Happy Saturday! My previous entry
was written moments before I watched the Dolphins play the Bills. We killed ‘em!
There are few things that can make my week like a Dolphins victory over the
hated Buffalo Bills.
Speaking of killin’ folks, this
next review is for a band who sings about that often.
Disc 678 is…. Black Sunday
Artist: Cypress
Hill
Year of Release: 1993
What’s up with the Cover? It’s a creepy
cemetery on a hill. I don’t know what kind of tree that is at the top, but I
don’t think it’s a cypress, so much as I’d like to I can’t call this a cypress
hill cemetery.
How I Came To Know It: I bought their first album after
my buddy Spence introduced me to them about fifteen years ago and liked it.
“Black Sunday” was actually their more famous record, and I bought it shortly
thereafter.
How It Stacks Up: I have five Cypress Hill albums – I believe their
first five. I like them all, but I have to give the crown to “Black Sunday” as
the best, narrowly defeating their self-titled debut. And since this is the
final review of their work (until I buy more) here is the full recap because
hey – who doesn’t love a list?
- Black
Sunday: 4 stars (reviewed right here)
- Self-Titled: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 76)
- III Temples of Boom: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 177)
- Til Death Do Us Part: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 57)
- IV: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 124).
Rating: 4 stars
It’s been a long time since the last Cypress Hill review
from my collection (over four years) but it was worth the wait.
Although it has been a while, certain things remain constant
when listening to Cypress Hill.
First, you can expect some groovy bass-lines, every
bit as important to the song as the beat. Cypress Hill spill their raps over
bass riffs as much as they do straight beats. The effect is a bit dreamy; kind of
like hanging in a lounge listening to jazz, but where someone has murdered the
piano player and is now standing on top of the grand spitting rhymes. On “Hits from the Bong” the band branches
out to a guitar sample (the opening from Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man”) but the effect
is the same.
Another constant is what the band raps about, and the
list is pretty limited:
1.
Killin' folks
2.
Smokin' dope
3.
Killin' folks tryin' to take your dope
“Black Sunday” is the band at their best on every
topic, with hard-as-nails staccato raps about killin’ folks including “I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That” “Cock the Hammer” and my personal
favourite “A to the K” (as in AK-47,
although I am ashamed to admit I had to have that explained to me).
Their passion for dope-smoking is front and centre
on rap classics like “Insane in the Brain”
and the aforementioned “Hits From the
Bong.” Cypress Hill will never be mistaken for metaphysical poets, layering
metaphor after metaphor; these raps are direct and clear. From “Hits
from the Bong”:
“It goes down smooth when I get a
clean hit
Of the skunky funky smelly green
shit
Sing my song, puff all night long
As I take hits from the bong”
So yeah, pretty much a song about smokin’ dope,
without much plot development beyond that. Fortunately, the raps are so good
and well-delivered that you don’t need anything else. There is brief foray into
politics, such as on “Legalize It”
but as you have likely already guessed, that song relates pretty directly back
to theme #2. They aren’t advocating shooting anybody on that song, but it’s
only 45 seconds long and it isn’t long before they’re on to theme #3, such as
this section from “A to the K”:
“If you're takin' my weed, I'm
takin' over your spot
Keep your face down as I take
your pound
Don't let me see nobody get up,
just hug the ground
Stay still and don't make a sound
As I get out the door headed
eastbound
But why did the fool try to act
brave?
Clip from the nine equals six to
the grave”
“Black Sunday” also has a re-imagining of a song off
their first album, “Hand on the Pump”
which is now “Hand on the Glock.” The
first song is cruising around the neighbourhood with a shotgun, and the second
is cruising around with a Glock. So, you know, progress. Although I prefer the
original, both are good and sufficiently different to stay interesting.
My only complaint with “Black Sunday” is the number
of times lines from the chorus are shouted in repeat in the same affected
style. It is a pretty cool effect at first, underscoring the lyrical hook of
songs like “I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That”
and “Insane in the Brain” but they
use it at least four times, where I think two or three would be plenty.
This is a minor quibble though, on an amazing rap
record from a band that consistently and fearlessly raps about hard-won
experience in some of the worst parts of greater Los Angeles. These are places
where white collar middle-aged men like me are rightly afraid to go, and it is
an urban education to see the brutality of it all from a band that is far more
musical and compositionally clever than they get credit for.
Best tracks (with artists): I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That,
When the Shit Goes Down, Cock the Hammer, Hits from the Bong, A to the K, Hand
on the Glock, Break ‘Em Off Some
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