0478. The Pharcyde
Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde

Kicking out this type of album on the West Coast in the middle of the gangsta era was probably not the easiest thing to do, but The Pharcyde managed to mix ridiculousness like Quinton's On His Way with the longing lyrics of Passing Me By and goofing off (Ya Mama) and make into a gold-selling album.

And you can tell it's a debut and they're hungry for it as they overreach a bit in their aspiration to get everything they want to get out to get on there, cause at times there's a WTF? feel to the selection - I can't help but wonder if the skit It's Jiggaboo Time is meant to be an ironic pass at the track I'm That Type Of N****, or if it's just accidentaly ironic.

But with plain party jams like the album closer Return Of The B-Boy and the spoofing Public Enemy's Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos in the opening lines of Officer, it's a generally smart album with mostly good-to-great alternative hiphop (a couple of bomb tracks alongside a couple of bombing tracks).