Cypress Hill - Temples Of Boom (October 27, 1995)

I'm not a fast review writer. You've probably gathered that by now, though.

Heading right back further into the Soul Assassins rabbit hole, I finally reached the period where cofounder/head producer Lorenzo Cavassi aka Larry Muggerud aka Grandmaster Muggs aka the ever-so-consistent DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill started kicking his production skills into high gear.

I gotta come clean on one thing: As revolutionary and dope as the first two Cypress Hill albums are, and as much as I preferred not to listen to the rest of their catalog due to said albums respective status, that outlook on Cypress Hill's overall quality immediately changed once I remembered how I got exposed to them.

The whole retrospective journey started when, you guessed it, I went for my first secondment in the cesspool known as Jeddah. (RIP to my uncle, the patriarch of my family, to whom Jeddah was home for over 6 decades. Love you and yours, Unc, but Jeddah's a shithole.) Living in a claustrophobic shitbox and having zero contact with anyone apart from work, that was by far the loneliest time I've ever spent. Suffering from nasty mental health issues, things went downhill fast and I entered into an ugly depression that lost me my appetite after a few days which eventually landed me in the hospital from malnutrition. That pales in comparison to the nightmares. What my head was putting me through almost put my life in danger. And that's where God sent his third gift to me.

In the midst of playing Batman Arkham Asylum, (one of the greatest video game experiences of all time, straight up) I would take breaks by browsing the internet every now & then. I would revisit my steadily-growing hip hop iPod list and see if it needed expanding. One day, I decided, after watching a gameplay video of Twisted Metal 4, to research the era where Cypress Hill lead MC Luis Freese aka the Phuncky Feel One aka Dr. Greenthumb aka the mighty B-Real delivered his guest feature for the Monstars Anthem, the very first hip hop song I was ever properly exposed to. I've already gone to lengths in previous reviews on how he & the mighty Method Man are the two MCs most responsible for my love for this artform, so it when I revisited the material B made from that era. I didn't take my usual approach of testing the waters with the singles, though, as I was too desperate for an immersion. I flung myself straight into this album. Was I ever in for a ride.

Temples Of Boom began formulating around a time when DJ Muggs started getting fed up with the blunted funk sound he pioneered as he felt that he exhausted every direction that sound was capable of, evolving in a way mirroring that of his many peers with his work on Brothas Doobie by Funkdoobiest. The new direction was exciting and put many of his peers on notice: The fusion of East Coast & West Coast tendencies just took a trippy new twist.

Unfortunately, this exciting development also came at a time when group leader and hypeman Senen Reyes aka the Perro aka Sen Dog was experiencing some serious burnout. This clearly concerned his fellow group members for his sake to the point of frustration, especially B-Real, whose gripes with the situation was clearly reflected with a sinister new twist that B adapted into his usual nasal cadence that somehow lost all the mirth present in their previous records. Another dominant sentiment back then was the fact that the Cypress Hill name started to get associated with the mainstream a little too much for the group's liking. I mean, they were getting called on by venues such as Woodstock, Lollapalooza & SNL (from which they were banned for life. Good. Fuck Lorne Michaels.), so people would almost be justified to assume that the Hill were selling out.

Almost. Sen & co pushed back hard with the direction they took here, with his inner turmoil influencing every dark turn B went with his typically-nihilistic subject matter. Hell, even the weed songs were influenced thereby. Muggs making it a mission to ensure that his name doesn't get lost in the shuffle of timeless producers booming at the time was simply the icing this album needed to come into fruition.

Speaking of weed songs, Roll It Up, Light It Up, Smoke It Up, made in the Temples sessions but ultimately released on the Friday OST, has since combined with the lead single for our album for this post, Throw Your Set In The Air, to become the catalyst to a shortlived-but-nasty feud between Cypress Hill & close friend, the legendary Ice Cube. Elaboration will come in the review.

Astonishingly, Temples Of Boom remains the fastest Cypress Hill album to reach the milestone of one million units sold in the States. Here, I ask the routine question that I do with each review: Was it any good, though? (Wink wink)

Temples Of Boom, boy/girl (pick one):

SPARK ANOTHER OWL

Sen gives a short intro and outro that sets the mood. Mirroring Black Sunday, a dedication to weed opens the album. However, this DJ Muggs beast renders the darkness on both preceding Cypress albums combined a trip to Disneyland with its macabre mesh of jazz & funk bytes. B steps in the booth and lets off a quick shot one-verse weed tribute in which he points out that the Hill set the trend for hip hop music embracing weed culture. Since I've already mentioned here that I have no qualms with these tributes even though I refuse to touch the stuff, I definitely vibed with this song. You will enjoy it, too. Especially if you're stoned out of your mind, apparently.

THROW YOUR SET IN THE AIR

First off, let me actually review this joint before I get to the juicy gossip y'all keep getting so fascinated with: Cypress Hill are apparently big on odes. Whether it be to cannabis as with the previous track, or to gang life. Or rather, B spins a tale about the harrowing life of gangbanging painting himself as a set leader and you as his soldier, all to the sinister tones of Muggs' evil mesh of funk & soul. Now on to the "good stuff"... B was invited to a session where Cube was in the midst of the Friday OST process. He suggested that the Hill contribute a song to the soundtrack, so B pulled a demo tape with Roll It Up, Light It Up, Smoke It Up & this song on it. It was fated that B would make the mistake of playing Throw Your Set first, because Cube fell blindly in love with the track. So much so that he wanted it for his soundtrack. B explained that this was the lead single to rollout the upcoming album and suggested the ode to weed instead. Cube seemingly accepted that until the OST came out with its title track having a hook that was too similar to the one on this song for B's liking. That's where the problem sparked into a fire that almost went out of control and overshadowed the single's actual quality, which was pretty damn good since the Hill were pretty adjacent to that life and knew exactly what it entails. Shame.

