Cypress Hill: Classic Or Dud?

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This was the hip-hop group that college students all listened to when I was actually at college! (OK University). Did I listen to them? Oh yes. Never actually owned their records though and just bought Black Sunday for a fiver in FOPP - before it gets its inaugural listen I consult the 'heads' at ILM re the formula masters of dope/guns/basslines/funny voices.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 14 October 2002 08:27 (twenty-three years ago)

i think 'black sunday' should hold up pretty well even now...esp. given the more minimalist production in hip hop now...nothing sounds quite as broad and sleazy as the grooves on this album now. it rocked my world for a while back in 94, tho i never did give a proper listen to their first album ('real estate' and 'how i could just kill a man' were as far as i got)...i got a bit turned off hip hop soon after this tho so the next albums didnt sound half as cool - maybe the hill ran out of stuff worth sayin'? they actually had the gall to use the 'throw ya set in the air, wave it around like ya just dont care' lyric after all

― blueski, Monday, 14 October 2002 10:21 (twenty-three years ago)

Good god, DUD. I genuinely loathe virtually every single second of music I have ever heard from them - most of it sounds like a clumsy, ponderous mess with the same idea trotted out time and time again. And I'm not even going to touch on the bloody rock stuff. Horrible.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 14 October 2002 13:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Here's the first thing you have to know about Cypress Hill: their producer, DJ Muggs, is one of the best rap producers out there. The reason he doesn't get more props is because he's with Cypress Hill. I feel like his talent is sort of wasted with them, really. Not in the sense that his work with them sucks, but that nobody cares enough to listen to really listen to it, and it gets no radio airplay either. Check out some clips from his "Soul Assassin" solo albums, which are both great-- well, the first one is great, the second one is pretty good, but less consistent. (try downloading "Decisions, Decisions" w/Goodie Mob, or "When the Fat Lady Sings" with GZA). He's got a great style, at times similar to RZA's, but generally more cinematic and smoky.

So anyway, back to Cypress Hill: the production on the first album is FANTASTIC. Some of the best production I've ever heard. That album is without a doubt classic. Nearly every song is great. "Black Sunday" is pretty good, it's got some moments, but it's not nearly as good as the first. "Temples of Boom" is mediocre. "IV" has a couple good songs (ex. "Audio X"), but in general isn't that great. "Skull and Bones" is better than the previous two, but isn't that hot either. Haven't heard the latest one. But in summary, the first album is great, definitely pick that one up just for the great production.

― Rahul Kamath (Rahul Kamath), Monday, 14 October 2002 16:51 (twenty-three years ago)

i agree muggs is ill, check the infamous mob track too, i really dont get cypress though really, i liked the scene about them in bully

― s trife (simon_tr), Monday, 14 October 2002 16:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Classic, if only for having the best yes-man in history.

Imagine if everything you said
IMAGINE IF EVERYTHING YOU SAID!!!
was then immediately shouted for emphasis by a friend
WAS THEN IMMEDIATELY SHOUTED FOR EMPHASIS BY YOUR FRIEND!!!

also, the production on the first album is really excellent. Although when it came out, i thought that DJ Muggs was going to produce a series of definitive records for every minority in Los Angeles.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 14 October 2002 20:02 (twenty-three years ago)

Curiously, after reading some of the recent hip-hop threads, I was just thinking about how I might like to go back and check out Cypress Hill's old material. I always liked "How I Could Just Kill a Man," but haven't heard it for years.

― Rockist Scientist, Monday, 14 October 2002 21:38 (twenty-three years ago)

The first two are ace, after that forget it.

― earlnash, Monday, 14 October 2002 22:04 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

Upon relistening to the first record for the first time in about 10 years, I can conclude that it is really quite bad.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:42 (twenty-two years ago)

you lie!

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry for breaking your heart in two.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:46 (twenty-two years ago)

My next report will be on the complete works of Boo Yaa Tribe.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:48 (twenty-two years ago)

i haven't heard it in about 10 years myself.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:49 (twenty-two years ago)

you're doing the lord's work adam

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Fool other Adam, "Pigs" is great. Kind of.

― adam (adam), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:50 (twenty-two years ago)

"Feed the sheep" he says. And the sheep are fed.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:50 (twenty-two years ago)

xpost

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Other adam, have you really really listened to Pigs recently? because I was kind of thinking the same thing. until recently.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:51 (twenty-two years ago)

i must avoid listening to it my dreams may be shattered.

next you will tell me the second record is actually quite good.

― mullygrubber (gaz), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:51 (twenty-two years ago)

i refuse to believe that i was wrong in thinking this was a proto-trip-hop meisterverk for the last 10 years

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:52 (twenty-two years ago)

uh, strongo...

― mullygrubber (gaz), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I've decided to just leave Black Sunday preserved in metaphorical aspic.

