Number 26 - Black Sunday by Cypress Hill

 Number 26: Black Sunday by Cypress Hill

Hip-hop's Cheech & Chong

Release: July 20th, 1993
Genre: Hip-Hop
Favorite Tracks: When the Shit Goes Down, Insane in the Brain, Hits from the Bong

 

Where I heard it: 

If you've been following along my top 100 journey, it should be no secret by now of my relationship with the devil's lettuce. While the ganja nearly prevented me from graduating high school, it also opened the door for several new genres of music that were suddenly much more palatable. Like any trendy teen who just discovered the wacky tobaccy, I wasted no time embodying the stoner lifestyle, complete with a self-curated playlist full of songs all about smoking jazz cigarettes. For years, Cypress Hill's Hits from the Bong was our household call-to-action, herding us boys out to the back porch for a long toke before returning to whatever it was that kept us occupied. My sentimentality with Hits from the Bong eventually influenced me to catch Cypress Hill's set at the music festival Riot Fest in 2015 on a whim, figuring they couldn't be too bad of a live act. I'll remember that show for years to come; I don't think I've ever seen more smoke in an open area than during their performance of I Wanna Get High. Still content with Cypress Hill as a novelty act, I wouldn't be turned on to Black Sunday until months later when I stumbled upon this thread on Reddit's r/HipHopHeads (which I'm surprised I was still able to find). In this post, a user unfamiliar with hip-hop combed through nearly 150 different albums that the Hip Hop Heads community deemed as must-listens. Surprisingly, the only album to achieve a perfect 10 was Cypress Hill's Black Sunday. That post was the catalyst that encouraged me to finally crack open this classic album in 2015. In turn, Black Sunday transformed from supplemental smoking material to one of my favorite hip-hop albums.

Like Louis Armstrong played the trumpet
I'll hit that bong and break ya off somethin' soon
I gotta get my props
Cops come and try to snatch my crops
These pigs wanna blow my house down
Head underground to the next town
They get mad when they come to raid my pad
And I'm out in the nine deuce Cad
~ Insane in the Brain

 

What to expect:

When discussing the immense talent base among west coast rappers throughout history, the subject tends to steer toward the obvious choices such as 2Pac and Dr. Dre. Oft omitted from this conversation, Cypress Hill hails from the hip-hop hotbed of the greater Los Angeles area that legends like N.W.A. and Kendrick Lamar call home. Comprised of MC duo B-Real and Sen Dog along with DJ Muggs, Cypress Hill stormed onto the scene in the early 90's with a unique vocal delivery and hard hitting beats that get straight to the point. One of the first Latino-American rap groups to make it big following their eponymous debut, their sophomore effort Black Sunday reflects upon numerous experiences as minorities in the trenches of gang territory in southern California. Concurrent with the golden age of gangsta rap, Cypress Hill is forthright and unabridged in tracks like A to the K and Lick a Shot which explicitly detail the vengeful and malicious acts of violence towards police and rival gangs alike. B-Real and Sen Dog can sound downright sinister on a verse when paired with DJ Muggs' bass-heavy beats that pull from some of the most obscure and surprising sources. In fact, there's a few different tracks on Black Sunday that sample sections of other tracks from the very same album. It's as if Cypress Hill knew that some of the bars they dropped were instant classics the moment they wrote them. When taking a break from the action, the band pays tribute to the sweet leaf in loving fashion with the ent anthems Hits From the Bong and I Wanna Get High. Additionally, several drug references are peppered throughout the album that emphasize the necessity for a healthy green diet when leading a life of criminality. Besides fellow LA rapper Snoop Dogg, no other group in hip-hop eclipses the passion for cannabis that Cypress Hill possesses. Despite objection from their record label, Black Sunday managed to cross over into the mainstream with the mega-hit Insane In The Brain, proving the marketability of their music. This album's funky beats and clever wordplay make it a staple among any respectable hip-hop collection.

She never complains when I hit Mary
With that flame I light up the cherry
She's so good to me
When I pack a fresh bowl I clean the screen
Don't get me stirred up
The smoke through the bubbling water is makin' it pure
So I gotta take my hit and hold it
Just like Chong, I get the bowl and I reload it
Get my four footer and bring it on
~ Hits from the Bong

Why it's my favorite: 

My love for Cypress Hill's style derives from a different kind of appreciation apart from other favorites such as Aesop Rock and MF DOOM. Black Sunday demonstrates that hip-hop isn't necessarily all about wordsmithing scholarly masterpieces; all you need is a fat beat and a funky flow. Incredibly underrated in this regard, DJ Muggs is an absolute savant with his sample selection and production methods. Typical of old-school hip-hop, DJ Muggs mainly deals in the rap roots of 60's and 70's funk and soul, but is plenty privy to rarely used rock and roll songs, namely the Sabbath-inspired We Ain't Goin' Out Like That. It's subtle nods like these that helped Cypress Hill reach a broader audience in their later careers, often credited by nu-metal bands as close influences. DJ Muggs' ability to conjure the catchiest beats with the most broken of parts ranks him in my book as one of the best rap DJs to ever man the turntables. Not to be overshadowed, B-Real and Sen Dog know exactly how to rock a rhyme to get the place bumping. The duo integrates a tandem slam of punctuated raps and playful verbiage in every bar, assuring every line and reference is clearly understood. There's a delightful cheekiness embedded into their rhymes that converts harrowing tales of homicide into casual escapades that are simply inevitabilities of the gangster lifestyle. Between the half-baked wordplay and bouncy rhythms, Black Sunday embraces the idea that hip-hop isn't all serious and profound; it's meant to be a little fun, too. This concept would soon become a hallmark of west-coast gansta rap, especially upon the release of Snoop Dogg's debut album Doggystyle, which helped bolster the ammunition within the east-coast versus west-coast conflict. Cypress Hill are certified pioneers of their genre, and Black Sunday is really all you need to back up that argument.