The Pharcyde

After a four year long hiatus the Pharcyde is making a
new beginning once again. Since the early nineties the
group has been dropping classics, and now with the
release of their new album "Humboldt Beginnings",
there should be no difference. The only difference
today is really the amount of members in the group. As
time went on and the numbers diminished with Fatlip and
Tre leaving the group, Booty Brown and Imani were left
to carry on the Pharcyde legacy and name. However, the
two of them have not been alone in their venture. With
beats produced by Spaceboy Boogie X aka Cassanova and
Booty Brown (together known as the Pitchhitters), and
managed by Greg "Smooch Cat" Campbell , the group has
found new ground to stand on and is planning on
definitely staying around for a lot more time.

Redael: What makes Humboldt Beginnings a new beginning
for the Pharcyde?
Booty Brown: I say it's a new beginning as far as the
masses. When the masses look at Humboldt Beginnings,
they see it as a commercial release. People just look
at it as 'the Pharcyde's back and where have you guys
been for this 4 year hiatus'. But all throughout the
while we've been releasing things in Japan and Europe.

Redael: So what was your mindset going into the
project?
Imani: Gotta do this shit man, fuck that shit, gotta
do this shit. That was really my mentality.
B.B.: Yeah, that and just basically show people what I
can do. I mean we had the budgets and the money to
create the Bizarre Ride's and the Labcabin's, but I
feel like now what I want to show people is that now I
can create the same kind of quality work as far as
when you look at the cd, how it's made, all the
concepts of the album, that you won't look at it as
less than. That you listen to it and think it's equal
quality even though there was budget difference of
about $200,000 in the studio. But I don't think if you
listen to it, the money made the difference as far as
the quality of the sound. The sound is still there.

Redael: So how has the chemistry of the Pharcyde
changed from when the group was a quartet in the
beginning to now, the duo of today?
Imani: The chemistry is different. Tre was more into
his own thing and Fatlip was on his own mission. Me
and Romye (Booty Brown) were always kickin it. We
danced together before and then we were always just
hangin together. Fatlip and his girl were always
connected at the hip and Tre always had a Yoko Ono
with him. And me and Romye were just kickin it. So it
changed that they're not around.
B.B.: Also people looked at it like Fatlip is gonna
come with this type of rhyme, Tre is gonna sing the
hook, Brown is gonna come straight forward, and Imani
is gonna make you laugh on some other type of weird
kinda crazy stuff. But now it's just me and Imani and
so people are trying to grasp that same type of
Bizzare Ride type of feeling, but so many things have
changed and things are a lot different now. Besides
the two members being gone, the "old" Pharcyde feeling
isn't really there. If you look at Tre's album, it
doesn't really give that old vibe and Fatlip is
somewhat there, but he's still not the same.

Redael: Do you think then, if Tre and Fatlip were
still here, do you think you would be doing the same
type of music found on Humboldt Beginnings?
Imani: No, there probably wouldn't be a Humboldt
Beginnings. It just wasn't in the cards for all of us
to be together.
B.B.: I mean when we first came together as a group we
said we were gonna make three albums, but as a
foursome we only made it to two. Our personnel just
couldn't be together to make music. The whole time we
were constantly reinventing ourselves and trying to
prove ourselves. Like showing we can work without Jay
Swift, Jay Dee, Delicious Vinyl, and ultimately Tre
and Fatlip. We just think people won't really know
what to think like, 'Tre would be dope on this song,
or Fatlip would be dope on this song'. But Tre and
Fatlip are now so different and so are we. But the
taboo part is that we still call ourselves the
Pharcyde. But we didn't leave, they left. I never quit
and I never will.

Redael: The song "Fallin" by Mya, how do you feel
about that?
B.B.: I feel good about it. We sampled somebody and
they sampled us so it's all good. But I know people
are like 'oh no, they raped the classic' but now
people are borrowing from other artists. But we (Hip
Hop) raped disco and it was all good. Now hip hop is
large and other hip hop artists borrow from other hip
hop artists
Imani: Bite!! They bite, call it what it is. Everybody
bites. That's biting son. I'll be biting. Hip Hop is
made on biting. You take a little something of what
they did, flip it on some other shit and then take it
the club and say "HO!".
B.B.: Yeah, from the start of it it's always been some
borrowed type of thing. I'm not the inventor, I'm just
the translator.

