Cypress Hill "Cypress Hill" (August 13, 1991)

Cypress Hill wants to get two things straight. First, because of their name, many people think they're from Brooklyn; they're not. Cypress Hill refers to Cypress Street in Southgate, a section of Los Angeles about five minutes from Watts and South Central. Actually, it's not really a hill, but as Sen Dog (one of Cypress Hill's rappers) says, "you can't tell us it's not Cypress Hill. We love that street. We've got rock and rollers, we got rappers, we got singers. We take good care of it, too. We don't let anyone come in and mess it up writing graffiti all over the place or anything like that." Or, as B-Real (the group's other rapper) adds, "'Cypress Hill' means we're on top. We have to be on top of business whether it's business of hip-hop or the business of the block." Speaking of "the block" brings up the second possible misconception: While these tough times -- on the mean streets of L.A. in particular -- are reflected in their lyrics, Cypress Hill is not another pseudo-gangsta act from Southern California. "We're not just some more brothers from Compton," explains B-Real, "and some of them aren't even from there, anyway." "Yeah, they've never gangbanged because their moms would let them," Sen Dog quickly adds, laughing. "They want to pump out second-hand information that they never even went through," B-Real continues. "Everything on our record is from our own experience. We don't want to teach you, we don't want to preach to you. We want to be known as funky awareness: first, you've got to be funky, and then it's hardcore awareness, revolving a story around our experiences or our homeboys' experiences." Cypress Hill, their self-titled debut album, is shaped by this group ethic of funky awareness. The record is full of their real-life experiences, and with DJ Mixmaster Muggs' incredibly funky, clever beats and samples, it's bound to raise eyebrows.... 

"Pigs," a rowdy singalong dedicated to some of Cypress Hill's "best friends," is reminiscent of the childhood nursery rhyme ("this little pig went to market"). Wrapped around a lazy, swaggering bass-line, the lyric stance on "Pigs" does not represent the group leaping onto anyone's bandwagon. "We get harassed by the police all the time because we look like gangbangers," says Muggs. "They tell me my tires are too flat, or we match someone's description. I've heard every possible excuse three or four times, not just once." Where "Pigs" is spare and casual, "Kill A Man" rushes at you with a stomping drum beat, peppered by high-pitched horns and random shouts. It would be very easy to look at the title and dismiss the track as ultra-violent, but that's not the point. As Sen Dog explains, "It's not about killing a man, but it's about understanding how one kid could do that. We don't glorify it." Again, B-Real has put his own experiences into the groove. "You know 'Kill A Man' when I go, 'Say some punk tried to get you for your auto/what are you gonna one time play the role model/no, I think you play like a thug.' Well the other night someone did try to steal my car. That happens all the time." Throughout the album, Cypress Hill makes one innovative contribution after another in the hip-hop artform. Check out B-Real's crazy, but engaging vocal style, or the "Duke of Earl" sample at the beginning of "Hand On a Pump"; or the live bass, percussion and guitar on the Spanglish "Latin Lingo." In this age of anti-drug hysteria, Cypress Hill also has the honesty to endorse one of their favorite pasttimes "on the record," with "Light Another" + "Blunted." Cont'd...



One of the reasons that the Cypress Hill album is so comfortable, engaging and inventive is that the members aren't newcomers to the hip-hop scene. Co-writer, lyricist and background rapper, 25-year old Sen Dog was born in Cuba and moved to Southgate at age 14. Sen comes from a very musical family.... Ever since he was young, Sen, his brothers and sisters were stars of the local church choir. After dropping out of high school in 1981, Sen started a group with his brother, Mellow Man Ace called DVX, and invented the Spanglish, Latin lingo style. Some time before Mellow Man Ace embarked on a solo career, he and Sen were joined in DVX by a young, gifted writer named B-Real. Now Cypress Hill's lead rapper, 21-year old B-Real has lived in Los Angeles all his life. For as long as he can remember, his biggest dream was to be a writer or a journalist. B-Real would spend hours in class writing essays and poems, but eventually he was turned off by school and dropped out. "A lot of the things they teach you in school are watered down. That's why I left..." Soon, B-Real's desire to write led him to hip-hop. "I guess I'm a writer now... If you're writing what you feel and if it's getting out, then you're accomplishing what you want...." Soon, Sen and Ace decided to pair B-Real with another young hip-hopper, a DJ and producer named Mixmaster Muggs. Mixmaster Muggs moved to Southgate from Queens right before he started high school. In Queens, he was heavily into breakdancing which led to his DJ-ing... Even though he is only 22 years old, Muggs was down with East Coast hip-hop from the beginning, back in the days when the Treacherous Three, Funky Four Plus One and Run-DMC ruled the day. In tenth grade, Muggs bought his first piece of equipment (a set of Technics 1200's)... After coming to L.A., he briefly hooked up with B-Real; Muggs was also the cornerstone of 7A3, who had a song on the "Colors" movie soundtrack. Soon after, Muggs left 7A3 and began laying down tracks for Cypress Hill. In its present configuration, Cypress Hill has been working together for three years. - Press Kit, 1991. Today marks another anniversary for this classic album! Dig back into it and more from Cypress Hill in the extensive archives below...