FEATURE:
A Buyer’s Guide
PHOTO CREDIT: NOTIMEX/Newscom
Part Ninety-Two: Cypress Hill
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I have not featured…
that many Rap and Hip-Hop outfits for A Buyer’s Guide. One of the very finest Hip-Hop groups come in the form of Cypress Hill. The California group are the first in Hip-Hop to have sold multi-platinum and platinum albums, having sold over twenty million albums worldwide. Their tenth studio album, Back in Black, is due this year. In honour that, I will recommend their very best albums. Prior to that, AllMusic give us some biography about the amazing Cypress Hill:
“Cypress Hill were notable for being the first Latino hip-hop superstars, but they became notorious for their endorsement of marijuana, which actually wasn't a trivial thing. Not only did the group campaign for its legalization, but their slow, rolling bass-and-drum loops pioneered a new, stoned funk that became extraordinary influential in '90s hip-hop -- it could be heard in everything from Dr. Dre's G-funk to the chilly layers of English trip-hop. DJ Muggs crafted the sound, and B Real, with his pinched, nasal voice, was responsible for the rhetoric that made them famous. The pro-pot position became a little ridiculous over time, but there was no denying that the actual music had a strange, eerie power, particularly on the band's first two albums. Although B Real remained an effective lyricist and Muggs' musical skills did not diminish, the group's third album, Temples of Boom, was perceived by many critics as self-parody, and the group appeared to disintegrate shortly afterward, though Muggs and B Real regrouped toward the end of the '90s to issue more material.
DVX, the original incarnation of Cypress Hill, formed in 1988 when Cuban-born brothers Sen Dog (born Senen Reyes, November 20, 1965) and Mellow Man Ace hooked up with fellow Los Angeles residents Muggs (born Lawrence Muggerud, January 28, 1968) and B Real (born Louis Freese, June 2, 1970). The group began pioneering a fusion of Latin and hip-hop slang, developing their own style by the time Mellow Man Ace left the group in 1988. Renaming themselves Cypress Hill after a local street, the group continued to perform around L.A., eventually signing with Ruffhouse/Columbia in 1991.
With its stoned beats, B Real's exaggerated nasal whine, and cartoonish violence, the group's eponymous debut became a sensation in early 1992, several months after its initial release. The singles "How I Could Just Kill a Man" and "The Phuncky Feel One" became underground hits, and the group's public pro-marijuana stance earned them many fans in the alternative rock community. Cypress Hill followed the album with Black Sunday in the summer of 1993, and while it sounded remarkably similar to the debut, it nevertheless became a hit, entering the album charts at number one and spawning the crossover hit "Insane in the Brain." With Black Sunday, Cypress Hill's audience became predominantly white, collegiate suburbanites, which caused them to lose some support in the hip-hop community. The group didn't help matters much in 1995, when they added a new member, drummer Bobo, and toured with the fifth Lollapalooza prior to the release of their third album, Temples of Boom. A darker, gloomier affair than their first two records, Temples of Boom was greeted with mixed reviews upon its fall 1995 release, and while it initially sold well, it failed to generate a genuine hit single. However, it did perform better on the R&B charts than it did on the pop charts.
Instead of capitalizing on their regained hip-hop credibility, Cypress Hill slowly fell apart. Sen Dog left in early 1996 and Muggs spent most of the year working on his solo album. Muggs Presents the Soul Assassins was released to overwhelmingly positive reviews in early 1997, leaving Cypress Hill's future in much doubt until the release of IV in 1998. Sen Dog had come back for the record. He had left because he felt he did not get enough mike time, but after a few years with a rock band he was more than happy to return. Two years later, the group released the double-disc set Skull & Bones, which featured a disc of hip-hop and a disc of their more rock-inspired material. Appropriately, the album also included rock and rap versions of the single "Superstar," bringing Cypress Hill's quest for credibility and crossover hits full circle. The ensuing videos for both versions featured many famous rap and rock musicians talking about their profession, and the song was a smash on MTV because of it. In the winter of 2001, the group came back with Stoned Raiders, another album to heavily incorporate rock music. Three years later, the band issued 'Til Death Do Us Part, which incorporated several styles of Jamaican music. In 2010 they announced their signing to Priority Records thanks to the label’s creative director Snoop Dogg. The label released their eighth studio album, Rise Up, that same year. It would be eight years until the group returned with new material, but in 2018 they came back with Elephants on Acid. The album was the first to be produced by DJ Muggs since 2004's 'Til Death Do Us Part, and the first taster of the record came in the form of the psychedelic track "Band of Gypsies”.
