MVRemix: How did The Pharcyde form?

Imani: Fat Lip was originally a solo artist. Fat Lip was dope and he has been rapping longer than all of us. In our kind of group, fans have favorites. Some people may not like Fat Lip but think Tre is the best thing since sliced bread. Originally The Pharcyde was Imani, Bootie Brown, Fat Lip, and Slip Kid Tre. Fat Lip, from the very beginning, was a solo emcee who always knew he would do a solo record. We were a group before Fat Lip got in. We had another person in the group who, right before we signed our deal, told us that he didn’t want to emcee. Jammer D? He was a solo dude with a solo mentality. That’s why he’s not in the group now. When you are in a group, there’s a lot of give and take. You have to compromise. When solo, you worry about yourself. Tre was not a solo emcee but he always had side projects going on. He never was around. So, the whole make up of the group was me and Bootie Brown. Me and Bootie Brown were the foundation. Tre was my partner. Romi knew Fat Lip. I didn’t know Fat Lip. Romi introduced me to Fat Lip and I introduced Fat Lip to Tre. I introduced Tre to Romi. When people see the group from outside, looking in, they get it in their heads how they see the dynamics of the group. After you really know us, Tre and Fat Lip were truly opposites. They were different sides of the coin.

MVRemix: In the ‘Plain Rap’ LP, Fat Lip was gone but Tre was involved with the recording process. On ‘Humboldt Beginnings’ LP, Tre was absent. How different was the recording process on these two albums?

Imani: It was different. The difference was that we knew who was involved in the recording process. When we were recording stuff with Tre, he would come and go. He would be gone for weeks. We felt that we were bugging him to come f*ck with us in the studio.

MVRemix: What happened between Fat Lip and Slim Kid Tre?

Imani: Fat Lip is not in the group because Tre expressed his dislike for him to me. It was a personal thing. Tre was like, ‘Dude, I love the group but Fat Lip is f*cking me up and I just don’t like him. It’s not that I don’t think he’s dope, I just don’t like him.’ He said, ‘I can’t be in the group with the Fat Lip because I can’t be the artist I want to be.’ Fat Lip was very negative. He was a very negative person. Tre was totally the opposite. Tre is very happy, go lucky, and very in tuned with nature. Fat Lip is more of a clown. Fat Lip has a mantra that he would just repeat. He would say, ‘I don’t give a fuck, I don’t give a fuck’. That was one of his major things. We grew up tough but there were things we cared about. We just grew up in different ways. You don’t want to make music if you feel like that. We didn’t kick Fat Lip out of the group but, he always did let us know that he was going to do a solo record. We were always a group and he didn’t know how a group functioned. He was on the outside, looking in, and thinking about how the group should be. We were inside, knowing how the group should be. Him and Tre would fight. I mean, they would get into fist fights. We were doing the second record (‘Labcabincalifornia’) and Jay Dee thought we were crazy. Fat Lip wanted to use the Akai and Tre wanted to use the ASR. That’s how serious The Pharcyde takes it! It was just crazy. Basically, Fat Lip and Tre weren’t getting along. We came together as Imani, Bootie Brown, Fat Lip, and Slim Kid Tre. We asked ourselves, ‘For the group to continue, what do we have to do?’ Basically, Tre gave us an ultimatum. He said, ‘You got to get rid of Fat Lip or get ride of me.’ Tre is my partner. We came up together. Fat Lip is a cool person. He’s a dope ass emcee, but if I have to choose somebody, I’m choosing my partner. I felt that we made two records already. People loved Fat Lip. Also, Fat Lip thought he was the dopest thing since sliced bread. Perfect! ‘Go do your record.’ He has not put out a record yet. That shows something. If Fat Lip was the dopest and the main reason why The Pharcyde was dope, why didn’t he come with something? I would say that the parties involved made the whole group dope. The collaboration and the vibe made The Pharcyde dope. No one person made The Pharcyde dope. The reason why you love Tre, is because of Imani, Bootie Brown, and Fat Lip. The reason why you love Fat Lip is because of Imani, Bootie Brown, and Slim Kid Tre. I felt that Tre pulled a fast one on us. He got us to get rid of Fat Lip and then he went solo. What, N*gga? I was really f*cked up about it for a while. I put everything into The Pharcyde. This is what I do, what I love. I was thinking, ‘Why is this sh*t happening?’. Then, I stopped asking, ‘Why?’ and did what I had to do for the better of the franchise. I really wanted my partner to be around, but they chose not to be around. What do I do now? I’m an emcee! I make music! I love hip-hop! I’m a member of The Pharcyde. Do I change my name? No! This n*gga left the group! We The Pharcyde! This is who is here now and we are working with the hand that we were dealt. It went from being salty and sour to being upset and frustrating and then, to rejuvenated. Now, we are where we are supposed to be at.

