The Pharcyde: clockwise, from bottom left,
Imani, Slimkid 3, Fatlip and Bootie Brown.

The quartet - Imani, Bootie Brown and Fat Lip are the other Pharcyders - was about to leave for a tour to Japan and bad connection or not, Hardson was pausing from the party to do his duty as an artist.

More than most contemporary rap acts The Pharcyde is a musical ink blot test. Are they wry satirists with jazz roots? Gangsta pranksters? Sexists? Dope heads? It depends on what the listener wants to find.

"You have to be able to laugh at things. If you can't be humorous (about life) you'll just run yourself down," Hardson said of the group's more comical accounts of adventures and misadventures in inner city Los Angeles.

While sex-and-dope cuts catch some ears, the quartet addresses issues such as racism, promiscuity, the human cost of the crack epidemic, African-American stereotypes and economic exploitation of inner city communities with equal eloquence.

"Everybody has their own interests and brings to the table what they're good at. That's what gives Pharcyde our individuality."

The Pharcyde came together when Fat Lip met the other three at an aspiring artists development program funded by A&M Records. Something clicked and they began trying out names. The pun-rich tag "The Pharcyde" won out; individual monikers have changed a few times since the quartet hit with its debut album, "Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde" in 1992.

The album was met with a barrage of favorable cliches from national music reviewers, but the group announced that they would break up after three albums. With their second, "Labcabincalifornia," garnering even bigger raves, is The Pharcyde still on schedule for oblivion?

"As far as we know. You grow into people, you grow out of people. We just try to make three good albums. Who knows what tomorrow holds?"

Did they seriously consider calling themselves True Jiggaboo?

"We were going through names," Hardson began - then the phone cut out and broke the connection to The Pharcyde.

In concert: The Pharcyde
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Groove, 1130 N. Nimitz
Tickets: $12.50, Connection outlets or by phone at 545-4000 or 800-333-3388