Released during the dominant gangsta rap era of West Coast hip hop, Bizarre Ride was described as "refreshing" due to its playful, light-hearted humor and lush, jazzy production.

Along with albums such as To Whom It May Concern... by Freestyle Fellowship, and I Wish My Brother George Was Here by Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Bizarre Ride helped establish a new alternative scene on the West Coast, followed by artists such as Hieroglyphics, the Coup and Jurassic 5.

[3] High school friends "Slimkid3" (Tre Hardson), "Imani" (Emandu Wilcox) and "Bootie Brown" (Romye Robinson) began their career in the entertainment industry as dancers and choreographers under the moniker "Two For Two", making numerous appearances in music videos.

The trio met Derrick "Fatlip" Stewart and producer John "J-Swift" Martinez at an after-school music program called South Central Unit.

[12] Much of the album's acclaim was due to the eccentric, comedic content provided by the four emcees, who were described as a "pack of class clowns set loose in a studio" by Rolling Stone.

Due to its light lyrical content, the album has been described as an extension of the "Daisy Age", established by De La Soul and the Native Tongues Posse.

On the album opener "Oh Shit", SlimKid, Imani and Fatlip trade embarrassing tales about drunken antics, unusual sex partners and transsexuals.

[15] SlimKid, Imani and guest rapper Buckwheat use the song "On the DL" to vent personal stories that they'd like to be kept "on the down-low",[16] with topics including masturbation and murder.

[18] "Otha Fish" finds the group rising up and moving on from their past hang-ups as described in the previous track, "Passin' Me By", the album's hit single.

[19] Bizarre Ride also featured the acclaimed production work of J-Swift, who provides the album with a lush, jazzy soundscape through use of live instrumentation and sampling.

[20][21] Swift relied on a large number of samples,[22] by artists including James Brown, Donald Byrd, Sly & the Family Stone, the Meters, Quincy Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Roy Ayers and Marvin Gaye.

[38] Similarly, a reviewer for Q magazine described the album as a combination of De La Soul's "daffy [...] invention" and the accessible humor of the Fresh Prince.

[41] Describing the Pharcyde as an "unholy amalgam and simultaneous parody of America's black entertainers", David Bennun of Melody Maker praised the album.

[42] The Source's Brett Johnson saw the Pharcyde as a combination of the "off-beat charm" of De La Soul and the "intense enthusiasm and energy" of Leaders of the New School.

[43] NME thought the Pharcyde created "their own sonic Utopia, a world that's by turns riotously funny, twisted, mostly right-on and brooding with noir-ish cool".

[44] The magazine placed Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde at number 39 on their 1993 year-end list of best albums, calling it a "cartoon-strip of blunt-smoking antics, sexual innuendo and unashamed political incorrectness, crammed with infectious funky beats".

[45] Charles Aaron, in his review for Spin, named Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde "one of the most musically vivid hip hop records of the year", but added that "it's hard to hype a group so confused and amused about itself".

[51][52][53][54] AllMusic's John Bush hailed the album for the "amazing rapping and gifted productions", "easily some of the tightest and most inventive of any hip-hop record of the era", but thought it might be challenging for new listeners due to a lack of catchy elements.

Comparing it to other contemporaneous West Coast hip-hop albums, he called Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde "fearlessly quotidian and relatively low-stakes", adding that the group used humor to deal with anxiety and pain.

[4] RapReviews's Jordan Selbo thought the group employs "style and a viewpoint deliciously and profoundly contradictory", "[s]imultaneously subtle and brazen, overtly celebratory yet deeply dark and twisted, both ephemeral and timeless in scope".

It was featured in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, in which its author Robert Dimery called it "a true classic", commending the trio for "keep[ing] it original" and J-Swift for bringing "greater depth and a lush, soulful sound".