STONED RAIDERS

Can we get back to the actual music on the album? Yes? Good. Because this track here houses a contender for the most haunting instrumental on the entire album, courtesy of Muggs beautifully freaking a mesh of jazz excerpts to sound like an audio horror sequence, complete with demonic female choirs and all. For his part, B places himself in the shoes of some locally known criminal whose out on the hunt for a rival. In his own way, B has always had a talent for giving voice to thoughts that go through one's head, as these rhymes legitimately sound as if someone out there's thinking them right now. Props to Sen Dog's terrifying adlibs in the background.

ILLUSIONS

The journey into darkness continues as we arrive at what many consider to be the highlight of the album. And you know what? I somewhat agree except I don't think it's the only highlight. Whoops. Spoiled the verdict, huh? Watch me not give a rodent’s anus. I'm guessing Muggs & B wanted to deliver their own ode to Scarface's Mind Playing Tricks On Me. #GiveScarfaceHisFlowersNow. And guess what? Muggs & B knock it out of the fucking county, scratch a park. B displays a unique & extremely competent knack for relaying paranoia through his writing as he transforms into a deranged gang member who's taken to a mental institution then let out. The rest becomes the canvas for B to paint, and boy does he over Muggs' demented beat which remains one of the nastiest flips of Gary Burton I can recall, straight up and down. The Carnatic prelude only adds to the trip you go through listening thereto. This will remain in your playlist for decades.

KILLA HILL N****S (FEATURING RZA & GOLDEN ARMS)

In a surprising ceding of control, Muggs pulls a fast one and calls on the help of one of the most prominent peers he's trying to gain advantage on in the form of the motherfucking RZA of the fabled Wu-Tang Clan. To show his appreciation, RZA not only jumps on the track but produces the song and brings another Wu General along, as Golden Arms gets his first significant feature. B, RZA & Uey take turns demolishing a grimy, wormy RZA instrumental that would've fit snugly on Tical by Method Man. Hold up, why the motherfuck isn't Method Man on this? In any case, RZA gets outclassed by Uey's negative capability and a single utterance by B: "Number one mission: Opposition gets thrown, sent home in deposition" which just sounds cool. Of course, Sen's ever-so-present as he screams in the background in Spanish how he'll bring the end of corruption in modern society or some other adjacent bullshit. Whatever, all I care about is that he sounds pumped as fuck doing so and that adds to the track's overall excitement. The album's hot streak continues, but I'm still pissed that Mef ain't here.

BOOM BIDDY BYE BYE

Sen Dog finally comes out to play! And it's only the sixth track on the album! His inner demons pretty apparent judging by how long it took him to do so. Anyway, truth be told: B-Real's venom is just spewing out as he shells out 3 verses, with Sen performing the 2nd, that might seem simple on paper, but once you hear them against the straight-up whimsical xylophone loop Muggs chefs up, you start to grasp the horrifying contrast. This must be Muggs' answer to RZA's challenging beat earlier. No joke, this song is what would play in my head if I ever regrettably beat down someone I had major beef with. I'd imagine them actually giving up tryna fight back, fully grasping of the fuckshit they pulled and accepting what was coming to them without resistance as I delivered. None of that shit I just wrote is remotely close to actually happening, of course. However, these are the emotions that this track will pull out of you. the third home-run in a row, one that might very well be my favorite. The Fugees remix featuring Wyclef Jean & vocals from a pre-mainstream Lauryn Hill gives a good attempt of Clef attempting to get his thug on, but his duet with B, while fairly competent, fails to reproduce the magic that B & Sen cultivated with Muggs on the original.

NO REST FOR THE WICKED

So, that issue B & them had with Cube? Resulted in this. Muggs, whose consistency really needs to be talked about by this point, provides a sinister jazz piano loop as the backdrop for B to dig into Cube proper. And dig into him, he did. B airs out a whole bunch of secrets and factoids as fuel and they find their mark properly. I'm not a fan of diss tracks as a whole, but I feel B's abilities as a battler on wax are heavily slept on, and this track proves it. Hell, I even got this as superior to Cube's eventual response, because Cube & co were simply name-calling while B was hitting Cube with painful accusations of theft, dishonesty & everything in between. The feud eventually died down in 97 because it reached a very dangerous level, with Cube actually getting assaulted by Kam's homie Franklin Solo. Moving on.

MAKE A MOVE

I believe this is the first hip hop song to sample that scene from Pulp Fiction. Could be wrong, though. Anyway, Muggs sets shit off with a mean as fuck funk bass loop that's the most reminiscent of his earlier sound and minimalist enough to get the hell outta the way as B lets loose a flurry of verses tackling all wannabe rivals with his by-now patented descriptions of violent thoughts. Hearing Sen adlibbing most of B's rhymes with him also feels like Sen trying to remind himself of how much fun he was having in the Hill’s earlier albums. Maybe things weren't as bad as they seemed to be? Anyway, this album has yet to come with a skippable track.

KILLAFORNIA

B and Muggs combine to give you another claustrophobic description of what a gangbanger has to deal with on a daily basis, with B constantly asking himself "Who can you trust?" over another sinister piano loop from Muggs. Sen fleshes out the proceedings by contrasting B's paranoid thoughts with the surface-level pluses of gang life as he chats with one of their associates about what they're going through in the bridges mid-verses. This is another album cut that houses more hidden goodies if one looks closer.

FUNK FREAKERS

Another Carnatic interlude, followed by Muggs really showing off by introducing a demonic flip of a sax excerpt that can only be described as such. Believe me, the Hill were not in a healthy place while making this album as they took their aggression out in their music. B makes that abundantly clear as he promises death and destruction to all challengers. However, Sen swoops in and, with as little effort as he can muster, steals the show with his delivery of B’s bars. I promise you, you will feel the line: "Fucking up egos and anybody who oppose" because you hear his conviction in his voice. No need to raise hell or shout as B was doing, not that there was anything wrong with B's vocals as he returns for a last go at the track as it fades away. However, as far as Sen was concerned, a simple utterance was enough. Add this gem to the album's highlights.