Redael: Speaking of biting, rumor has it that the
Neptune's want to remake "Passin Me By".
Imani: Of course they do, why wouldn't they? Its a
classic. Just another thing to make money on. I be
feelin like that song is "Happy Birthday" or somethin,
it's been through so many remixes from the Drum and
Bass, to Joe's "Stutter" and people are still puttin
the shit out. It's funny too becuz Joe's song was even
bigger than "Passin Me By". Yeah, people would hear
our song and were saying we sampled Joe.
B.B.: But it's not my song. I was the one who said Joe
could use the sample. I'm so glad Quincy Jones stepped
in and said we could use the sample originally. It
changed our careers and changed our lives, and the
lives of other people around us. So if people think
that by us letting Joe use the sample was wrong, then
let them. But I like music, I like R&B. I like some of
the stuff on the radio, I just don't like hearing it
all the time.
Imani: All it did was revive us because we didn't have
any music out at the time and people were like 'where
do I know that song from?'. So deejays were like "fuck
this" and started playing the original "Passin' Me By"
again.
BB: But the difference between the Joe song and the
Mya song was that Tre and Fatlip, who left the group,
went out and tried to capitalize on the Pharcyde name,
even though they wanted no part of us. They got
together because there was all this promotion and
stuff, you know just trying to make a name for
themselves, strictly a money thing. It was just funny
to me because the same two guys who weren't claiming
Pharcyde, all of a sudden were on the song and people
were saying "Pharcyde" and all of a sudden it became
all good to be Pharcyde once again. I think that was
where the difference was between the Joe song and the
Mya song. We tried to reach out to them, but for us to
get back together it will take a lot because we need
to start it off right. It's not just about the money.
Pharrell (of the Neptune's) said this is an opportunity
of a lifetime, but we can't do it if it's not right. I
mean I love money and I need it just as much as the
next man, but then at the same time I can't get with
them (Tre and Fatlip) and sell myself short just for
the money. I mean I look on the site in the forums and
people are like, "They really need to get off the ego
thing and just start making that music". But it's not
really an ego thing. It's just that we don't believe
in that, making music just to make money. I mean Tre
has now been saying he would want to make some music
again with us, but if Fatlip can't do it then he can't
do it. But we can't do it like that. Everyone has to
be there, everyone has to wear their own hat. Because
if it's not started off right we're just setting
ourselves up to fall into that big ass trap again.

Redael: Now as far as the subject matter of the album
goes... do you guys talk a lot about a certain herb?
Imani: Naw, not really. I was listening to the album.
It's more like there's references, but it's more about
real shit. Like there's pointers, some do's and
don'ts. There's only like two songs where it's like
"yeah gotta smoke that weed, gotta smoke that bud,
gotta get high and shit". But it's more like a facade,
you think we're talking about weed but it ain't that.
BB: I would say it deals on the subject more or less
to show people something like "drinking and driving
makes you crash" so "smoking and this makes you do
this". That's kind of like how weed is the base of the
album. Like in the song "Right Before, Right After"...
yeah I'm talking about smoking in the song, but I'm
really talking about sex, it's just that I like to
smoke before I have it and right after this is how to
makes me feel. Also on "Dedication" I'm talking about
all the stuff I do with the struggles I go through
just with weed involved. Like going to cop bud, or
what happened to me after I smoked a joint. Just all
the things that go around smoking... all of your
experiences that lead back to "damn, I was smoking a
joint".
Redael: So basically like it's like "The Adventures of
After Smoking Weed".
B.B.: Yeah, it's just all the things that can happen
because you smoked. Where it takes you, everything
that happens throughout your day.

Redael: So what is the mode that weed can gets you in?
What does it do for you? Does it get you more
creative, or what?
Imani: No I don't smoke to be creative. I smoke so I
don't go crazy and fucking choke somebody. That is
exactly why I smoke weed. Cuz I'm so on some other
shit if I don't smoke weed. Like sometimes the weed
can barely keep me calm, I go through spurts where it
don't work no more. But usually when I smoke it's like
"it's not so bad and shit, it's not so bad".
B.B.: It's a fix man, it's a drug. That's all I can
say. I jones for it you know what I'm saying.
Sometimes when I'm at my house and I want to smoke so
bad but all my bud is at the studio. And then I'm like
"damn I gotta drive like 30 minutes to go get it" and
there goes the mission. Like the song "Skammin" (not
on the album), and that's basically how we talk about
all the stuff that we have to go through just to get
the fix before you even have it. I don't think there's
nothing wrong with it personally because everybody has
a fix for something.

Redael: So who has the best weed, in your opinion,
what area?
B.B.: Cali. Yeah, there's Amsterdam because it's legal
there. But in Cali, for it not to be legal you can
find so many different strands by just talking to
different people.
Imani: Up north. Humboldt.
B.B.: Yeah, we got it good in California.