If you are new to Cypress Hill and need some guidance regarding the albums that you should own, then have a look to my suggestions below. I have included an underrated gem, in addition to their most recent studio album. I could not find a book about Cypress Hill, so I will leave that section blank. Here is my view as to the Cypress Hill albums…
REALLY worth owning.
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The Four Essential Albums
Cypress Hill
Release Date: 13th August, 1991
Labels: Ruffhouse/Columbia
Producer: DJ Muggs
Standout Tracks: How I Could Just Kill a Man/Hand on the Pump/Latin Lingo
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=16273&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4tQSV1ZGpwlo3dBiTRuKvM?si=Eg1YklhxSr6bTo6C_os66A
Review:
“It's hard enough to transform an entire musical genre -- Cypress Hill's eponymous debut album revolutionized hip-hop in several respects. Although they weren't the first Latino rappers, nor the first to mix Spanish and English, they were the first to achieve a substantial following, thanks to their highly distinctive sound. Along with Beastie Boys and Public Enemy, Cypress Hill were also one of the first rap groups to bridge the gap with fans of both hard rock and alternative rock. And, most importantly, they created a sonic blueprint that would become one of the most widely copied in hip-hop. In keeping with their promarijuana stance, Cypress Hill intentionally crafted their music to sound stoned -- lots of slow, lazy beats, fat bass, weird noises, and creepily distant-sounding samples. The surreal lyrical narratives were almost exclusively spun by B Real in a nasal, singsong, instantly recognizable delivery that only added to the music's hazy, evocative atmosphere; as a frontman, he could be funny, frightening, or just plain bizarre (again, kind of like the experience of being stoned). Whether he's taunting cops or singing nursery rhyme-like choruses about blasting holes in people with shotguns, B Real's blunted-gangsta posture is nearly always underpinned by a cartoonish sense of humor. It's never clear how serious the threats are, but that actually makes them all the more menacing. The sound and style of Cypress Hill was hugely influential, particularly on Dr. Dre's boundary-shattering 1992 blockbuster The Chronic; yet despite its legions of imitators, Cypress Hill still sounds fresh and original today, simply because few hip-hop artists can put its sound across with such force of personality or imagination” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: The Phuncky Feel One
Black Sunday
Release Date: 20th July, 1993
Labels: Ruffhouse/Columbia
Producers: DJ Muggs/T-Ray
Standout Tracks: I Ain't Goin' Out Like That/When the Shit Goes Down/Lick a Shot
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=16404&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/02lktkm4J7K7N8T63Gm7KX?si=vGx8z2RjTVi-xkZje4Ivsw
Review:
“Dope" beats, indeed: Passed like a torch from Schoolly D to Boogie Down Productions on up to Brand Nubian and Dr. Dre, pot maintains an honored status in hip-hop. Nobody bum-rushes Mary Jane's popularity like Cypress Hill, though. Besides their words to the herb, Cypress Hill's appeal lies in odd contradictions. Addressing the many shades brought together in urban America, Cypress Hill are "multicultural" without even trying, spicing their raps with Spanish over tracks provided by an Italian-American raised in Queens, N.Y. Cypress also carry an "alternative" crowd without alienating hardcore hip-hoppers, sampling Suicidal Tendencies while keeping the beats raw. Still, it's the Cypress combo of stark grooves and cinematic gangsta fairy tales that allows them to rule the streets, a formula not messed with on Black Sunday.