MVRemix: The true fans have come to depend on your music.

Imani: (singing). ‘When it seems there’s no one to trust, you can always count on The Pharcyde to bust!’ That’s how we really feel, man.

MVRemix: How has the popularity of The Pharcyde changed?

Imani: I was doing this interview one time and this guy asked me, ‘How do you feel that you guys don’t count anymore?’ I didn’t get upset. Some people feel that if you’re not on MTV or the power station in your area, you are not doing anything. There are only like 20 slots that are available for MTV. They are for the rock, pop, R&B, or hip-hop. I don’t feel crazy that they don’t have a slot for The Pharcyde. I’ve seen so many groups come and go. Dude, I didn’t think that we would still be here in 1997! You know what I’m saying? For somebody to say that we are not relevant anymore, is nothing. I never thought we were relevant in the sense of selling records and things of that nature. As far as grade-A hip-hop with integrity, The Pharcyde was kind of like 2nd to none. We carved out our own niche in history. I don’t feel like we have to out-do ourselves. There are people who love us and we have a strong following. We’re one song or one video away from people saying, ‘Where did you guys come from?’, or labeling us an overnight success. Yeah, we are an overnight success that has taken us 10, 12, 13 years to happen. It’s sort of like The Black Eye Peas but not as commercial. I don’t fault them because they are doing what they have always been doing. The people crossed over to them. They didn’t do anything different except put a white girl in the group. It makes the music sound different. They didn’t really change up their whole steelo. Their whole stee is basically the same.

MVRemix: How difficult was it to start Chapter One Records?

Imani: Well, it wasn’t really that hard at all, except for the lack of funds. We were put into a situation that was kind of like, necessity is the mother of invention.

MVRemix: Since Slim Kid Tre and Fat Lip left the group, the quartet became a duo. How do you handle their verses when you perform the songs live?

Imani: Okay! Perfect! I’m glad you asked me that! Fat Lip stopped doing shows when he was still in the group. That was part of the reason he was released out of the group.

MVRemix: Don’t you make most of your money when you perform live shows?

Imani: Yeah, that’s how you survive. I wouldn’t say it was a lot of money. A lot of money is relative. You definitely make a bulk of your money as an artist when you perform live.

MVRemix: Okay. Let’s go back to how The Pharcyde handled the live performances after Fat Lip.

Imani: Fat Lip didn’t feel like doing shows. He wanted to stay home and do beats. First, we were upset. Then, we thought that it would help the group if he stayed home and did beats. We thought that we would do shows and handle it while he would do the beats. But, he wasn’t doing no beats! We were out doing shows and paying him to beats while he wasn’t doing beats. He was staying at home, getting faded, rolling around, talking about how dope he is, and sh*t like that. We already had Fat Lip covered for doing shows. This was around 1996 or 1997. Fat Lip’s verses are already embedded in everybody’s head. I usually do the vocals. I do my verses, Tre’s verses, and Fat Lip’s verses. From 1997 to the present, I never, ever had someone come up to me and say, ‘Where’s Fat Lip?’. Even though Fat Lip was not here, the audience never heard a step missing on the show or any of the songs. Sometimes, they don’t even know that he’s not on stage unless I talk about it. I’ve been doing it for so long.

MVRemix: How did you handle things when Slim Kid Tre left?

Imani: Tre stopped doing shows with us in 1999. That was six years ago. We do well. We’re cool.