Redael: You guys joined forces with Souls of Mischief
to form a group called Mighty Python. What are the
updates on that?
B.B.: The Mighty Python has been an ongoing project
that has been in the works for about five years now,
that we've only been able to do one single. It's kind
of died out a little, but there are people still
expecting it. But I just don't want to record the
first twelve songs and put them out. We need to put
some time into it because a lot of people will be
listening to this closely. But we need to do it fast
because there are no two groups that have got together
to make an album. So I want to do it right, but the
scheduling has just been hard. I mean they got their
own thing with Hiero, Tajai's got his solo thing now.
Opio comes down and records but the scheduling is
hard. Right now there's just a lot of projects and
hustling. We're doing it basically with no budget at
all and it's hard because they're up north and we're
in L.A.

Redael: So speaking of Souls of Mischief, both of your
groups started off in the 90's. How do you feel now
about the radio playing old school mixes with your
music on it?
Imani: That's how it is. That's the old school. Cuz we
were playing old school when it was from the 80's.
That's the same shit they were saying. You know like,
"How can it be old school? Rap isn't even twenty years
old!". But that's just how it is.
B.B.: Man, I am old school, I am old. '91 is when our
project came out.
Imani: It is what it is.

Redael: How is your stage show? What's the best thing
about it? What pumps up the crowd? What do you guys
have the most fun doing?
Imani: You get to sweat.
B.B.: It's good to do some of the old songs because so
many people still doubt it still to this day. Like if
we do "Passin' Me By", they don't think that I can
come with the higher voice. But it's more or less like
we can still do it and we can do some new shit too.

Redael: Now you guys had an article in Valley/City
Beat (Los Angeles). What went wrong about the article?
B.B.: What hurt me about the whole article was we
opened up to Frank P. (the author) and he got our side
of the story. Then he went and got quotes from Tre
after the fact to make Tre look like he wasn't on some
bullshit, saying he was working with Fatlip, so if he
can work with Fatlip they can work together and we're
not hating each other, we should all get it together
to make some music. It just made him look like he
wasn't on some bullshit. But it wasn't like that. Then
Frank went to our old manager Suave and got quotes
from him saying that there was just too many egos,
like we were the Lakers. Basically I just felt the
article wasn't fair.
Imani: Yeah everybody had their opinions. But if you
want to make it in basketball terms, Fatlip was like
Rodman. Not Shaq or Kobe, he's Rodman. So if you want
to deal with players doing that bullshit go ahead, but
it gets played out after awhile. Then you feel like
I'd rather take my chances and lose in the playoffs
then to keep him around for another contract.
B.B.: I just felt it was unfair when asked them
general questions and he got personal with us in order
to validate his side. But we weren't the kings like
the article claims. We were just a link in the chain.
I know they claim we influenced groups like Black Eyed
Peas, but there were other groups too like A Tribe
Called Quest, Fugees, Lords of the Underground, De La
Soul, etc. But Puff Daddy did a lot for Hip Hop.
Imani: Yeah, you gotta like Puff Daddy. He didn't save
Hip Hop single handedly but he set certain standards.
People say Kanye West did it, but naw it's Puff Daddy.
I'd rather have him than Vanilla Ice or MC Hammer. I
mean he's got the same style but...
B.B. Yeah just the 2005 version.
Imani: He's a real Hip Hop mothafucka, he was dancing
in Doug E. Fresh videos back in the day. You gotta
like Puff Daddy. Puff Daddy is cool. I like Puff
Daddy.
B.B.: Yo, and that statement right there could just
get a puritan backpacker coming in here crying "Say it
isn't so!" But yeah without Puff Daddy you wouldn't
have the Mary J. Blige's or the Biggie's or the Craig
Mack's. You just gotta look at the background. Right
now looking at Kanye, he's got the full benefits of
having the major label push behind it as well as
making good music. So he's able to do well. So is
Outkast. They're on KROQ and everything else.
Redael: Yeah, Eminem can do the same thing, the
crossover.
Imani: Eminem is an exception. He's a specimen, he's
special. Lightning ain't never striking like that
again. Anything you say with his name in it is just
gonna be something different. He's diamond.

Redael: So who would win in an arm wrestling match,
Brown or Imani?
Imani: Brown would get me because he's got leverage
and shit.
B.B.: Well, I don't know cuz I haven't worked out in
awhile.

Redael: So what would you guys like to say to the fans
who have been down with you since day one, and then
also to the new ones?
Imani: The new ones are cool cuz they're new. The old
ones are tight cuz they're still rollin'. Also, girls
like our stuff. Yeah the girls are tight.
B.B.: Yeah, Bizarre Ride fans are more like the
skaters and Labcabin fans are more of the
laidback-intellectual-computer-type. Plain Rap fans
are more of the "Fight the Power" type of people. This
album so far has had the older hip hop heads coming
back to feel the older hip hop vibe. It's not the old
Pharcyde but still the older hip hop feeling is there.
Yeah, the fans are cool.