‘Passin’ Me By’ is a track that defied all odds. Because in early 1990s LA, gangsta rap ruled the scene, with the likes of NWA, Ice-T, and Cypress Hill on top. So how did a heartbreak anthem by The Pharcyde rise to fame in an era of heavy-hitting hip-hop?

The Pharcyde was from South Central L.A., consisting of Bootie Brown, SlimKid3, Imani, Fatlip, and J-Swift on the beats. They were a collective that more closely resembled Odd Future than NWA. But in 1991, the group was working on a demo tape that would feature three songs.

And as they revealed in an interview with SPIN, one of those songs would be inspired by their favourite pastime – cat-calling. As SlimKid3 recalled: “We were off of La Cienega Boulevard near the 405 freeway, and there was always super-heavy traffic on the corner of our block from 3 to 6 pm. Our favourite pastime was to stand out front and look at the hot chicks going by. It was real fun, like sunshine and soda pop. The girls would flirt from the car and we’d holler back, then we’d go back in and work on these demos.”

But apart from chasing girls, influence for the song also came from unexpected places. Producer J-Swift recalled the fateful night that would lead to the song’s iconic hook.

“We ended up renting The Doors. We were on shrooms or some shit, all wigged out watching Val Kilmer transform into Jim Morrison, and right after, Fatlip walks into the booth and starts screaming like Morrison: ‘She keeps on passin’ me by!’”

Fat Lip himself claimed that he didn’t even know where the chorus came from. “We had a phrase that we borrowed from the Doors: ‘Break on through.’ That was our little personal motto back then. Just be open, be free, try to take it to another level. I just went in there and grabbed the mic and sang, and I felt my throat lift up. I hit that note without even trying. It was an accident almost.”

With the chorus in place, and a beat loop made by J-Swift, the rappers each ran to a different corner of the room with a notebook and started writing their verses.

The result was a song that stood out compared to the typical West Coast rap of the time. When co-founder of Delicious Vinyl, Mike Ross, heard ‘Passin’ Me By’ on a demo tape, he said that it was like a breath of fresh air. “They weren’t super-confident or macho, they weren’t coming straight outta Compton. They weren’t carrying guns or in gangs. They were great, funny lyricists who had more in common with the Native Tongues movement in New York.”

After Delicious Vinyl signed the Pharcyde in the summer of 1991, they released their debut album, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, in 1992. ‘Passin’ Me By’ would be featured as the album’s second single, helping the record certify gold by 1996.

Ever since, ‘Passin’ Me By’ has been a paradigm of what happens when artists do their thing their own way. A reminder to “break on through”.