LOCOTES

Did Sen’s inner conflict really affect the Hill’s dynamics that much? Because you would never be able to tell judging by how he & B do on this song, as B tells the story of a gangbanger fresh out of jail who resorts to robbing people on the street out of desperation. He kills a police officer and gets on a bus where he spots an old drunk who refused him a job in the past, thereby turning him to a life of crime. What dude wasn't counting on was the fact that the old geezer was packing and sober enough to see him coming. The old drunkard actually turns the tables on him in a shock twist that doesn't end well for our protagonist! Muggs gives another contender for the most terrifying beat on the album with a blood-pumping & menacing thumper for B as his bars provide him & Sen the path to weave their tale with disturbing detail. The icing on the cake is B writing Spanglish for Sen that resulted in iconic deliveries in the past. People forget that he, not his younger brother Mellow Man Ace, was the first to utilize said concept. Another song you'll have in your playlist for decades.

RED LIGHT VISIONS

The third Carnatic interlude of the evening. Muggs was really bent on tempting his listeners to smoke something while listening to this shit. Well, I refuse! Sorry, where was I? Oh yeah, another minimalist piano loop paired with a swift pair of battle verses from B that contain a quick middle finger to racist cops with Sen adlibbing with his psychobeta Chuck D-esque voice. Nice!

STRICTLY HIP HOP

Hold up, when did this problem with House Of Pain arise? Oh and Muggs seems awfully comfortable throwing the N-word around. I know he's Italian but... Anyway, since the House Of Pain problem gets resolved in the very near future, the bigger problem seems to be with an editor by the name of James Bernard because Muggs goes fully in on him in between B's scathing takedowns of industry sellouts, in which he sneaks a line about Cube. The one problem I have with this track is that Muggs talks too damn much to the point that he distracted me from the experience. And when you compare that nag with his relentless beat, which actually meshes well with B's rhymes, it becomes nigh intolerable. I'm here to listen to B rhyming over your shit, Muggsy, not to hear you whine and moan about who you got problems with. B's criticisms are pretty valid, though, so I wouldn't call the track worthless. Oh, and James Bernard did say some truly foul shit about Sen’s Cuban origins, so he had it coming. Shoutouts to the PMD sample, as well.

LET IT RAIN

This is just a higher-energy version of the previous track, with B switching his aim to OG Latino rapper Kid Frost whom the Hill also eventually squash it with. They had been going at each other by this point ever since the previous Cypress album. Oh, and yay, no Muggs chitchat. I will say that Muggs' bass-heavy loop this time round is another dope reminder of his blunted funk innovations. Moving on.

EVERYBODY MUST GET STONED

The original closer of the album, it makes sense that Cypress Hill bookend an album of theirs with tributes to weed. And as far as those go, this one's pretty par the course with the exception of a slight last dig towards Ice Cube. Muggs always knew how to provide the right backing for these joints and this is no exception

SMUGGLER'S BLUES

A bonus track from the Japanese version, Muggs sets up a sinister, slow and plodding backdrop for B to give two verses spinning a tale of a weed smuggler who ends up getting caught. At some point, people are going to have to start talking about B's attention to detail, because his stories have been on fire so far and this belongs right up there with them.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I remember my misgivings regarding what Temples of Boom was going to end up sounding like because I was such a huge fan of its two predecessors. Oh, how wrong I was. Nothing that Cypress Hill has ever done in the past compares to the upgrades they've displayed here, as Muggs has uphauled the ever-living shit out of his production, while B has stepped his lyrical game something undeniable and Sen has mastered the menace in his delivery of B’s bars here. It always surprises me how much the Hill mastered the art of combining elevation and consistency. And never let it be said that they're one-trick ponies because they display a breadth of different subject matters here from a gangbanger's perspective ranging from dealing with new recruits, set-ups, paranoia, old grudges. All these topics rely on Muggs' grasp on sound and B's abilities as a writer and both rise to the occasion ever so majestically, churning out classics such as Stoned Raiders, Illusions, Killafornia, Locotes, etc. And the number of times Sen vocally inserts himself into the fray is noticeably less than any other Cypress Hill project so far, so I really understand the fact that his inner crisis may have caused real turbulence within the group, back then. Still, if he ain't rhyming B’s rhymes, he's either adlibbing them on damn near every song or providing further context to a song via a few utterances here and there, so his presence was always felt one way or another. Putting it bluntly: This will be an album you revisit for a long, long time.

WORTH IT? As if I'll suddenly tell you 'No, go buy Funeral by Lil Wayne.' If Temples of Boom ain't the type of album you'd like to listen to, what the motherfuck are you doing here?

TRACKS TO TRACK DOWN:

THE LAST ASSASSIN

From the OST of one of my favorite movies, The Cable Guy. Leave it to Muggs to remind you that, damn it, he still knows the hell outta his way around some funky drums as he meshes them with some jazzy excerpts to form a macabre instrumental fit for a trademark B-Real tale of coming up as a hood assassin in a local gang. Y'all definitely should search for this if you dug his stories in the proper album.

ROLL IT UP, LIGHT IT UP, SMOKE IT UP

Ah yes, the track Cube ultimately took instead of the one he actually wanted. I don't know why Cube didn't want this ode to weed because it sure beats the one they ended the US album with. Muggs gives a shivering mix of jazzy bytes over some hard blunted funk drums as B gives another ode to the herb, with Sen using B’s bars while bobbing and weaving in between the second verse alongside his partner. Dope!

WHATTA YOU KNOW

Again Muggs flexes his mastery over sound as he manipulates a soulful loop into a soulless result and lets it loose for B & Sen to tell a tale of a gangbanger robbed by his own homeboy, with B playing the role of the robbed and Sen playing the opposite character. If there were any differences between B & Sen, then this track must've been written by B as therapy for them both as their respective characters eventually clashed. This will surely worm its way into your collection.

