In thinking about Jay Dee’s proper place amongst the real rap cognoscenti, it’s worth the time to take a look at the Pharcyde’s second disc – Labcabincalifornia. It seems as if the part that Jay Dee played in the conception and execution of that album has been played up a bit in the wake of his demise. Out of the seventeen tracks that make up the disc, Jay Dee had a hand in only seven with the other tracks being produced by some combination of group members and a single contribution by Diamond D of all people. Regardless of who put Labcabincalifornia together, it does represent a significant departure in tone and topic for the west coast group.

Released just short of three years after Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, these rappers had seen a different side of the music industry by that point. After having performed “Yo Mama” for execs at Delicious Vinyl and securing a record deal, the Pharcyde embarked on a variety of tours including performances with De La Soul and even an appearance on a Lollapalooza tour. Along the way excess seems to have made its mark on the group’s producer at the time – J Swift. He reportedly grew to want different things out of his life and career thus precipitating the group to look for other producers to handle its next album.

As previously mentioned Pharcyde group members picked up some of the slack with Bootie Brown and Slimkid3 working the boards for portions of Labcabincalifornia. The contributions here from Dilla, though, are pretty well conceived even considering the fact that these beats were basically the first major album that the Detroit native contributed to. The beat from “Drop” – bolstered by a nice Beastie Boys’ sample – is complete enough to have sounded like something off of Welcome 2 Detroit even as that disc wasn’t released until six years after Labcabincalifornia was completed.

The lyrical fare that accompanies the Dilla beats here are a (sorta) departure from the previous Pharcyde disc. The emcees grew up a bit and were exposed to a great deal more than anything in and around Los Angeles could have showed them. So the soul heavy production that Dilla lent the group works a bit better than another spate of gritty gems.

“Runnin’” much like “Drop” features a sound smoother than what most Pharcyde fans would have expected. And while the hook on here is slick and well put together, those sixteenth notes coming off of the high hat plays as much a part in the tracks success as anything else. And yeah, rap tracks with guitar melodies in ‘em usually work.

Despite how well the production comes off here – even if there’re a few too many spots where folks sing – this is the album that basically sunk the Pharcyde. The group wouldn’t again record throughout the rest of the ‘90s, but has released two discs since the turn of the century. And while neither of those discs has ignited new interest in these emcees they’ve been able to avoid anything even slightly embarrassing.