Cypress Hill Albums (9)
'Till Death Do Us Part'
Release Date 3/22/2004
Tracks 16
Label Smi Col
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What The Critics Say
Till Death Do Us Part sees Cypress Hill more restless than ever, flirting with Jamaican music of most stripes -- dancehall, dub, and ska included. On "What's Your Number?," Rancid's Tim Armstrong is drafted in to help replicate the dubby lope of the Clash's "Guns of Brixton"; though it would've been more fitting to hear B Real spit another grimy rhyme in this setting, he chooses instead to spin a tale of picking up a woman. Unsurprisingly, the highlights all take place when the group sticks to what it has done best in the past. The Alchemist-produced and Tego Calderón-assisted "Latin Thugs" is one example of the group retaining its strengths, since it's full of fire and swagger. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Ten years after the release of their first album, Cypress Hill have maintained a distinctive personality that has stuck around through several different musical directions. Never a band that has been afraid to experiment, the rock-rap sound they attempted on Skull & Bones is again one of the driving forces of the album. Where on that release they attempted to separate the tracks into the rap and rock sides, they just keep it all in the same mix here. Another huge difference between the two records is the quality of their rock-raps compared to their regular hip-hop sound. The biggest problem with Skull & Bones was that the rock songs were missing strong hooks, keeping them from being a successful blend of the two genres. But on Stoned Raiders, the rock songs are some of the strongest tracks. The best song on the entire album might be "Bitter," a brooding slow-burner that shows B Real laying down disjointed rhymes over shuffling jazz drums and strummed surf guitar. Other notable rock tracks include "Amplified," a Rage Against the Machine knockoff that features some subpar rhyming from Sen Dog but a catchy chorus, and the opener "Trouble," which utilizes Roni Size-esque percussion with trippy guitar courtesy of Fear Factory's Christian Olde Wolbers. The percussion is actually one of the standouts of the record; DJ Muggs and live drummer Bobo do a meticulous job of finding unique beats for the record. Unfortunately, many of the hip-hop tracks do not come near to the rock songs. There are a few exceptions, especially toward the beginning of the album. "Southland Killers" is a great duet between B Real and MC Ren; in fact, Ren contributes his best rhymes since N.W.A's Niggaz4life. And "Kronologik" is a spellbinding retelling of Cypress Hill's history that adds some clever insight into some of the notable events in their career. But many of the other rap songs simply do not have the beats or the choruses to keep them interesting, a problem that would seem unthinkable considering how incredibly unique and catchy their first two albums are. The biggest disappointment is "Red, Meth & B," a collaboration between Redman, Method Man, and B Real that has a fairly interesting beat but reveals a surprising lack of chemistry between the three. Overall, Stoned Raiders is a good album despite its varying quality, and should appeal to those who enjoyed their previous album's experiments with rock. ~ Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
While Cypress Hill's Skull & Bones album showcased their sudden interest in merging hard rock with rap, Live at the Fillmore stands as a better testament to the group's newfound ability to synthesize the two styles into an invigorating formula. The album gets off to a fiery start with some rowdy renditions of the group's early-'90s material -- "Hand on the Pump," "How I Could Just Kill a Man," "Insane in the Brain" -- before the sound of heavy metal guitars appears mid-set. Besides integrating guitar riffs into Muggs' already adrenalized beats, the group reinterprets older songs such as "A to the K," making them sound new. Of course, Cypress Hill wouldn't be Cypress Hill without their adamant smoking advocacy, and starting with the trippy siren intro to "I Wanna Get High," the group moves through a medley of bud-smoking songs before the mosh-inciting conclusion of "Riot Starter" and "(Rock) Superstar." ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Despite the best efforts of DJ Muggs, Cypress Hill ran out of gas fairly quickly, entering a tailspin as soon as their third album. Back at full strength with the return of Sen Dog, Cypress Hill devised a full-scale comeback with their fifth album, Skull & Bones. The idea behind the album was to divide it into two -- a hip-hop disc ("Skull") and a rock disc ("Bones"). This would guarantee some publicity, at the very least, and, hopefully, it would win over the new generation of adolescents who flipped for rap-metal acts like Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit. On paper, it's a sound theory, but there was a slight flaw -- the group is kind of lame when they rock. Their band is competent enough, and B Real's voice does sound good with overdriven guitars, but their rock songs utterly fall apart, since they have no hooks, no catchy riffs, and no character. If rap-metal was all there was to Skull & Bones, it would be a bit of an embarrassment. Fortunately, the "Skulls" disc is their finest effort since Black Sunday. Muggs is in prime form, creating funky, ominous, evocative soundscapes, which B Real makes the most of with fluid rhymes. At times, B Real does descend into tastelessness ("Stank Ass Hoe"), and neither he nor Sen Dog really find any new lyrical ground, but sonically, "Skulls" is a blast; B Real's whine and Sen Dog's gruff, blunt style are the perfect match for Muggs' darkly cinematic soundscapes, and, on a purely sonic level, it's quite intoxicating. At their best, Cypress Hill are a hip-hop experience unlike any other, and, ignoring the "Bones" disc, this is the best they've been in a long, long time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom'
Release Date 10/24/1995
Tracks 15
Label Ruffhouse
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What The Critics Say
Black Sunday made Cypress Hill's connection to rock & roll more explicit, with its heavy metal-like artwork and noisier, more dissonant samples (including, naturally, stoner icons Black Sabbath). It's a slightly darker affair than its groundbreaking predecessor, with the threats of violence more urgent and the pot obsession played to the hilt (after all, it was a crucial part of their widespread appeal). Apart from those subtle distinctions, the sound of Black Sunday is pretty much the same as Cypress Hill, refining the group's innovations into an accessible bid for crossover success. In fact, it's a little startling how often Black Sunday recycles musical ideas and even lyrical catch phrases from the endlessly inventive debut. And the rock-derived, verse-chorus song structures start to sound a little formulaic by the end of the record (how many choruses feature Sen Dog repeating part of whatever B Real just said?). But in spite of that, Black Sunday still sounds vital and lively, since the group has a surer sense of craft. Most of the tracks are fleshed out into structured songs, in contrast to the brief sketches that punctuated Cypress Hill. The album benefits immensely from the resulting clutch of excellent singles (and songs that could have been), and while a couple of tracks feel redundant and underdeveloped, Black Sunday is overall a consistent, engaging listen, especially the flawless first half or so. Unfortunately, it's also the group's last great album, thanks to the musical recycling operation that began here and would handicap much of their subsequent work. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
It's hard enough to transform an entire musical genre -- Cypress Hill's eponymous debut album revolutionized hip-hop in several respects. Although they weren't the first Latino rappers, nor the first to mix Spanish and English, they were the first to achieve a substantial following, thanks to their highly distinctive sound. Along with Beastie Boys and Public Enemy, Cypress Hill were also one of the first rap groups to bridge the gap with fans of both hard rock and alternative rock. And, most importantly, they created a sonic blueprint that would become one of the most widely copied in hip-hop. In keeping with their promarijuana stance, Cypress Hill intentionally crafted their music to sound stoned -- lots of slow, lazy beats, fat bass, weird noises, and creepily distant-sounding samples. The surreal lyrical narratives were almost exclusively spun by B Real in a nasal, singsong, instantly recognizable delivery that only added to the music's hazy, evocative atmosphere; as a frontman, he could be funny, frightening, or just plain bizarre (again, kind of like the experience of being stoned). Whether he's taunting cops or singing nursery rhyme-like choruses about blasting holes in people with shotguns, B Real's blunted-gangsta posture is nearly always underpinned by a cartoonish sense of humor. It's never clear how serious the threats are, but that actually makes them all the more menacing. The sound and style of Cypress Hill was hugely influential, particularly on Dr. Dre's boundary-shattering 1992 blockbuster The Chronic; yet despite its legions of imitators, Cypress Hill still sounds fresh and original today, simply because few hip-hop artists can put its sound across with such force of personality or imagination. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