Of course, stoned is still the way of the walk for Cypress Hill in '93. Sunday starts with "I Wanna Get High," on which rapper B-Real freaks the title refrain (lifted from Rita Marley's "One Draw") and tells "Bill Clinton to go and inhale" over a near-comatose drum loop. Other examples of the "buddha-fied funk" include "Hits From the Bong," complete with slurping sounds, and the public service announcement-style "Legalize It," which states that "the marijuana plant ... is used for many other things than just smoking." Cypress Hill hit their stride, though, in "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That." "Ain't" covers typical Cypress territory, recounting a tale of gangsta retaliation similar to their breakthrough hit, "How I Could Just Kill a Man." Over a deep, discordant bass line and the ominous crack of a snare drum, B-Real and co-MC Sen Dog chant the sloganlike chorus over and over until the words lodge in your brain like a bullet from a drive-by. B-Real's nasal whine grinds against Sen Dog's throaty bark to great effect, their play of contrasts resulting in rap's most distinctive call-and-response team since Run-D.M.C.
Producer-DJ Mixmaster Muggs, though, truly masterminds the "funky Cypress Hill shit." Unlike the densely layered masterworks of superproducers like Dr. Dre or the Bomb Squad, Muggs rules the realm of sinister minimalist funk. With rarely more than a raw beat combined with a thumping piano-bass loop and a sirenlike wail, Muggs creates a skeletal groove that allows B-Real and Sen Dog's vocal pyrotechnics to stand out. Like the Geto Boys' soul-laden tracks, Muggs is unafraid to give his severe urban sound-scapes a bluesy feel, tweaking a wah-wah guitar in "A to the K" or tacking a harmonica riff onto "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That." The blues flavor adds to the gloomy coming-down haze that pervades Black Sunday.
Cypress Hill's most confusing attribute is their obsession with gun-crazed violence, depicted in songs like "Lick a Shot," "Cock the Hammer," "A to the K" and "Hand on the Glock"; under the calming influence of all the dope they smoke, they should be waving more peace signs than Arrested Development. This contradiction soon disappears, though; after a couple of listens, it becomes clear that on Black Sunday Cypress Hill are lacing the funk with something harder than your average hip-hop buzz. (RS 665)” – Rolling Stone
Choice Cut: Insane in the Brain
Cypress Hill III: (TEMPLES OF BOOM)
Release Date: 31st October, 1995
Labels: Ruffhouse/Columbia
Producers: DJ Muggs/RZA
Standout Tracks: Illusions/Boom Biddy Bye Bye/Make a Move
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=16855&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0ueRTzXr9xu1XKLUsjeyt4?si=UJaGXVPmT46PZZALLafVGA
Review:
“After issuing the early rap-rock classic Black Sunday, Cypress Hill decided to go for the more sedate sounds in the production of Temples of Boom. This album stands as one of the best examples of psychedelic hip hop ever recorded. Cypress Hill are the rare example of a group that can release album after album of similarly-sounding and lyrically themed records and still be entertaining - kind of like a bong-toking hip hop AC/DC, except this is fear more mellow than Back in Black.
Here, Cypress Hill incorporates Middle Eastern music samples and beats that would not be out of place on a trip hop album by, say, Tricky. Lyrically, it's the same as any other Cypress Hill album - most of the songs are about getting stoned or threatening to *** you up. Wu-Tang Clan's production genius, RZA, also allows Muggs a little rest while he takes over the production on "Killa Hill Niggas", in which he and U-God contribute guest vocals.
This album also features the Ice Cube diss track "No Rest For The Wicked", in which the group claims that Cube's theme for Friday was a rip-off of "Throw Your Set in The Air" (which appears on this album as well). While this feud was later resolved, and the whole thing was most likely a coincidence than anything, this is one of the best diss tracks ever recorded, even if Ice Cube does happen to be the best rapper alive.