THROW YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR (FEATURING ERICK SERMON, REDMAN & MC EIHT)

And there's Barron Ricks! Finally I get to talk about this motherfucker, as he remains one of my favorite MCs to spit over a DJ Muggs beat. He's only introducing the proceedings here, though. Speaking of DJ Muggs, he further flexes on his peers by reworking not one, but two of his beats (Spark Another Owl & Throw Your Set In The Air) into an all-new third masterpiece. Bruh! Story time: This was actually my very first introduction to Erick Sermon as an MC after being introduced to him for the first time outright on Def Jam Fight For NY. You just have to give it up to the MCs of that generation who just knew how to convey conviction in their cadence, and Erick is no slouch in that department. B then steps into the cipher and does his group proud, before DJ Kut Killa aka The Funkadelic Devil aka Funk Doctor Spock aka Reggie motherfucking Noble aka the mighty Redman swoops in and pulls the rug from under everybody. This is what I wanted to hear Method Man doing on that earlier Killa Hill N****s song on the album. CMW's MC Eiht closes out the proceedings with the first of many tracks that, in my humble opinion, prove without a shadow of a doubt that the man simply finds his footing better on production that leans more towards East Coast tendencies. You can argue the opposite till you're all blue in the face and you'll still be wrong. Bottom line, one of the most underrated posse cuts ever. And we're done.

For another dose of that Soul Assassins funk, here. And for further posts about the group that won against Ice Cube, here.

Cypress Hill - Black Sunday (July 16, 1993)

Half a year later...

If anything, I am one relentless motherfucker. I refuse to back down from a challenge. That's because trying to come up with shit to put in these writeups has begun to cause me actual physical pain again. Not because I stopped loving this material I'm writing about, far from it. But because the last review I wrote was before the infamous Soulja Boy Breakfast Club interview dropped. I hate even talking about that piece of shit but trust me, that interview served as a wakeup call: the mainstream hip hop scene has been flooded with trash music for over a decade now. Not knocking guys who really appreciate the craft like J. Cole or Big KRIT, but even they were forced to compromise with songs that really serve no purpose when it comes to elevating the art form.

Which begs the following questions: When the fuck was it OK for the limits of this art form to not be pushed? When the fuck was it OK for mainstream hip hop acts to settle with the mediocre? I'll let y'all hang with these shits for a moment.

Back to our syndicated program with another look at what many people in the industry call the "Golden Era". Now, pay attention to the fact that each and every attempt to pinpoint the exact timeframe of said era failed so far, simply because of the astronomical number of answers one would get for even asking such a thing. Nevertheless, a common understanding has taken shape in the ether implicating that such era may be traced back to 1986, a mere two years after Run-DMC & LL Cool J transformed the industry from a singles game into an albums game. It was then that the world of hip hop caught the first glimpse of its most influential generation to date. I'm not even gonna list the acts who released material during that time but trust me: You're gonna find that the vast majority of your favorite rappers were, in one way or another, influenced by these mufuccas. That's is exactly the case for one of mines: The legendary B-Real, lead MC and writer for the immortal Cypress Hill. B, along with comrades Sen Dog, hype-man and lowkey-leader of the group, and DJ Muggs, founder of the Soul Assassins and chief architect of its sound, hit the scene with one hell of a bang. Their eponymous debut, released in 1991, was a true testament to how much they were students of the aforementioned pioneers, showcasing distinct influences of Public Enemy and EPMD while retaining their identity and thereby creating a sound all their own. The critical hit was a commercial one, as well, quietly reaching five hundred thousand units sold in early 92. During that time, ol' Muggsy was busy cranking out hits for fellow Soul Assassins alumni House of Pain & Funkdoobiest, with the former's debut album actually achieving platinum status on the strength of the be-all-end-all party jam Jump Around, itself a chart-topping smash. As expected, this did wonders for Muggs' name, as people started researching the guy and found out he had released a full album with Cypress Hill prior. Hence the eponymous debut reaching platinum status in January of 93, as well.

So now that Muggs was done with masterminding the side projects, it was time for him to refocus on the main show. His grimy funk production being somewhat of a hot commodity, Muggs decided that he was going to continue pushing it for a while despite him recognizing that now was a suitable time to elevate his sound. Thus, the world was treated to the biggest Cypress Hill record to date: Insane In The Brain.

Storytime: Insane In The Brain was actually a diss aimed squarely at Chubb Rock and dear friend-turned-bitter enemy Kid Frost. Keyword: WAS. Kid Frost has long since reunited with the Hill and Chubb Rock is on pretty amicable terms with them. Anyways, the song blew up within the rock and metal markets simply because the Hill had an immense appeal with their pothead fanbases. It actually became such a hit that the original objective of the song was completely lost. Hell, even Cypress themselves barely recognize it as the diss it was meant to be. Nevertheless, Insane In The Brain remains the Hill's biggest single stateside, selling five hundred thousand units alone and is forever solidified within the Hill's live show sets. The fuckheads at Sony felt said success was enough groundwork for the accompanying album, Black Sunday, to be unleashed on the starving masses.

To date, Black Sunday is the most successful Soul Assassins project out, selling at least three million units in the US alone. Critics also flocked at hailing this record as gigantic triumph for the group. Time to check if they're onto something.

Boy/girl (pick one), this is Black Sunday

I WANNA GET HIGH
What kind of Cypress Hill album would this be if it didn't house a song or two professing their love for cannabis? Muggs sets the mood off right with some off-kilter horn bytes preceding a soothing funk instrumental looped to enhance the experience of getting baked out your shoes. B responds appropriately with a Rita Marley interpolation, followed by a one-verse ode to the sticky icky. I know y'all know by now that never have and never will come near the stuff, but as far as weed songs go, this one's par the standard our trio set for themselves.

