were President, Soul Flower 4 stars - witty, musical, skilled.

Really enjoyed this one. I really like jazz hop, so the beats were all great. Really enjoyed the wickedly funny and irreverent lyrics as well. Very glad this was included on the list. 4.5/5

I like the genre in this era, however this misses the mark for me. Leans too far into goofy, safe beats, chat over the songs. Know Passin' Me By and Officer, the former is the best song on the album. Soul Flower was good for a first listen.

This is some fine music.

Super cool fusion of jazz-rap with some fantastic sample choices. Feel like they may have made an impression on Childish Gambino, Chance the Rapper, Kid Cudi, and Tyler the Creator... if not indirectly help blazing a trail for them to be appreciated.

Very very very good. Happy to have bed. Introduced outside of just passin me by

Enjoyable listen

Pleasantly surprised, this was fun

Fun, funny, inventive and funky, about all one can really ask for.

Kinda liked "Otha Fish" but otherwise... not for me.

This was horrendous for me. Almost unlistenable. Extremely annoying. One of the worst rap album I've had in this project so far.

This is the Hip-Hop equivalent of a Frank Zappa album, and I will not elaborate on that aspect any further. I was almost tempted to give it five stars, but it just didn't have enough *oomph* to earn that rating. I wish this system allowed ratings by the tenth. A possible 4.5 could work, but since it's not possible, I'm playing it a little safer with my current rating, particularly because I'm in the Pharcyde now. Favorite Track: "Quinton's On The Way".

Both cover and music are dull

No thank you. Was not impressed

we need to bring back yo mama jokes

I think this is Pharcyde's greatest work, it's also a fun album. Oh Shit is such a banger. The hook on I'm that Type of ----- is so catchy. Passin' Me By is an icon in its own right too. Apparently, Pharcyde was using the term "simp" with it's present usage all the way back in 1992. Turns out, that meaning of simp dates back to some writings in 1967-68.

Just a fantastically classic 90's hip-hop album.

Pleasantly surprised to see the Pharcyde on here! I guess I didn't realize how influential they really were. However, considering what the west coast hip-hop scene was like in the early 90's, The Pharcyde were helping usher in an alternative hip-hop movement in a sea of gangsta/hardcore rap, which is commendable. It's a very jazzy production with inspired sampling work (sampling the Jetsons? Like c'mon!), which made me think these guys were from the east coast for the longest time. The whole album's pretty irreverent and goofy in content, which could make this a refreshing listen for some. I could also see the arguments that some aspects of this album didn't age well too, although I didn't find the skits/interludes to be too intrusive here. "Passin' Me By" is the obvious highlight here, but wanted to give a shout to "Soul Flower" too.

Pretty standard hip hop album Nothing crazy impressive but I enjoyed this album Favorite: 4 better or 4 worse 2.5/5

These guys seem fun

Another great 90s rap album

this is so close to being the first rap album i've ever listened to that i'd give more than a 3/5, but it is sadly held back by the songs being quite a bit too long and the album itself way overstaying its welcome. shame, too, because i don't really understand what about these songs i like but something about them sets this firmly above basically all the similar music that i've heard so far (actually it's probably the humor i love silly music)

A wild and experimental sound that marks the development from the rough 90's era sound to the smoother one we know today. I was initially unsure about the skits but they grew on me. The direct and uncompromising lyrics aged surprisingly well, so much so that I actually enjoyed a song entirely made from "Yo Mama" jokes. While I haven't heard of the band before, I am looking forward to hearing from them again. Best songs are I'm That Type Of Nigga and Officer. 8/10, wild and unbound.

5/10

#457 Enjoyed the jazz infused vibe to this, the album flows well albeit, maybe goes on a bit too long. It’s a bit immature in many ways but it’s hard to judge on the strength of one listen. It’s something I’d be happy to revisit in future though. Heard before? ❌ Would I revisit? ✅ Listen before you die?❓ Fave track(s): Passin’ Me By Rating: 6/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a great album. I own it on vinyl. Fun beats and flows but the lyrics are dated.

Quite enjoy this type of hip hop although the album is a bit too long. Funny lyrics too. Nice beats.

Jazzy and fun

1075 - "Here's your juice box and orange slice. Thanks for coming."

