CYPRESS HILL
BLACK SUNDAY
1993
Dark, gloomy, infinitely headnoddin'. When Cypress Hill returned for their second record with Columbia, they abandoned about half of their hard-headed gangbangin' persona and replaced it with a more baffooning drug-drenched playfulness. The end result is an album that still get a rise out of any audience at any show with only a few bars. In fact, Cypress set the bar so high with this record that they'd never enjoy quite the critical or popular acclaim as they did with this record--their paramount release. And this thing continues to scan like it's only a few years old and, here it is, just upon it's 15-year anniversary which serves as proof that if you make a record about weed, you can sell forever. This album has completely obliterated boomin' systems from coast to coast for almost 15 years now. The recipe for the success of Cypress Hill was really pretty simple, I mean, you only really had three elements at work: drugs, violence and gloom. The drugs were delivered through B-Real's sometimes almost cryptic lyrics. The violence through Sen Dog's rugged and rough caloussed toughness and the gloom through DJ Muggs' incredibly dark and menacing production style--this album pioneering that signature Soul Assassins' sound. Also pioneered by Black Sunday was the entire Latin Hip Hop movement because without this album demolishing walls at popular radio for Latino rap artists, there's no telling how long it would've taken today's Latin Hip Hop movement to take hold. Even white kids who profess to hating hip hop have Black Sunday which speaks heavily to the crossover appeal, yet in most hip hop circles, you'll still hear it mentioned with reverence. Where they are now is really no concern, it's what they left us back in 1993 that really matters.
Highlights:
"I Ain't Goin' Out Like That"
"Insane in the Brain"
"Lick a Shot"
"Cock the Hammer"
"Hits from the Bong"
"A to the K"
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