I AIN'T GOIN' OUT LIKE THAT
Remember Todd Ray bka T-Ray from the previous post? I told y'all I was coming back to him, right? Well, his status as Soul Assassins beatsmith is very much intact here as he rises up to Muggs' lofty bar with one hell of a concoction for the third single: A mashup of saxophone excerpts and harmonica interludes set to a looped guitar riff with some bass menacingly dragging the instrumental's body by its cold dead limbs until the drum break resurrects the whole shit as it hits you and shatters your ribcage. This is one beat that will stay wormed into your brain as B and Sen, in his first appearance on the album providing the B-written middle stanza, brutalize T-Ray's production with yet another thuggery display that'll incite a riot at your local high school reunion if played. Naturally, this song's my shit!

INSANE IN THE BRAIN
There's the lead single! Fun fact: this song and the previous one were the set Cypress Hill played the night they got banned from SNL. Speaking of which, fuck Lorne Michaels. Now that I got that outta the way, holy hell did this song ever cross over! TBH, I never understood why metalheads took to this song in particular. I mean, I highly doubt that they understood the disses towards Chubb Rock & Kid Frost. Hell, I'm even positive that there are other songs on the album that were much more infused with metal influence than this one, yet here we are. This is still an iconic entry in their discography, though: Muggs utilized the same formula that made How I Could Just Kill A Man so big and dialed it up to eleven with even quirkier sample material, harder drums and better arrangement of verses for B and Sen. I notice that it's actually Sen who's dishing out all the subliminal insults on the song. Never let it be said that he was a punk who hid behind B, even when B wrote the actual verses themselves. All in all, this deserves its place as one of hip hop's true anthems

WHEN THE SHIT GOES DOWN
Time for B to prove to mufuccas that he's an MC again. Over a bouncy ass composition issued as the second single where Muggs speeds an out-of-left-field blues classic, B, by his lonesome, describes a tale where his home, spot, gate, whatever gets ambushed and he finally gets shot in the chest while intending to go out in a blaze of glory. While the beat is very addictive and melodic, I wouldn't have pegged it to be a perfect backdrop to a shootout song. Then again, that's why Muggs is the producer with legendary 3-decade career and I'm not. Let me be clear, though: I have always loved this song!

LICK A SHOT
Here's what's interesting: The bass sample Muggs utilizes here is actually slowed down. Nevertheless, this is one high-octane number, as B ingeniously switches up his delivery, sounding like an absolute madman as a result. What's curious is that this song sounds like a continuation of the events that transpired in the previous one. B is once again in storytelling mode, but this time the matchup between beat and lyrical performance is much more effective as B relays the desperate situation his character's in with surprisingly vivid detail. What's even doper is that he unveils a twist where the whole sequence was just a dream, upon which he wakes up right at the moment where he still gets ambushed, without his firearms this time, and another worse scenario immediately plays out. Nice display of continuity, Cypress Hill!

COCK THE HAMMER
Hands down, the darkest, grimiest and best song on the entire album. If you ever thought that DJ Muggs was a one-trick pony, here's where he first proved you wrong. Dude really knows how to pull shit from left field: This time a bass loop from Brazilian jazz fusion infused with a soulful drum break warped to result in the most soulless of backdrops he has ever come up with up to this point. This is where B-Real flexes his writing muscles, as he provides a verse for Sen that is so potent fools are still quoting it decades later! Sen’s delivery of said verse was so powerful it whipped B into a one-verse thuggery frenzy mixed with some buccaneering imagery. Appropriate, that, as B looked like a reincarnated Blackbeard back then. If you were still wondering, B stomped out the beat something feral with his offering. One of the greatest hip hop songs I've ever heard.

LOCK DOWN
A short instrumental break. I will say that these beats are where Muggs first started experimenting with sounds that don't really need lyrics to paint full pictures. This is one where he puts to use a legendary blues byte and effectively captures the feel of living that ever-so-excruciating prison life. The beat literally sounds like when the prison bars are closing down during nighttime. Brilliant. Still an interlude, though.

3 LIL' PUTOS
If any one song off this album replicates the cartoonish formula of the first album, this is it. A pseudo-sequel to Psycobetabuckdown, this time with Sen joining on the fun with yet another Spanglish display provided for him by his writing partner. People forget that he, not his younger brother Mellow Man Ace, was the first to utilize said concept, though. Anyways, the sound of B and Sen goofing off on an equally goofy blues loop cheffed up by Muggs is always welcome in my ride. So far, this album has no hitch!

LEGALIZE IT
Alas, I hastily spoke. Another interlude so soon, Muggs? Here, he slows down a funky guitar riff while sprinkling various bits of weed PSAs. Creative, but unnecessary.

HITS FROM THE BONG
Over Muggs' classic blues loop, B-Real launches into yet another two-verse ode to his recreational drug of choice. I gotta give props to him for coming up with new ways to express his adulation for this subject. moving on.

WHAT GO AROUND COME AROUND, KID
Another goofy blues-infused Muggs beat, another B-written cartoonish display of violence performed by B and Sen in what's essentially a retread of 3 Lil' Putos. Like I said in the prologue, Muggs clearly felt that such goofiness still had a crowd by the time they eased into different sonic domains, so I give him props for sticking to it. And it ain't like the song isn't entertaining, especially when B hilariously decides to act out his kung fu fantasies. Fun note: By sampling Hand On The Glock, which appears later on the album, this track presents another example of an annoying recurrence in hip hop albums: How hard is it to just bump the earlier-recorded songs up a few slots?!

A TO THE K
Prior to appearing on this album, this song showed up on the White Men Can't Jump OST, cheekily titled White Men Can't Rap. Funny, since fellow Soul Assassins alumni House Of Pain were one of the biggest hip hop, scratch that, musical acts of that particular summer with that infectious Jump Around classic. Anyway back to this, it's my resolute opinion that this album's sequencing is absolutely terrible. If it were up to me, I'd sequence that shit into medleys: the haunting medley, the weed medley, the cartoonish medley, etc. As such, people might be understandably turned off the album by this point. And even though the traditional formula is here and it kept me entertained, I completely get why.

