The Pharcyde Have Reunited On A Song About Their Regrets
Since the mid-2010s, there have been several unexpected Hip-Hop reunions. Earlier this year, Black Star released its highly-anticipated sophomore album after nearly a quarter-century since Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey’s debut. A Tribe Called Quest’s founding four members secretly reconvened for 2016’s chart-topping We got it from here…thank you 4 your service, just ahead of Phife Dawg’s death. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Leaders Of The New School, and Little Brother have all resumed operations (at least temporarily) to varying outcomes.
However, one heralded Hip-Hop collective that Heads may not have seen coming back together is The Pharcyde. After two celebrated albums during the 1990s, the original quartet of Fatlip, Slimkid3, Bootie Brown, and Imani have spent much of the last 27 years divided. The former Delicious Vinyl Records act linked for Rock The Bells festival touring in the late 1990s, but held back on music. Imani, Tre, and Fatlip have performed as “The Farside.” Previously, Slimkid and Fatlip rapped under “Bizarre Ride,” while Imani and Bootie Brown legally kept the original band name. It was 18 years ago that Brown and Imani dropped The Pharcyde’s last album, Humboldt Beginnings, one that was absent of Fatlip and Tre.
The Pharcyde’s Fatlip Says He’s All The Way Back & Shows It (Video)
However, in 2022, a full Pharcyde song comes to the light, courtesy of Fatlip’s newly-released “My Bad,” featuring Bootie Brown, Imani, and Slimkid3. Notably, the LABCABIN Records song deals with regrets and sorrow. At the top of the song, Bootie professes with melody: “I find the hardest thing to do is admitting when you f*cked up / Trying to keep the trash outside, way in the dump truck.” The verse goes on to list perils of society while adding, “We’re wasting time.” Moments later, Bootie uses a tree metaphor to discuss “the root of the problem” making for a “sticky situation.”
Imani uses wordplay to name-check The Pharcyde: “On to the other side, where others hide / Farther than The Pharcyde / You decide, when it’s time.” Slimkid raps, “You don’t have to tip-toe and flip-flop and wind up in a sh*t-show / We much too old for that, gots to pack this bag and dip though,” In his part, Fatlip questions, “Was I in the wrong or did it get blown out of proportion?” Fatlip apologizes in the heartfelt chorus, points to changed phone numbers, is blinded by frustration, and asks the other party to tell him how they feel.
DJ Spinna’s Pharcyde Mix Features A Song They Did With Bobby Brown & Ralph Tresvant (Audio)
Krayzie Bone, RBX, and Butch Cassidy are featured on Fatlip’s latest album, Torpor. Production is handled by Chris “The Glove” Taylor, Jelly Roll, and Sccit & Siavash The Grouch. The latter confirmed the reunion attempt in a statement to HipHopDX. “We put a lot into perfecting every last song so that we could give the world what it deserves. Additionally, we wanted nothing more than to reunite The Pharcyde, so we brought everyone together on ‘My Bad’ in hopes of destroying the divide and letting love win. But this isn’t a Disney movie and a fairytale ending isn’t what you always get,” said Slavish The Grouch. News of the reunion song made its way online, courtesy of Illuminati2G, in mid-2021. It is unclear when “My Bad” was recorded.
Earlier this year, Fatlip teamed with Blu and Guilty By Association for Live From The End Of The World, Vol. 1 (The Demos). That collection involved Madlib, MC Eiht, Money-B, Opio, Chali 2na, the late Gift Of Gab, and more.
#BonusBeat: New music by Fatlip, Blu, Ras Kass, GBA, and Hemlock Ernst on the official Ambrosia For Heads playlist: