Ruffhouse 53931
Executive producers: DJ. Muggs, Joe “the Butcher” Nicola, and Chris Schwartz
Track listing: I Wanna Get High / I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That / Insane in the Brain / When the Sh? Goes Down / Lick a Shot / Cock the Hammer / Interlude / Lil? Putos / Legalize It / Hits from the Bong / What Go Around Come Around, Kid / A to the K / Hand on the Glock / Break ‘Em Off Some
August 7, 1993
2 weeks
In 1991, in a cloud of marijuana smoke, the trio known as Cypress Hill exploded onto the rap scene straight out of South Gate, a section of Los Angeles located about five minutes from the mean streets of South Central.
Initially, fans thought the group, which brought a Latin flavor to hip-hop, was from New York. “The East Coast crowd was the ones that made us,” says Sen Dog, a Cuban-born rapper/lyricist whose real named is Senen Reyes. “It got us that first bit of notoriety.”
Before Sen Dog hooked up with Cypress Hill lead rapper B-Real (Louis Freese), he was a member of DVX, a group that included his brother, Mellow Man Ace. Producer DJ Muggs (Larry Muggerud), who rounds out the trio, was once a member of the rap act 7A3. Cypress Hill’s self-titled debut album, released in 1991, became a sleeper hit. It peaked at number 31, but spent more than a year on the chart, during which time Muggs became one of the hottest producers on the rap scene, working with the likes of the Beastie Boys, Ice Cube, and House of Pain.
The trio spent about three years working on their debut album before being signed to Ruffhouse/Columbia. However, their second album was an entirely different story — constant touring put the group in a bind and the album had to be completed in a mere two months. “We were kind of hurried on the whole thing,” says Sen Dog. “We all knew there was stuff missing and everything, but we were trying to beat the deadline.”
Lyrically, Cypress Hill returned one of their favorite themes — the joys of smoking pot — in such tracks “I Wanna Get High,” “Legalize It,” and “Hits from the Bong.” But the group didn’t just rap about cannabis — they put their money where their mouths were, becoming official spokesmen for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Elsewhere on the album, Cypress Hill offered tales of street violence in such songs as “Cock the Hammer” and “Hand on the Glock.” The album title Black Sunday adequately summed up the group’s dark vision.
“Insane in the Brain,” the album’s first single, covered some new ground. “That song’s a freestyle party type of tune,” says Sen Dog. “It’s about describing the crowd at concerts and how crazy they go when they mosh and dive on each other.”
Some fans thought that “Cock the Hammer” was meant as a put down of M.C. Hammer, a highly commercial rapper who lacked street credibility, but Sen Dog insists that’s not the case. “I’m not gonna drop no names, cause I’m not a name-dropper,” he says. “If I can’t stand you or don’t like you, I tell you to your face.”
Although Cypress Hill was nearly two years old when Black Sunday was released, the group retained a high profile with tracks appearing on the soundtrack albums of Juice, White Men Can’t Jump, and Last Action Hero. With interest in Cypress Hill running high, Black Sunday entered the album chart at Number One, smoking past such stiff competitors as U2 and Barbra Streisand. “I never dreamed it would be Number One,” says B-Real. “That’s something you fantasize about and when you see it, it’s like ‘What did I do to deserve this?'”
THE TOP FIVE
Week of August 7, 1993
1. Black Sunday, Cypress Hill
2. Zoorapa, U2
3. Sleepless in Seattle, Soundtrack
4. janet., Janet Jackson
5. Back to Broadway, Barbra Streisand