Amazon.com: Led by the deep-toned Sen Dog and the deliciously adenoidal whine of B-Real and backed by DJ Muggs's beats--as thick as the smoke they inhaled--Cypress Hill spun dope-fueled tales of revenge, revolution, recreational drug use, gangbanging, and cultural pride. Like R. Crumb's Mr. Natural, but with a hardened voice and a B-boy attitude, Cypress Hill slow-walked their funk-flavored way through a minefield of anthems (the still sizzling "How I Could Just Kill a Man") and comic manifestos ("Stoned Is the Way of the Walk"). Heavy on the bass line and punctuated by flashes of wit and rage, Cypress Hill's joint was definitely one to draw deep on. --Amy Linden
Original and timeless album Cypress Hill's 1991 self titled debut is a very original, entertaining album the likes of which hip hop had never seen before. The group of Cuban MCs from Los Angeles had a style that was totally new to hip hop and proved to be pretty influential, and mostly from this album. "Cypress Hill" is full of weed smoking anthems, paranoid tales of ghetto violence, humor, and excellent production. The rappers B-Real and Sen Dog especially stand out, showing a distinct character from any other rappers in 1991. B-Real's high, nasal voice always sounds both funny and disturbed, and Sen's low gruff voice is the source of most of the yells and chants on the songs. DJ Muggs emerged on this album as one of rap's premier beatmakers, with a style as distinct and creatively original as the RZA or Pete Rock. His use of heavy pounding bass and slow drumbeats are coupled with often infrequent guitar licks and sampling. Overall "Cypress Hill" is one of the most unique and interesting rap albums from the early 90s, and I highly recommend it for the hip hop collection.
The album begins with the deliciously funky "Pigs," an anti-police statement with a looping guitar line and good verses from all parties. The classic song "How I Could Just Kill a Man" follows, the song that shot the group to superstardom. This song demonstrates their crazy style and Muggs's amazing beats, with its soaring synth line and horns. "Hand on the Pump" has a good chorus and similar instrumentals to the first song, and the chant-along "Hole in the Head" has deep bass and great verses. The upbeat smoking anthem "Light Another" allows B-Real to demonstrate a different flow, and the funny "The Phuncky Feel One" follows. "Real Estate" represents Los Angeles as only Cypress Hill does, and another pro-weed song, the excellent "Stoned Is the Way of the Walk," comes next. I love "Psychobetabuckdown," a threatening and head-spinning angry song. "Latin Lingo" represents their Cuban roots, and "The Funky Cypress Hill S..." is aptly titled. The horn heavy "Tres Equis" precedes the closer, the great "Born to Get Busy." Throughout the album, short tracks like "Ultraviolet Dreams," "Break It Up," and "Something for the Blunted" provide short, smoked out interludes of heavy Muggs beats.
In my opinion, this debut is Cypress Hill's finest work (if you like this also check out 1993's "Black Sunday"). Funny, lyrical, funky, musical, but most of all just entertaining and enjoyable, this album was very influential but somehow still sounds fresh and distinctive today. I suggest any hip hop fans pick this up, because they won't be disappointed.
The Original Hip-Hop Stoners Cypress Hill took the gangsta rap style of NWA, the DJ'ing of Public Enemy, and the attitude of the Beastie Boys to a whole new level. So much credit is given to Dr. Dre's The Chronic, but you can tell he got ideas for the Chronic from Cypress Hill's groundbreaking debut. Dre even later bit some of their concert style.
Cypress Hill are the original hip-hop stoners. The cartoony metaphors, cannabis lingo, contrasting two-man vocals, and wicked beats and sampling make this album a classic for the ages. Although harsh for some, the lyrics were true to the street culture of the early 90's and while a little exaggerated and boisterous, taking it over the top was Cypress's style. This album was put out in a time of fresh creativity in hip-hop, something that is lacking nowadays. Their style transcended racial barriers and got a lot of people into legitimate hip-hop. All 4 of Cypress Hill's first albums were instant hip-hop classics, and their live act was top-notch.
To me, in 1990's hip-hop, there were Cypress Hill and Wu-Tang Clan, and then there was everybody else.
Hip-hop Perfection Their debut they could never top. B Real's rhymes are complex and imaginitive, and through subsequent releases get more and more simple. Everything about this album, the beats, samples, rhymes, it's uniquness, makes it a king among kings in the hip-hop world. Did you know the guitar sample in the refrain of How I Could Just Kill A Man is from the Jimi Hendrix song Are You Experienced?
B, Sen & Muggs on a Debut Joint! Cypress Hill's Debut Album (along with second album "Black Sunday") is their best album effort......After Virtually coming from nowhere to take a firm stranglehold on the then floundering Hip-Hop scene, which was lacking innovation, sleazy Lo-fi fat Beats with a distinctive sound all of their own (Courtesy of D.j Muggs) , coupled with rapper "B-Real's" latino-voiced pro-marijuana rhetoric, which was to prominently feature in all their albums, so peace to mi homies B-Real, Frost & Mellow Man Ace, mi homie Sen Dawg for background vocal hook ups & mix-master DJ Muggs for makin' beats so god damn funky! The song Pigs is pretty much an N.W.A.-post about politicaly hypocritical cops in South Central, Lynwood, Watts, Florence, South Gate where Cypress Hill grew up in, How I Could Just Kill A Man became a chronic classic from the sticky green smelly buddah tokin' crew, Hand On The Pump is 1 of my personal favorites of theirs and the 1st music vieo of theirs I've seen, and the song Stoned Is the Way of the Walk is a hard stoner joint that is just str8 up grimy.
Kings of the Hill. Cypress Hill was a major breath of fresh air when they came out. They were rapping from a latinos perspective, they dropped beats that were more than dope, and wrote lyrics about everything including weed. You can't deny that as soon as you hear B-real, you know just who it is. I'd hesitate to call this the best album of theirs, but I like it just as much as "Black Sunday", "Temple Of Boom", and "Skull And Bones". Top tracks for me are "Pigs", "Hand On The Pump", "Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk", and "Born To Get Busy". It's all good though. It's a fact that in the summer of 1992, if I wasn't playing House Of Pain or the Beastie Boys, i was listening to Cypress Hill. Of course, I could pretty much say that now as well.
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