The album is at its most psychedelic on "Spark Another Owl" (not the only track on this album dealing exclusively about geting high) and the spooky "Illusions" and "Boom Biddy Bye Bye". Though not the most lyrically diverse album out there, Temples of Boom stands high against Cypress Hill's other records. It's a worthy listen, and one of their best efforts” – Sputnikmusic
Choice Cut: Throw Your Set in the Air
Stoned Raiders
Release Date: 4th December, 2001
Label: Columbia
Producer: DJ Muggs
Standout Tracks: Kronologik (featuring Kurupt)/Bitter/It Ain’t Easy
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=17580&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3OTcdjKk357Z0YXeQY6z4V?si=4Ww4Xnr3TNCl7p2w4A47jQ
Review:
“In 1992, "The Hill That's Real" would have referred to a seminal rap compilation with the first appearance of M.O.P.'s own Lil' Fame on wax. Cypress Hill were only new jacks on the scene back then, having released their self-titled LP a year earlier. No one could have guessed back then that eight full length albums (including a Spanish 'Greatest Hits' LP) later, Cypress Hill would epitomize that phrase far better than any rapper on that compilation could. Their continued sales strength and legendary shows on tour prove that one decade just isn't enough for these bilingual hip-hop all-stars - now they're working on number two.
Living on the Hill that's real isn't easy for Cypress though. Having to carefully juggle the demands of underground hip-hop credibility with jock rock popularity left the band with last year's uneven "Skull & Bones" LP. The trademark Soul Assassins sound of DJ Muggs met up with the rap-rock fusion sound of Limp Bizkit, leaving some fans worried that B-Real was turning into a hispanic Fred Durst. "Stoned Raiders" would seem to address these critics in that it doesn't completely abandon the new stylee but brings back a rawer latin sound exemplified by the title of a song from their '91 debut: "The Funky Cypress Hill Shit."
The lead single "Lowrider" is exemplary in illustrating this evolution of revolution where everything that goes around comes back around again. Long-time rap fans will recognize Mellow Man Ace providing the hook, which echoes the same-titled hip-hop classic he made with Kid Frost and ALT. This is a whole new twist though which sweeps you up and carries you away with Roger Troutman-esque bouncing synth and a dirty funky bassline. Winter is non-existant in the mental image this song forms of drop-tops bouncing down the street, proving this crew could ONLY be from California. It may be cold where you live, but B-Real's hot lyrics will provide percolation!
"I just wanna blaze it up, whether it's the mic or a spliff
Yes my gift is to amaze you all
Thought I couldn't come for ten my friend but guess what?
I slay niggaz and STILL savin my best nut
[..]
I drop rhymes that grow like trees you're smokin
Eardrums feel like lungs, your brain's chokin
Just let it soak in, seep in, creep in
I'm keepin, all you motherfuckers in the deep end
You wanna trip then I got luggage
I stuff you in and send you off cause you ain't rugged!"
Tell 'em B, tell 'em B, tell 'em! Sen Dog rips the track in this song too though, mixing his espanol and ingles with a hardcore verse that shows why pendejos better not sleep on his skills. Their tag-team attack on the vocals works time and again when Muggs provides hit after hit of the sticky icky funk. From the brain-bashing smash of "Southland Killers" featuring King Tee and MC ren, to the somber and spooky vocals of "Bitter", to the chunky hard rock sound of "Amplified", Cypress Hill cover all the bases with equal aplomb. The lyrics are up to par as well, with a worthy retrospective on "Kronologik" featuring Kurupt and the difficulties of getting ahead on the stomping "It Ain't Easy." In fact Bizkit seem Limp compared to this song's high-octane guitars and symphonically studded verses that showcase pain so raw you HAVE to feel what B-Real has to say:
"Times I hated, times I've waited
Times have went by where I was drunk and faded
They said I wouldn't make it but where are those people now?