23/09/2026 Seeing this album, I had higher hopes than how it actually played out. Slightly disappointed with this. Spotify listeners: 2.9 million

Extremt soft

Riktigt skön vibe!

Var la okej för hiphop.

I'm rap there's Beastie Boys juvenile and then there's ICP juvenile, this album is a little too close to ICP fir my tastes

YES! For those of you that only know me as a rock/metal gal this may surprise you,Haha. I was stoked to listen to this as part of this project! 80’s and 90’s hip hop was seriously the best hip hop. Kayne, take note, this is what Hip hop should sound like. Before you all got depressing, lame and mumbly, grey and beige. This album screams the era of Fresh Prince of Belair, boom boxes and bright colours. Yo Mama jokes ARE funny and the 11th track highlights that. 90’s Hip Hop Artists were the pinnacle lyricists of the genre as a whole, they could rhyme, earn respect and make it sound catchy. I’m off to dust off my Salt n Pepa album. Would I buy this record if I saw it in the $5 bargain bin - absolutely!

"Passin Me By" is a fantastic 90s jazz rap song that Lupe Fiasco basically created his whole career around. But the rest of the album? BORING

Amongst the most talented dirty jokes ever written

Criminally disappointing… 2..

I was liking the beats, but the first song devolved into transphobia and that soured me real fast. Also the skits in hip-hop albums seem to never hold up.

Sometimes alright, sometimes not

No fav song

Don’t like hip hop, but if I had to choose, this is the hip hop I’d listen to

I can't help but loving this type of 90s rap

I guess I need to be in the right mood to like it ahahahah and yesterday I was

A very funny listen. Not necessarily my thing but I enjoyed it for the most part. A bit too long for my taste

Great 90s rap. Beats are on point and they’re just having a good time with this album. First two albums are classics and not something you hear anymore in modern hip hop/rap. Just a smooth record from start to finish

This is fun!

A great album - so much fun, I couldn't help but smiling at times. Some of it I've heard before because I had a lot of friends back in the day who liked this album, so there was a little nostalgia..."I remember this!"

If I could 3.5 this I would

Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde may just be every 14 year old white boy's favorite antisemetic rapper's favorite album, but that won't stop me from checking out a staple of the 90s Jazz Rap scene. I got to see them live on my birthday this year and let me tell you these guys are still kicking it over 32 years later. I think for the most part this album has aged a lot better than a good chunk of rap projects from the 90s, but there still are quite a few flaws that are showing their age now. First and foremost I think the interludes all very much clog up this album, and I know for a fact I am not the only one who thinks this. The only interlude that serves any sort of purpose in my eyes is If I Were President because it feels like an actual song and interlude in one. One other thing I don't has aged the best is the song Oh Shit and I'm sure if you just read the lyrics it'll make a lot more sense what I mean, people just weren't as accepting then as they are now. Now since I got all the negatives out of the way let me get into some of the positives of this record. The chemistry here is so ecstatic and infectious in how it always comes across so charming, fun, while also making you feel like you are in the "friend group" of Pharcyde. While I don't think the beats on the album are all that crazy, they are the perfect level for anyone looking for a "Baby's First..." project to get into Jazz Rap, 90s Boom Bap, or even West Coast Hip Hop in general.

Bezveze skroz, a tako je dobro krenulo. 2/5, 3/10

Wierd

Early 90’s rap with completely unhinged lyrics

Fuck no

Rock and country music that demeans and victimised women 😃 Rap music that demeans and victimises women 😡

It was Ok-ish for a Rap Album. I liked that O learned more about the origin of "Fire Water Burn" through this album and most of it wasn't boring, but I'm still not a Rap fan.

Hip Hop, 66 eme album =>1/5

Classic🔥

Not entirely for me, but it was okay.

Sure it’s fun but it’s also dumb. The beats are good but not touching De La or Tribe.

Fun rhymes. Nice relaxed beats.

Liked this more than I thought. Pretty funny and weird.

Wild

Helllllll yeah, my favorite 90s, non-DOOM, hip-hop album. I really need to get this on vinyl

I quite enjoy the production of this album a good mix of beats and instruments.

Some good beats and questionable lyrics

8/10 Muy buen album, música de negro yankee. Tiene una parte que nada que ver, pero después tope

I was honestly really surprised with how much of this album I've already heard. either they the actual songs or via samples

A little good fun, but probably not something I’d listen to again