HAND ON THE GLOCK
Second song to show up on the album outta context, as this is a remix to the Hill's intended debut single Hand On The Pump. Like I said, these should've opened the album along with the singles. Especially since there's no overarching narrative to speak of. Oh well, at least it's a good and faithful remix.

BREAK 'EM OFF SOME
Hey! The Hill decided to end Black Sunday with a bang! Muggs transforms a smooth jazz loop into a high-octane thumper tailor made for B-Real to kick three verses describing him escaping the pigs. And here's where his delivery and lyrical choices steal the show once again as they relay the tension such situations produce effectively. Told y'all he's brilliant! Shame that some people can't get past his nasalities to appreciate these details. Oh, well. Their loss.

FINAL THOUGHTS
The Hill's at it again! Black Sunday is most definitely a successful second helping of the winning formula used so brilliantly on its predecessor, while not without its moments of attempting to naturally evolve and expand their domain, which is inherently a tough thing to do without polarizing your core audience. To that end I also feel like they succeeded, as songs like Cock The Hammer and I Ain't Goin' Out Like That have since become Cypress Hill staples for a good goddamned reason. All thanks to Muggs' constant efforts behind the boards to push himself beyond his achievements. B-Real also stepped his pen game up, writing material for both him and Sen that enhanced their vocal chemistry together, with Sen really stepping up and sometimes even overshadowing B with his delivery and tone. All in all, these dudes have notched another classic in their catalog, despite some later inconsistencies.

WORTH IT?
Ayo, if you wanna stubbornly stick with the whole "oldhead" debates currently plaguing hip hop media, get the fuck off my shit and take your ass up the Old Town Road with Lil Nas X' deluded ass. If you wanna grow the fuck up and appreciate good music for what it is, have yourself a piece of this gem now.

TRACKS TO TRACK DOWN:
I LOVE YOU, MARY JANE
The first of two Cypress Hill metal collaborations off the Judgment Night OST which featured various other dope ass metal/hip hop collaborations, to be frank. In this case, the Hill collaborate with Sonic Youth in tribute to guess what? I will say that Muggs really succeeded in reigning in Sonic Youth to fit in their warped weed-hazed sound for these odes. As far as the lyrical front, B is on his own, which never posed a problem for him in such circumstances and continues not to.

REAL THING
The second metal collaboration off the abovementioned OST, and this one sounds much more metal-influenced. In this case, this is a good thing, because the MO here is another all-out war with the police. B-Real sounds appropriately demented, while providing Sen with more deliberate threats. Muggs adapts to the foreign environment, setting the stage for future forays into this medium. I love this song!

SCOOBY DOO
This track's interesting: It's been featured on every single released after the album dropped. That lets me know that the Hill really wanted people to hear this track. Here, B goes for delf with two verses that describe a story where he survives an ambush after getting shot, all over another warped concoction by Muggs. A foreshadowing of things to come. Definitely seek this one out. And we’re finally done with the hiatus

Need another hit of that Soul Assassins icky? Knock yourself out. If you want to just maintain with Cypress Hill, gahead.

Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill (August 13, 1991)

It’s tough being a mental health patient diagnosed with multiple disorders. Trust me.

Y'all remember my relationship with The Monstars Anthem from the Space Jam OST, right? How it introduced a frightened, lonely kid prone to abuse from the ones closest to him to an unapologetic, take-no-prisoners genre of narrative besides video games that helped this prepubescent combat the traumatic experiences threatening to suffocate him from the inside. By the grace of the Almighty, it was all thanks to two men on that song. One was Cliffy Cliff Smif bka the mighty Method Man from the ageless Wu-Tang Clan, whose music and its impact on my life I've already gone to great detail about on this here blog.

Now's finally the time for me to talk about the other man whose music I had a relationship beyond words through all the video games I played throughout the years: Luis Mario Freese aka Dr. Greenthumb bka the mythical B-Real from the immortal Cypress Hill.

Strap in for yet another doozy.

Since B-Real was the first voice I heard on The Monstars Anthem, that nasal tone of his bonded with my preteen brain in such an inescapable way that I immediately recognized him when I heard my very first Cypress Hill song, the bloody rapcore classic that is Lightning Strikes. I heard this satisfyingly loud banger during my very first Twisted Metal 4 playthrough, when the track blasted throughout my rampage through the Road Rage stage. Shoutout to anyone who nails dropping the Calypso special on their unsuspecting opponents from halfway across the stage: I salute your dedication. Believe me, that game stuck with me for a long ass time.

Point is, this hip hop journey of mine has always been anything but conventional, and the fact that I heard Lightning Strikes 6 years before my next exposure to Cypress Hill, I feel, has given me more of an insight into how this shit works than if I had gotten into their discography back when it came out. You know, along with the rest of the world. If you’re asking, that next exposure was thanks to the GTA San Andreas fictional radio station Radio Los Santos, which provided me with my next taste of Cypress Hill magic: How I Could Just Kill A Man. To be honest, at first I wasn’t really that stricken with the b-side simply because Ice Cube's It Was A Good Day had me in a damn trance, as it should. Nevertheless, Kill A Man eventually wormed its way into my subconscious as I continued to parade my brand of death and destruction around the fictional state until I rammed Tenpenny and his bitchass firetruck off the freeway. 2004 was a good year for me.

Two years later, my journey into the caverns of boom bap high art would be in full swing and it was then that I first heard our subject today, their eponymous debut, for the first time. It was only natural that my addiction to Cypress Hill and the Soul Assassins in general would only get worse from there, driven in no small part by the experiments of their in-house producer: the legendary Lorenzo Cavassi aka Lawrence Muggerud aka Grandmaster Muggs bka DJ Muggs outta Queens NY, who would eventually become responsible for MANY a classic hip hop display. His exploits on the boards, along with his very credible background as a DJ, led to some of my absolute favorite experiences listening to hip hop. And said experiences came at a time when I desperately needed them.