Still hatin, creatin, all the evil
Now you're insecurities are showin, exposin you
You're trippin on me and showin emotions too
Don't, spend your life full of envy, it's deadly
Heed me, as I spit the venom, believe me"
This album itself shows no insecurities - eliminating the doubts that seem to have plagued this group ever since "Temples of Boom" in 1995. Every song has a point, whether it's the seriousness of "Memories" or the serious fun of "Red, Meth & B" featuring Redman and Method Man. By the time Kurupt shows up again to help close out the album on the finale "Here is Something You Can't Understand", three hundred and sixty degrees of Cypress Hill's music and career have come full circle. If you were waiting for an undiluted hit of their sonic chronic, this is the bag of boogie bang with the long-lasting buzz. Fans will find this to be their strongest work in years, and know-nots will be intrigued enough to check out their catalogue. If you have to start somewhere go back a decade to where it all started, because that's exactly what Cypress Hill have done with this album - putting rock in rap but still putting rap in funk in one vanglorious hip-hop whole!” – Rap Reviews
Choice Cut: Trouble
The Underrated Gem
Rise Up
Release Date: 20th April, 2010
Label: Priority
Producers: B-Real (also exec.)/DJ Muggs/Mike Shinoda/Tom Morello/Pete Rock/Jake One/Daron Malakian/Jim Jonsin/DJ Khalil/Sick Jacken
Standout Tracks: It Ain't Nothin (featuring Young DA)/Rise Up (featuring Tom Morello)/Armada Latina (featuring Pitbull and Marc Anthony)
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=242606&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/426j4dLXzZygBoi0rAzE0a?si=pk2L-IiUSpa71tuWMuJlVA
Review:
“In 1991, an artist in Compton picked up Cypress Hill’s debut album. What he heard blew him away; the futuristic funk with a diehard dedication to a certain herb...” Dragging us once again into their halcyon days of glocks and ganja, it’s a shame the Latino legends’ rate of production has slowed to the point they offer a crash course in their own history with every release. Less playful than its predecessor (2004’s Clash-sampling Till Death Do Us Part) – but surprisingly more focussed, given Muggs’ notable absence from the producer’s chair – Rise Up finds B-Real and co. roll calling their stoned celebrity compatriots (K.U.S.H) and threatening to get all “up in yo’ home with the internet technology” (Get it Anyway) as they source inspired collaborations with Pete Rock, Jim Jonsin and Marc Anthony to reinforce their timeless agenda. Rise Up? They just might, but will The Hill ever levitate away from the towering shadow of their 90s output? [Emil Muzz]” – THE SKINNY
Choice Cut: Get 'Em Up
The Latest Album
Elephants on Acid
Release Date: 28th September, 2018
Label: BMG
Producer: DJ Muggs
Standout Tracks: Band of Gypsies (ft. Sadat & Alaa Fifty)/Locos (ft. Sick Jacken)/Muggs Is Dead (Interlude)
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=1432887&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2CnvBTLTov5YDGM2axRKcQ?si=JUOfWVh4RT6zSGyad5CzPQ
Review:
“Most episodes of the superb HBO sitcom Silicon Valley end with a musical outro: usually banging hip-hop. This album by Cypress Hill should make the music supervisors’ job on season six a doddle.
After a 14-year hiatus, during which B-Real and Sen Dog did without DJ Muggs, this seminal stoner hip-hop trio are reunited and reinvigorated – or as reinvigorated as a ninth paean to mind-altering substances might permit. As befits an album designed to thrill the brain’s cannabinoid receptors, rather than lay it low with Xanax as per much contemporary hip-hop, producer Muggs pulls every disorienting trick out of the carpetbag: sitars, sub bass, trumpeting pachyderms and dubby contributions by psych outrider Gonjasufi.
And while many of these 21 tracks (interludes abound) sound familiar – tunes like Pass the Knife share considerable bongwater with Cypress Hill’s 90s heyday – innovations do liven up the Hill’s central theme. Nothing quite matches the superlative Band of Gypsies, which features Egyptian underground stars Sadat and Alaa Fifty; DJ Muggs also throws oud players into the mix. But female backing vocals provide the party-starting on tracks such as Oh Na Na” – The Guardian
Choice Cut: Crazy (ft. Brevi)