The Pharcyde
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Thanks to groups like the Roots, Spearhead, and the Fugees, innovative and diverse hip-hop isn’t so rare anymore. While hip-hop has evolved, the Pharcyde has managed to stay ahead of the pack with amusing, street-smart rhymes and creative samples. The most serious issue the band addressed in its first album, Bizarre Ride II, was women “passing them by.”
But for all its innovation, the group remains stuck on one hip-hop staple: misogyny. It may seem like a tired accusation, but the misogyny is more deceptive in the case of the Pharcyde because they seamlessly slip it in between the loopy lyrics and smooth rhythms. Bizarre Ride II is so full of fast-paced fun that you almost don’t notice that six of the album’s eleven songs refer to women as bitches. At a recent performance at Metro, the band’s bad attitude was glaringly obvious.
Hip-hop is still a macho world, and the music reflects it. But the bands that are supposed to be pushing the music in a positive direction are still carrying the same old destructive baggage. The Pharcyde may have changed hip-hop music for the better, but unless they stop propagating misogyny in their lyrics, they’ll continue to drag their songs down, amounting to the same pathetic drivel we’ve been hearing for years.
