Have we all forgotten The Pharcyde? Indeed, we have. And the reason for this is found in the fact that the crew's arrival was out of time. They came too soon, in 1992, and, as a consequence, left too soon, in 1995. Had The Pharcyde's debut Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde dropped at the end of the decade, instead of its beginning, they would have become an underground crew with the lasting reputation of Madvillain or Run the Jewels or Odd Future. Indeed, the line between The Pharcyde and Odd Future is unbroken. The first pretty much established the alternative hiphop scene in LA from which Odd Future emerged. And so the city that gave us Easy-E and Snoop Dogg also gave us Fatlip and Chali 2na.

For reasons that are not worth working out in this post, The Pharcyde is now The Far Side. And because the crew entered a world that was not in their time, but way in the future, the second album it dropped, Labcabincalifornia, which introduced the world to the genius of J-Dilla way too soon (in 1995—his star would only rise with his production work on Common's Like Water for Chocolate (2000), particularly "Heat," which I rate as one of the greatest hiphop tracks of all time), went nowhere commercially. (The first album, however, did enjoy some success.) Even with support from Beastie Boys in a groundbreaking video directed by Spike Jonze, the top of the pop charts refused to touch Labcabincalifornia.

After that, hiphop more and more forgot one of the most innovative crew of rappers and producers that's known to the world of music.

The Far Side perform at Neumos on Sunday, May 1, at 7 pm. Find more events suggested by The Stranger here.