Before I get into this review proper, let me remind you that Cypress Hill wasn't always called that. The true founders of this legendary group, South Gate-based Cuban brothers Senen & Ulpiano Reyes bka Sen Dog & Mellow Man Ace called their pet project DVX (Devastating Vocal Excellence) in 1988. Muggs was in another group called the 7A3 with the Bouldin Brothers Brett & Sean, both of whon maintain very close ties with the Soul Assassins as a whole, and the Bell-based B-Real was the Reyes Bros' little homie who impressed them with his lyrics. By the time the collective got down together, Ace left the group to establish a solo career with varying levels of success, which left DVX as a trio. They changed their name to take after a street from the Reyes' hometown of South Gate and the rest is history.

Also of note is that in acquiring DJ Muggs, they were able to link the sound of both the East & West Coasts in their product way before there was a distinct divide between the two schools. Later on, producers like E-Swift, J-Swift & Madlib would echo such experimentations to form their own classic sounds. Chalk that up as yet another innovation in the Soul Assassins' war chest. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

And here's where I return you full swing to 2006, back to the beginning of my in-depth journey. I remember how I felt when I read all the opinions everyone had about this special group of musicians: 'The first two albums are the most important, forget the rest.' Being that I was too immature to experiment with my listening back then, I believed the opinions I read and limited my exposure to Cypress Hill as a whole only to our subject today and its successor for almost five years. More on how that eventually turned out in later reviews. But for now?

Cypress Hill I, boy/girl (pick one):



PIGS
Rap album intros be damned! Muggs gets right to work as he freaks a jarring (in the best way possible) Chuck Cornish loop, while B-Real lets loose a one-verse wonder bashing the ever-living shit outta the defenseless police. Because what did they ever do wrong to deserve such a tongue-thrashing, right? It's not like they murder countless unarmed children in the open every fucking day, right? Right?! This song basically establishes the career-long revulsion Cypress Hill has for the ole five-o. Of course you'll immediately notice the nasal tone of our lead MC. Turns out he didn't want to perform this way at first, because he thought his real voice was a better fit. Well, Sen & Muggs quickly shut that shit down and schooled B on how much value this tone had to the overall product, as it gave the graphic displays of thuggery present here, and on a majority of the album a playful, cartoonish tone that made them easier to market. Did I forget to mention that this shit bangs?!

HOW I COULD JUST KILL A MAN
The breakout single, everyone. Or rather, the breakout b-side. Cypress Hill defined the idea of getting over using the lesser-promoted song. Many a better critic than myself has already explained how essential this timeless hip hop experience is, but let me do me anyway: Muggs almost scrapped this song because he heard EPMD looped the same Tramp loop on Rampage, their smash tag-team with LL Cool J. Thank God he contacted EPMD personally and they fell madly in love with his take, then. I always enjoyed the sped-up Jimi Hendrix sample during the hook. B-Real slaughters shit with his braggadocio & thuggery. The immortal Good Times quote made this song just as immortal in my eyes.

HAND ON THE PUMP
Cypress Hill wanted this to be the lead single. You can even hear how much they wanted that in the sample hollering their name at the beginning. The airheads at Columbia preferred The Phuncky Feel One, relegating this as the second single. Really explains why the label's pick flopped hard at first. Anyway, Muggs goes into his bag of tricks and throws another gauntlet of samples at you, somehow creating a dope-as-shit instrumental from oddball excerpts from Jr. Walker, Gene Chandler, James Brown and many others. On the lyrics side of things, you are treated to your very first full Sen Dog verse, which would become a real fan favorite in his repertoire. This will be the benchmark for his future appearances. And B-Real sounds hyped as fuck to perform with him, being Sen's protege 'n' all. Until you realize that Sen did NOT write his verse. Nope, that honor goes to the 7A3’s aforementioned Brett Bouldin. Still, this is a smash, but it could've been an even bigger smash had the label listened to Muggs.

HOLE IN THE HEAD
The onslaught of awesomeness continues as Muggs, by now revealed as the true architect of the Cypress Hill sound, conjures a confusingly addictive Jimmy McBride loop where you can't help but nod your head along. B-Real returns to his solo ventures as he once again nails the balance between menacing and cartoonish, with his nasalities effectively cloaking the thuggery. The fourth dope song!

ULTRAVIOLET DREAMS
DJ Muggs gives you a break from the assault with a slowed down Muddy Waters loop as an effective interlude. One that you'll actually need for once.

LIGHT ANOTHER
Two themes shall henceforth be prevalent in each and every Cypress Hill album, streetlife imagery and odes to cannabis. Seeing as I've never smoked anything in my life (and I intend to keep it that way), I didn't know what to make of the group's attention to the latter at first. Over time, I grew to appreciate the art behind such compositions, whether they be lyrical or musical. Especially when they house displays such as this where DJ Muggs is going crazy with the Kool & The Gang loops. Plus, B-Real's admonishment of the individual rightfully coughing furiously after toking up busts me at the seams every time! Side note: Everyone I've met who does enjoy the sticky green absolutely adores listening to the Hill blasted outta their fucking minds, so I appear to be in good company.

THE PHUNCKY FEEL ONE
The actual lead single. Even though I see Muggs' point and wish that the label fuckfaces listened to him in regards to Hand On The Pump, I strangely appear to be on the label fuckfaces' side as I love this song, which houses Muggs' most creative use of sampling up to this point. The man has spliced together so many unrecognizable samples built on a banger of a JBs loop and elevated the beast to an unfathomable level. B and Sen utilize the Run-DMC tag team formula to share mic time, doing it very proud indeed as they rip the beat apart with unconventional braggadocio that B wrote for both of them. My second-favorite song on the album.

BREAK IT UP
Muggs is apparently very proud of this interlude. I fail to see why, to be honest. The beat is engaging, though. Moving on.

