Imani

Pharcyde group members Slimkid3, Bootie Brown, and Imani met as dancers in the late 1980s.

The Pharcyde is an American alternative hip hop group, formed in 1989, from South Central Los Angeles.

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 disc jockey (DJ), followed by producer J-Swift.

Dancing was their main ambition as late as 1990.

Around this time, Imani and Slimkid3 were in a group called "As Is" and later a group called the "Play Brothers", while Bootie Brown was a backup dancer for Fatlip (Fatlip being the last member to join the group ).

Bootie Brown recalls that their earlier dancing careers influenced their rapping – "sometimes the way I rap is almost like the way I used to dance".

The group met Reggie Andrews, a local high-school music teacher who worked with the Dazz Band and Rick James, and who was a major musical influence on their debut album.

The group also met producer J-Swift around this time, as he was Reggie Andrews's "star pupil" according to the book Check the Technique.

Before group settled on the name "The Pharcyde", they were almost called "The Rappers" and "True Jiggaboo", the second of which served as inspiration for their interlude "Jiggaboo Time".

The album was highly acclaimed, and became one of the most praised and influential alternative hip hop albums of the 1990s.

Their second single "Passin' Me By" became a minor Billboard hit, peaking at No. 52 on the Hot 100.

The song was later featured in the hit movie Big Daddy and was also a crossover modern rock hit.

The song is now usually considered a golden-era staple and is the group's most well known song.

The album featured a couple of guest MCs, including Bucwheed (known then as Buckwheat, formerly of the alternative hip-hop group The Wascals) on the tracks "On The DL" and "I'm That Type of Nigga".

The Pharcyde recorded their first demo in 1991, which contained the songs "Passin' Me By", "Ya Mama", and "Officer", and hired a manager, Paul Stewart, who had worked for Cypress Hill, De La Soul, and House of Pain.

Mike Ross of Delicious Vinyl heard the demo and the group was signed to the label in the summer of 1991.

The group is perhaps best known for the hit singles "Drop", "Passin' Me By" and "Runnin", as well as their first album, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde (1992).

They were first featured on Brand New Heavies's album Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1, on the song "Soul Flower", released by Delicious Vinyl in 1992.

The group, along with producer J-Swift, recorded their first album Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, which was released in September 1992.

About the group's sense of humor, Imani was quoted in a 1993 interview saying, "We find humor in things other people don’t. Everyday situations. People might look at things around here and say, like, ‘Damn!’ We say, ‘Hah, hah, hah.’ We just chill out."

Problems between the group and producer J-Swift began during the recording of the debut, with infighting and "personality conflicts".

After the Bizarre Ride album was released, the group began touring with A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, culminating with an appearance at the Lollapalooza show in 1994.

In 1994, Pharcyde appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool.

The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African American community, was heralded as "Album of the Year" by Time.

Before the success of Bizarre Ride, the group moved to Inglewood, California, where they shared a home dubbed the Pharcyde Manor.

Lew of Dirt magazine reports of the Manor, "...you can tell their laid-back style meeting rapid-fire rhyme delivery is a product of the virtual telepathic rapport that only comes from eating, sleeping and breathing under the same roof."

In 1995, The Pharcyde released their second album, Labcabincalifornia.

The album received mixed reviews upon release, maybe due to a different musical direction from the light-hearted playfulness of their debut.

The album included another big crossover hit, "Runnin", peaking at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This single was later featured in the movie 8 Mile, as well as the More Music from 8 Mile soundtrack.

Labcabincalifornia featured production from Jay Dee, who handled the majority of the production.

Member Slimkid3 has stated that the group met Jay Dee by way of Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, who handed them the tape that contained some of the production that would end up on the LP.

This album generated lower sales, not reaching gold status.

A music video for the song "Drop" was directed by Spike Jonze.

Problems grew between Fatlip and the other MCs after this album, resulting in his leaving the group.

In the documentary Cydeways: The Best of the Pharcyde, while the group is performing in shows they still offer their support to Fatlip, telling the crowd that if they support Fatlip on his solo career then they support The Pharcyde and vice versa.

The album was certified Gold by the RIAA in 1996.

The group was largely missing from the hip hop scene between 1997 and 1999.

The group continues to tour and record, both collaboratively and in solo projects—the most recent being Hardson's collaborative EP with DJ Nu-Mark (of Jurassic 5) released in 2014 on Delicious Vinyl.