Cypress Hill
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| Cypress Hill | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | South Gate, California, USA |
| Genre(s) | Hip hop |
| Years active | 1986 - Present |
| Label(s) | Columbia Records, Ruffhouse Records, Sony Music |
| Associated acts | House of Pain, Rage Against the Machine, Everlast, Psycho Realm |
| Website | CypressHill.com |
| Members | |
| B-Real Sen Dog DJ Muggs Eric Bobo |
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| Former members | |
| Mellow Man Ace | |
Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. Cypress Hill was the first Latino group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums. The band was originally called DVX, but the name was changed after Mellow Man Ace left in 1988.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early works
Their first album, which was self-titled, was released in August 1991. Its single was "Phuncky Feel One," but it was the B-side "How I Could Just Kill A Man" (formerly "Trigga Happy Nigga") that attracted more airplay on urban radio and college radio. Based on the success of the single and other tracks such as bilingual track "Latin Lingo" and X-rated Spanish track "Tres Equis", the album sold two million copies in the US alone. Subsequently, DJ Muggs produced House of Pain's first album, then worked on other projects like Funkdoobiest. The band made their first appearance at Lollapalooza on the side stage in 1992.
Black Sunday, the group's second album, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 1993, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group up until that time. Also with their debut still on the charts they became the first rap artists to have 2 albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 at the same time. With "Insane in the Brain" becoming a crossover hit, the album went triple platinum in the U.S. and sold about 3.25 million copies.
Cypress Hill was banned from Saturday Night Live after Muggs smoked cannabis on-air and the band trashed their instruments while playing their second single "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That". The band headlined the "Soul Assassins" tour with House of Pain and Funkdoobiest as support, then performed on a college tour with Rage Against the Machine and Seven Year Bitch. In 1993, Cypress Hill also had two tracks on the Judgment Night soundtrack, teamed up with Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth.
The band played at the 1994 Woodstock Festival introducing their new member Eric Bobo, formerly a percussionist with the Beastie Boys. Bobo is the son of salsa musician Willie Bobo. Rolling Stone magazine named the band as the best rap group in their music awards voted by critics and readers. Cypress Hill played at Lollapalooza for two successive years, topping the bill in 1995. They appeared on the The Simpsons episode "Homerpalooza".Prior to Bobo joining the crew,Panchito"ponch"Gomez also sat in as a percussionist when not acting.
Their third album Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom was released in 1995 selling 1.5 million copies and reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the hit single "Throw Your Set in the Air". Cypress Hill also contributed a track "I Wanna Get High" to the High Times sponsored Hempilation album to support NORML.
[edit] Feud with Ice Cube
Rumours exist that the beef between these two power factors from the westcoast started when B-Real played a demo of the Cypress Hill album “Temples of boom” to Ice Cube. According to B-Real Ice Cube took the hook from the track “Throw Your Set In The Air" and used it in the track "Friday" from the soundtrack under the same name. Cypress Hill started this lyrical warfare with the track “No rest for the wicked” from the final and remastered version of “Temples of boom”, dissing Ice Cube on more than one level with lyrics like,
"I got Cube melting in a Tray, Pulling up his card & fucking up his good day!”.
