35. The Pharcyde, Bizarre Ride II
One of the best groups to come out of the West Coast is The Pharcyde: that is simply an undeniable fact. Their debut album the Bizarre Ride II sonically and lyrically carved out a lane for them that quickly cemented them in our minds as dope emcees. And the cover art of this album allowed us to revel in the fun-filled personality of the group. All four of the South Central Los Angeleans, Imani (Emandu Wilcox), Slimkid3 (Trevant Hardson), Bootie Brown (Romye Robinson), and Fatlip (Derrick Stewart), are portrayed as caricatures. Unapologetically Black, each of them purposefully have exaggerated features — big lips, kinky hair, extended limbs, and bulging eyes. As if mocking any stereotypes about their proud race, in one cartoon they flipped the entire narrative bringing their fans on a wild and crazy rollercoaster of a ride. A true bizarre ride …
The art shows them in one car of the amusement park ride zooming into a tunnel that actually is a vagina with teeth. Bizarre Ride huh … but we enjoyed every bit of it.