You see, it occurred to me that, conceptually, Cypress Hill were actually great. Only the music sucks.

I have never owned a pair of big shorts, btw.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Other Adam, I shall download right now and report back.

― adam (adam), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:53 (twenty-two years ago)

no way, the first album is KUH-LASSIC. Mostly for the production. Muggs seemed to subsequently abandon this style to a large degree - but the dense, scratchy, chopped samples are great. Also this is the album that introduced me to Muddy Waters' "Electric Mud" so bonus points for that.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:54 (twenty-two years ago)

But all the shouting. And the lyrics.

My god, the lyrics.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:55 (twenty-two years ago)

fun fact: first album i ever shoplifted!

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:56 (twenty-two years ago)

in other news i found an old copy of the source and was kind of disappointed at the level of the criticism

― mullygrubber (gaz), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:57 (twenty-two years ago)

A young @d@m stole the Hijack album!

UK equivalent?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:57 (twenty-two years ago)

across the board the lyrics are not the greatest, true. But "Pigs" is funny. And "Real Estate"?!? That song is great, and the vocals do their job, get the bragadaccio over, etc. B-Real is not the best with metaphors, sadly. His verse on "Stankonia" is good tho.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:57 (twenty-two years ago)

What's the one that goes "bilingual, funky bilingual"?

That song should be buggered and drowned.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:58 (twenty-two years ago)

sorry, i can't believe I just posted that.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:59 (twenty-two years ago)

what about how i could just kill a man???

― mullygrubber (gaz), Thursday, 13 May 2004 21:59 (twenty-two years ago)

cypress hill = a group to dip into, rather than immerse yourself in.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:00 (twenty-two years ago)

HAND ON THE PUMP

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:00 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, I guess that and Pigs might be the keepers. but trust me, they're not as good as you remember. Civilization has moved on.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:00 (twenty-two years ago)

duke-duke-duke-duke of earl-duke-duke-duke of earl

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, it is crap. There goes another part of my childhood.

― adam (adam), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:01 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm dying inside

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, hearing this and also learning that Leisure Suit Larry isn't actually very funny have made me reconsider the supposed glory of my youth.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:02 (twenty-two years ago)

hey i too listened to this recently for the first time in a loooong while. The beats are good and that's all I have to say.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:04 (twenty-two years ago)

the cover still looks cool, right?

― mullygrubber (gaz), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:06 (twenty-two years ago)

remember back when pot wasn't a regular part of rap culture

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:06 (twenty-two years ago)

ie. they will grate on me if i listen to more than a handful of tracks at a time. the sneering delivery is pretty cool in small doses (i think it's on "i want to get high" he says "ar-ouund" and his sneer curls so far it practically comes full circle). kind of formulaic, but they've made some really good variations on that formula. i never play their albums through - give me a tape of 7, maybe 8 of their best and that's all i need.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:07 (twenty-two years ago)

There's something of the New Jack about it.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000027RY.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:07 (twenty-two years ago)

i think i feel the same way about them as i do about placebo.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:08 (twenty-two years ago)

pigs
hand on the pump
how i could just kill a man
rock superstar
hits from the bong
insane in the brane
when the shit goes down
i wanna get high

that will do.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 13 May 2004 22:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree the production on the first album is phenomenal. I like the rapping too, but that may be a matter of personal taste.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 13 May 2004 23:08 (twenty-two years ago)

ILM is a strange place full of strange tastes.

That first album is one of the strongest hip-hop debuts ever.

If Cypress Hill was Stevie Wonder:

first album = "Music of My Mind" thru "Song in the Key of Life"
second album = "Hotter than July"
almost everything after that = "Woman in Red"

― Jay Smooth (jsmooth995), Friday, 14 May 2004 02:28 (twenty-two years ago)

eight months pass...

hahaha just the concept of "If Cypress Hill was Stevie Wonder"!!

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 20 January 2005 05:08 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

This morning I think "Hand on the Pump" is the greatest song ever. The sample from "Duke of Earl" is total genius. The lyrics are a slice of evil. I am going to put on a bandana.

― Euler, Saturday, 18 August 2007 16:23 (eighteen years ago)

anyone who says dud is crazy.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Saturday, 18 August 2007 16:30 (eighteen years ago)

Best rock group of the 90s

― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 18 August 2007 16:36 (eighteen years ago)

First album was cool at the time. It sounded a lot different from everything else. B Real's delivery favorably compared to the Beastie Boys (who weren't a complete laughing stock yet).

I remember when Black Sunday came out, all of my friends kind of loved it it for about a month, then someone brought The Chronic home and put it on, and Cypress Hill was quickly forgotten about for the next two years.

Someone gave me a Temples of Boom tape years later, which I listened to it in my car a lot. I enjoyed "Killa Hill Niggas" and "Boom Biddy Bye Bye", mostly for the production and hilariously theatric lyrics.