Soon after “Temples of boom” was released Ice Cube recorded a diss back with his partners WC and Mack 10 (Westside Connection) on the group’s first album “Bow Down". On the track “King of the hill” Ice Cube teams up with Mack 10 and disses Cypress Hill as a direct reaction to the track “No rest for the wicked”. "King of the hill" was not the only diss track towards Cypress Hill on the album, on the track “cross em out and put a k” busts WSC lyrics like:
"B-Real and Miss Muggs is like Hollywood bitches From the niggas I know in the streets I run through Swear to god bitch,real it ain't one dog and no(body) So watch what you say,who ya talkin bout,ya tweakin And keep hogs out'cha mouth when ya bitch ass is speakin I'm sick wit it,cappin'cha dome till I hit it This Westside Connection,Cypress know they can't fuck with it"
When Cypress hill heard that Mack 10 had joined up with Ice Cube it caused more heat to the now ongoing beef. Cypress Hill didn’t take long to respond with the track “Ice Cube Killa”, alternatively named ”Fuck Westside connection” which is an unreleased track with the same beat as WSC track "king of the hill". Cypress also got hold of a rapper that sounded exactly like Cube to rap on the track so it sounds like Cube is dissing himself on the track, when in reality it is a completely different rapper. Ice Cube’s cousin Kam also got involved in the feud when he felt dissed by Cube. Kam hailing from the east side of Los Angeles felt dissed when Cube was rapping about the Westside on bow down. Kam also dissed Cube on the track "Whoop Whoop" produced by DjPooh. Rumour has that one of Kam’s homies beat down Cube on a party and snatched his Westside connection chain, the same chain ending up in B-Real’s hands later on. The beef is now squashed but not totally forgotten and it’s uncertain if the two clicks are going to be as tight as there were before the beef. According to the lyrics to "King of the Hill" by Ice Cubes Westide Connection, Ice Cube helped B-real in Australia when Cypress Hill band member Sen Dogg left the band for a while. In Ice Cubes "Cross 'Em Out And Put A 'K" , he reveals how the tribe called quest artist Q-tip told Cypress Hill about how he was tired of the Gangster Hip-Hop. Ice Cube knew it from a person who isn't revealed in the lyrics but is nicknamed "Dove". In Cypress Hill's "Ice Cuba Killa", B-real raps about how Ice Cube still is into the gangster rap and is depended on that style. Even on the same song Cypress Hill strongly express that Eastside is better than Westside, which Ice Cube is from. In 1997 B-Real of Cypress Hill and Ice Cube were invited to a late night talk show in order to reconcile their differences for the benefit of the hip hop community, and the feud thus ended. Cube And B-Real would work together later that year as guest features on the track "Men of Steel" for the soundtrack of Shaquille O'Neal's film Steel. B-Real and Cube did even feature as guests in Warren G's single "Get U Down" which also featured Snoop Dogg.
[edit] Continued career
Sen Dog took a break from the band to form a Los Angeles based punk-rap band SX-10. Meanwhile in 1996, Cypress Hill appeared on the first 'Smokin' Grooves' tour, featuring Ziggy Marley, The Fugees, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest. The band also released a nine track EP Unreleased and Revamped with rare mixes. In 1997, band members focused on their solo careers. Muggs released Muggs Presents ... the Soul Assassins featuring contributions from Wu-Tang Clan members, Dr. Dre, KRS-One, Wyclef Jean and Mobb Deep. B-Real appeared with Busta Rhymes, Coolio, LL Cool J and Method Man on "Hit Em High" from the multi-platinum Space Jam Soundtrack. He also appeared with RBX, Nas and KRS-One on "East Coast Killer, West Coast Killer" on Dr. Dre's Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath album, and released an album entitled "The Psycho Realm" from his side project of the same name. Though the focus that year was not on Cypress Hill, the band played Smokin' Grooves with George Clinton and Erykah Badu.
Cypress Hill released IV in 1998 which went gold in the U.S., even though the reviews were somewhat negative,[citation needed] on the backs of hit singles "Tequila Sunrise" and another tribute to smoking cannabis "Dr. Greenthumb." Sen Dog also released the Get Wood sampler as part of SX-10 on the label Flip. In 1999, Cypress Hill helped with the PC crime/very mature video game Kingpin: Life of Crime. Three of their songs from the 1998 IV album were in the game ( "16 Men Till There's No Men Left", "Checkmate" and "Lightning Strikes"). B-Real also did some of the voices of the people in the game. Also in 1999, the band released a greatest-hits album in Spanish, Los grandes éxitos en español. Cypress Hill then fused genres with their two-disc release, Skull & Bones, in 2000. The first disc, "Skull" was comprised of rap tracks while "Bones" explored further the group's forays into rock. The album reached the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 in Canada. The first single was "Rock Superstar" for rock radio and "Rap Superstar" for urban radio. The band also released Live at the Fillmore, a concert disc recorded at the Fillmore (in San Fransico) in 2000. Cypress Hill continued their experimentation with rock on the Stoned Raiders album in 2001. However, its sales were a disappointment, as the disc did not even reach the top 50 of the U.S. album charts. In 2001, the group appeared in the film How High.
