Cydeways: The Best of the Pharcyde

The Pharcyde: Derrick "Fat Lip" Stewart (rap vocals, vinyl scratches); Tre "Slim Kid" Hardson, Romye "Booty Brown" Robinson, Imani Wilcox (rap vocals).
Additional personnel includes: J-Swift (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, bass, vinyl scratches, background vocals); JMD (drums); M-Walk, J-Swift, Fat Lip (scratches); Rahsaan, Greg Padilla, Brandon Padilla, Cedra Walton, Leslie Cooney (background vocals).
Producers include: J-Swift, L.A. Jay, Slim Kid 3, Jay Dee, The Brand New Heavies.
Compilation producer: Barry Benson.
Engineers include: Eric Sarafin, Gary Wallace, Tim Latham.
Recorded between 1992 & 2000. Includes liner notes by Soren Baker & Barry "Rockbarry" Benson.
Digitally remastered by Dan Hersch (Digiprep).
Photographers: Annalisa Pessin; Bart Everly.
If rap music has taught people anything, it's that even the annoying shimmer of a Mercedes Benz and a pool of high-price hookers can't overshadow true talent. Surprisingly enough, it became clear that the Pharcyde is one of hip-hop's few modern ensembles that stares down modern-day rap and challenges it to a fight. Crafty and cool, Cydeways isn't necessarily genius. Its off-beat and stylistic rhythms and rhymes are an acquired taste at best. But the album still carries innovation that hasn't been touched in years: rap music thriving on a genuine mix of fact, fiction, humor, and memory. "Runnin," "Ya Mama," and "Oh Shit" are creative excerpts from a diary that these boys have carefully crafted. It becomes a kind of coming-of-age story, from making jokes about each other's mother to getting their ass kicked in school. Its undeniable soul is what makes the Pharcyde an underappreciated addition to hip-hop's overplayed and overrated existence in the coming century. So if you still believe in hip-hop, but have become intimidated by its current barrage of smut, simplicity and stupidity, fear not friends -- the Pharcyde's got your back. ~ Darren Ratner