Most of the people I know who have any serious reverence for Cypress, also listen to ICP and Kottonmouth Kings.

I like DJ Muggs, but If I'm ever making mid-90s rap compilation and a Cypress Hill song could fit, I'll take something by Beatnuts instead. Although "Light Another" is the one song by them I get in the mood to listen to every now and then.

― rockapads, Saturday, 18 August 2007 17:21 (eighteen years ago)

First album = C++.

― libcrypt, Saturday, 18 August 2007 19:08 (eighteen years ago)

(Classic ++)

― libcrypt, Saturday, 18 August 2007 19:08 (eighteen years ago)

Nice on the classic++. For a record that was very popular at the time (double platinum in the US), it's very vulgar. I mean, the first song ("Pigs") finishes with a (presumably male) cop getting gang-raped. I don't think anything on The Chronic has anything that vicious---it's a very sexual album, but the sex seems mostly consensual, even if the kissing and telling isn't very respectful. Has any record this vulgar made it so big since? I don't know enough about Insane Clown Posse's record to say if they are competitive here.

― Euler, Saturday, 18 August 2007 19:35 (eighteen years ago)

"Sawed off shotgun, hand on the pump/Left hand on a forty, puffin on a blunt"

A pump-action shotgun would seem to be a two-handed weapon, to have one hand on a 40 AND be puffing on a blunt while operating one, well...this I'd like to see.

― Mark Rich@rdson, Saturday, 18 August 2007 21:59 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

ILM is a strange place full of strange tastes.

― Jay Smooth (jsmooth995), Thursday, May 13, 2004 9:28 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark

tbomb

― choom gangsta (deej), Sunday, 28 December 2008 00:32 (seventeen years ago)

the debut is in my top 10 all-time rap. also loved the second.

― nicky lo-fi, Sunday, 28 December 2008 00:33 (seventeen years ago)

seven years pass...

This mix, man https://soundcloud.com/wax-poetics/cypress-hill-cypress-hill-25th-anniversary-mixtape-mixed-by-dj-matman

― Blue Demon III (lpz), Thursday, 18 August 2016 18:12 (nine years ago)

four years pass...

https://gothamist.com/news/two-alarm-blaze-smokes-out-suspected-marijuana-grow-house-cypress-hills

― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Sunday, 18 October 2020 21:38 (five years ago)

those first two Cypress Hill albums were both great

― Dan S, Sunday, 18 October 2020 23:46 (five years ago)

DJ Muggs ear for samples was always magnificent.

― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Sunday, 18 October 2020 23:47 (five years ago)

The first three albums are all great in their own different ways. But I lost interest in them after that.

― does it look like i'm here (jon123), Monday, 19 October 2020 02:58 (five years ago)

One of the bosses at Pappadeaux the summer after high school would play "Rap Superstar" or "Rock Superstar" before a shift to get us hyped to go out and sell overpriced gumbo.

― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Monday, 19 October 2020 03:09 (five years ago)

I seem to recall they lost out on most of their royalties for Insane In The Brain because they forgot (or just didn't bother) to clear the "I'm think I'm going crazy" sample at the very end of the track.

― does it look like i'm here (jon123), Monday, 19 October 2020 11:54 (five years ago)

one year passes...

Cypress Hill has returned with their tenth studio album, Back In Black, produced entirely by Black Milk and due March 18, 2022 via MNRK. To ring in the announcement, the group has shared new single "Bye Bye," featuring a standout verse from rapper Dizzy Wright -- listen and pre-order Back In Black on all major streaming services. The new track comes on the heels of the announcement of the band's extensive slate of touring for the year, including a leg of Slipknot's Knotfest Roadshow 2022. Find all announced tour dates below. In yet another monumental move, the group has announced a brand-new documentary titled Insane In The Brain: Cypress Hill, which will be released this spring.

― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Friday, 21 January 2022 15:57 (four years ago)

New song is pretty good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL6V4PCcLkk

― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 21 January 2022 16:12 (four years ago)

black milk production with cypress hill = i'm in

― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Friday, 21 January 2022 16:17 (four years ago)

two years pass...

Finally collaborating with the London Symphony Orchestra

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/cypress-hill-28-old-simpsons-005615868.html

― beamish13, Wednesday, 10 July 2024 17:49 (one year ago)

Paul Westerberg, thank you for never recording "Here Comes a Regular" with a symphony orchestra.

― henry s, Wednesday, 10 July 2024 17:59 (one year ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl9FShX0mws

― beamish13, Saturday, 13 July 2024 16:34 (one year ago)

Wish they gave Peter Frampton a cameo at the end - "I booked this orchestra!"

― birdistheword, Saturday, 13 July 2024 20:27 (one year ago)

Love the trumpet cue after "Like Louie Armstrong play the trumpet" LOL

― birdistheword, Saturday, 13 July 2024 20:30 (one year ago)

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