Cypress Hill recorded "Just Another Victim" for the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a theme song for Tazz. At the time, WWE was using original music for almost all of the wrestlers, so this was an unusual step for the company to take, but it remains one of the more memorable songs to emerge from the wrestling organization. The band released Till Death Do Us Part on March 23, 2004. The album saw the band experiment with reggae especially on the lead single "What's Your Number". The track features Tim Armstrong of Rancid on guitar and Rob Aston of The Transplants on backup vocals. It is based on the classic song "Guns of Brixton" on The Clash's London Calling and has proven to be a success on the modern rock charts. However, the album represented a further departure from the signature sound of their first four albums. The album also features appearances by Damian Marley, son of Bob Marley, Prodigy and Twin of Mobb Deep and producer the Alchemist.
In 2004, the song How I Could Just Kill A Man was included in the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto San Andreas created by Rockstar Games, playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos. In December of 2005 a best of compilation album titled Greatest Hits From the Bong was released including 9 hits from previous albums and 2 new tracks. The group's next album was tentatively scheduled for an early 2007 release. In the summer of 2006, B-Real appeared on Snoop Dogg's single "Vato". Pharrell Williams produced the track, and originally sang the hook, but because of the video idea, B-Real was asked to sing the hook. Sen Dog is now currently touring with the Kottonmouth Kings, Kingspade and Dogboy on the Joint is on Fire Tour
In 2007 Cypress Hill toured with their full line up as a part of the Rock the Bells tour, held by Guerilla Union, and headlined with Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Other acts included Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, EPMD, Pharoae Monch, Jedi Mind Tricks, Erykah Badu, MF Doom, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, The Coup, Blue Print, Lucky I Am, Living Legends, Felt, Cage, Mr. Lif, Grouch & Eligh, and Hangar 18.
[edit] Departure from Sony
Having fulfilled their contractual obligations with Sony Music, Cypress Hill will release an as-yet untitled album through a different record label in 2008.[1]
Recently, it was announced that Cypress Hill will be members of the Kannabis Kartel along with the Kottonmouth Kings and Potluck. Their album will be released on Suburban Noize Records.
[edit] Style
[edit] Production
One of the band's most striking aspects is B-Real's exaggeratedly high-pitched nasal vocals, which fits and emphasizes the lyrics' concentration on parodied gangster stories.
Sen Dog's lyrics are progressively more violent and tend to involve fewer rhyme schemes compared with B-Real's. In addition, as the style is today, some words are emphasized by adding a background voice to say them, however, Sen Dog's emphases are always more prominent, mostly shouted alongside with the rapping.
The sound and groove of their music, produced by Muggs, is also notable for its influence and stoned aesthetic; with its bass-heavy rhythms and odd sample loops ("Insane in the Brain" is notable for having a horse neigh looped in its chorus), it carries a psychedelic value, which lessened in the later albums.
The band is also known for involving rock instruments in their songs. This has caused the band to sometimes be classified as a rapcore group. In IV, there is Lightning Strikes which doesn't truly use electric guitars, but a synthesized version of it. Skull & Bones has an entire disc using such instruments, labeled Bones. As for their later works, their involvement in rock ended with the album Stoned Raiders (the tracks Trouble (also the first single of the album), Amplified and Catastrophe being the songs).
The band's music is constantly subject to change; while the first album follows a more minimalistic and funky sound, Black Sunday, the successor, has a slightly darker side to it. III (Temples of Boom) and IV are mostly influenced by psychedelic music. The band abandoned that on Skull & Bones and got closer to the modern rap as it is today. Stoned Raiders has a more authentic sound than the rest, and Till Death Do Us Part carries reggae influences.