REAL ESTATE
OK, show of hands from anyone who actually thought this b-side to the second single was actually going to be a rap song about real estate? Quite a few, huh? Well, count me in that group! What you really get is quite an extensive braggadocio display from B-Real over yet another marvelous DJ Muggs mashup. Though I still crack up when I hear B end his verse with "Check out the story to the glory of the real estate!" The video version has Sen perform a verse written by B and he sounds damn good doing so!

STONED IS THE WAY OF THE WALK
If you're one of the many heads who familiarized themselves with the EPMD brand of Jeep-rattling funk, you will hear tributes to that sound splattered throughout our subject today. Nowhere is said influence more apparent than this song, where Muggs lays out the canvas perfectly with a distorting-yet-commanding Ingrid horn sample. Following which he unveils the beautiful weld of Grant Green bass and drums from a track by He Who Must Not Be Named. (No, it's not Voldemort) With another solo display, B-Real is at his most ambitious on this joint as he weaves to and fro between very poignant subject matter, a short sex rap, homages to the herb and clever thuggery. A lesser MC would've buckled under such strain and failed spectacularly, but B breezes through effortlessly using a single verse. Out the gate, you know you're dealing with a special caliber of MC. Funny that despite not being a single, this song received the full video treatment. And it's one of their best from this entire album! My favorite song thereon, despite the odd venture into filth.

PSYCOBETABUCKDOWN
This track leaves no room for confusion: The comedic overtones taken from B-Real's delivery throughout the album are absolutely intentional. Nowhere is this more displayed than this track, as B veers off the deep end with some of his zany references. All set to a goofy-as-fuck mashup of Willie Hutch & Parliament from Muggsie here (This is intended as the highest of compliments) A special track indeed!

SOMETHING FOR THE BLUNTED
This interlude is exclusively for weed-themed parties & 4:20 concerts. Or if you devote yourself to cannabis half as much as these three do. As such, it contains a pretty enjoyable beat.

LATIN LINGO
Let me take this opportunity to remind yo ass that Mr. Muggs Muggerud here has yet to come with even a slightly bad instrumental. Not even an iffy one. I wish I was kidding. Here he brings you yet another headbanger, although this is more of a mellow slapper than the rest. It's this track that unveils the true capabilities of Sen Dog as a performer. In an interview, Muggs reveals that Sen was actually the very first who pioneered Spanglish rhymes, way back in 1988. Sen coined the term for the obvious reason being that he rhymed in English and Spanish simultaneously. Remember how groundbreaking that Mellow Man Ace debut was? Yeah, his older brother did it first, naturally. So it’s confusing when you find out that Ace wrote these bars for Sen! This track is basically proof that Sen’s delivery is as crucial an element to the Hill’s success as any aspect of the other members’ game, with B-Real providing the ad-libs for a change.

THE FUNKY CYPRESS HILL SHIT
Muggs has decided that you, the listener, have had enough time to relax, so he assaults your senses once again with a shit ton of samples mashed together haphazardly and yet retained a surprising amount of cohesion. B-Real returns to the forefront with more nasal thuggery, comically delivered to a tee. Good to hear Sen enjoying himself on the adlibs.

TRES EQUIS
And we come to our very first throwaway! It's actually amazing that it's the second-to-last track! I will say that Muggs' John Roberts loop is pretty bombastic in the best possible way. Shame it had to go to waste over a useless sex rap. It's even more of a loss that this is the lone track solely in Spanish, as I'd've loved to hear Sen (back at the solo helm) deliver a full Spanish track that tackles any other subject matter more relevant.

BORN TO GET BUSY
The final track is basically an outro with a minuscule lyrical contribution from Sen giving his take on the B-Real nasalities. Then, Sen goes on a rant about strolling in the ways of the buddha masters. Whatever the fuck that means. Your confusion will subside when you find out that it was actually B and Ho wrote the song! The awesome Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk beat returns afterwards amid a myriad of choppy samples raining down on your ears, in the midst of which you'll hear an announcer describe, in a corny dramatic tone, the effects of cannabis. Interestingly, you'll feel as if he's been smoking for the past week straight. I'm guessing it's the mixing of said excerpt. Or not.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Contrary to popular belief, this eponymous debut by our hosts initially didn't do very well, leading them to open for more impacting acts like Naughty By Nature at the time. However, the snowball formed after seven months with them selling five hundred thousand units and repeating the feat after a further ten months. Eventually from then on, they'd gradually sell over a million more units over the next seven years, reaching a total of two million units stateside alone. Proving just how much of an enduring brand Cypress Hill can truly be.

And you know what? Every bit of success this album received is warranted and then some: This debut is an enthralling sonic journey with fly rhymes to match that kickstarted one of the most legendary careers hip hop has ever seen. It is so revered that an act like Rage Against The Machine would eventually release their cover of How I Could Just Kill A Man as the third single to their platinum-selling final album Renegades. Simultaneously, this album also represents the perfect fusion of the East Coast influence and the West Coast-grit and street talk that would eventually take over the game in the 90s. Think of this album as the West Coast's purest answer to EPMD, no disrespect to other West Coast answers.

WORTH IT? If you want to make me legit mad, trash this album in my presence. That'd be the very moment I... don't do anything and laugh it off. We're not in school anymore, buddy. Seriously, this is one of the finest hip hop acquisitions you can make, so I suggest you get to it.

TRACKS TO TRACK DOWN:
SHOOT 'EM UP
Off the Juice soundtrack, this was an appropriate continuation of the heavy funk sound introduced on the crew's debut, which eventually inspired Muggs to continue pursuing that sound for a while. Here, he builds an instrumental based on a King Floyd loop obscured by an entertainingly irritating guitar sample. B-Real writes a flurry of bars where he and Sen Dog capitalize with them cartoonishly playing with their pitches (especially B) as they deliver some thuggery fittingly from the perspective of Bishop. This track was very apropos and fulfilling. And we're done.

This was only the beginning, so if you dare brave this Soul Assassins tunnel, enter here.