The band is also known to involve horns in their songs, and often have guitar and horns together in the instrumentals. What's Your Number?, Trouble, Tequila Sunrise, and (Rock) Superstar have become some of the bands most popular songs featuring these elements. Cypress Hill's experimenting in different genres of music even includes reggaeton in their track "Latin Thugs" which features Tego Calderon.
Some fans feel that the band has drifted somewhat from the values of their earlier albums. For example in "Strictly Hip Hop" from Temples of Boom, the band complain about hip hop artists who have an album of hardcore tracks but have one or two pop songs which just so happen to be the singles. Cypress have arguably fallen into this trap with the single "What's You Number?"
The sound contribitions of DJ Muggs seems to be clearly influenced by marijuana consumption. Since one of the effects of a cannabis high is an altered audio sensual perception, the often slow paced and deep bass can be better appreciated. Furthermore, psychedelic sequences underlie some parts of certain tracks such as "I Wanna Get High" for example. This is an interesting feature of their music, that had also been used before, especially during the 60's and 70's (e.g. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles).
[edit] Lyrics
The lyrics of tracks like "How I Could Just Kill A Man" offer an insight into the cultural expression of social stratification in L.A. at that point in history. Many other songs have cited topics such as police brutality, racial profiling, gang violence and anecdotes about invasion of privacy by police.
Furthermore the celebration of marijuana consumption is what they are often associated with in songs like "I Wanna Get High", "Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk" or "Hits From The Bong", the themes of recreational use of marijuana are prevalent.
Many of their songs also protest the current marijuana laws and voice their opinions on the hypocrisy of drug enforcement institutions.
Their lyrics often reflect the hip hop culture of Los Angeles in their earlier work such as their self-titled album and Black Sunday, which were very influential not only to Latino hip hop of the time but to many other hip hop groups around the world as well.
Throughout their career they have commonly incorporated Spanish into their lyrics as well as slang used by some Latinos in Los Angeles on songs like "Latin Lingo". Their album "Los Grandes Exitos En Espanol" features Spanish translations of many of their hit songs.
[edit] Discography
- 1991: Cypress Hill (2x Platinum)
- 1993: Black Sunday (3x Platinum)
- 1995: III: Temples of Boom (Platinum)
- 1996: Unreleased and Revamped (Gold)
- 1998: IV (Gold)
- 1999: Los grandes éxitos en español (Platinum)
- 2000: Skull & Bones (Platinum)
- 2000: Live at the Fillmore
- 2001: Stoned Raiders
- 2002: Stash
- 2004: Till Death Do Us Part
- 2005: Greatest Hits from the Bong
[edit] In Popular Culture
- "Insane In The Brain" was used as a constant reference throughout the 1998 film "Bulworth" starring Warren Beatty and Halle Berry. The song alludes to the main character's state of deteriorating mental health as he is seen stumbling from Beverly Hills, getting lost and eventually ends up in an East Los Angeles barrio.
- "How I Could Just Kill a Man" can be played in the video game GTA San Andreas' radio stations. The song features an appearance by B-Real on radio Los Santos, making him the first musician to use his real (stage) name on a GTA series video game. This song also appeared in the movie "Juice".
- Cypress Hill's song "Hits from the Bong" can be heard in the film The Brave One starring Jodie Foster.
- "Hits from the Bong" can also be heard as an intro to the movie How High starring Method Man, Redman and also has a guest appearance from Cypress Hill
- They also appeared in the Simpsons episode "Homerpalooza".
- The customized theme "Just Another Victim" was used by retired professional wrestler and current colour commentator Tazz when he was wrestling in WWE. This theme is originally included on the WWF Forceable Entry soundtrack CD and can be downloaded online.
- "Lightning Strikes" can be found in 989 Studios "Twisted Metal 4"
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Cypress Hill's official website
- B Real Official website
- Dj Muggs Official website
- Cypress Hill's benefit show
- Cypress Hill at Allmusic
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