Cypress Hill

Fairly decent, not too long and not too many skits which is a good thing

In one week, I've had Notorious B.I.G., Wu-Tang, and now Cypress Hill. It's been a big week for "gats".

This feels like a bridge between 80s and 90s hip hop in some ways. The beats are hard hitting and sometimes funky, but they're also very minimal, focusing on one drum pattern and accent on top of it on most of these tracks. The rapping however is more refined, with creative rhymes and sometimes manic vocals. The subject matter is less creative; other rappers have told interesting gangsta rap tales, but this is mostly surface level stuff. And as the album goes on the beats and the lyrics about smoking pot really start to get old. "How I Could Just Kill a Man" shows what this style could be like with its grim lyrics, but by the end the album is more focused on getting high than having anything meaningful to say. This can be fun, but there's much better rap out there.

Boring

Got old pretty quick

I only listened to 2 songs. Couldn't bear anymore

sad to hear people who agree with me fundamentally express it so stupidly.

I haven't heard anything from this group besides "Insane in the Brain" so I basically went into this one completely blind. And I can say I came out of it pleasantly surprised. For a group that projected this image of easygoing SoCal stoners, this is a decidedly un-chill album. Angry, bitter and full of viciously grimy G-funk beats, this is the toughest look a group to give itself on its debut. This is a pretty solid set of old-school hip hop tunes as well, and while some of the lyrics are...dated to say the least, the tracklist doesn't really have any weak links, though few songs outside of the big single "How I Could Just Kill a Man" really stand out. It's fine enough as a debut album and certainly a fitting representative of the Latin American rap scene on the West Coast, captured in the earliest days of that subgenre's existence. Look to this auspicious debut if you want to find where RZA got the beats for 36 Chambers. Key Tracks: Pigs, How I Could Just Kill a Man, Hand on the Pump, The Phuncky Feel One

I've always had Cypress on my radar. Pretty damn tight rap group. Latin American in nature, stoners by discipline and ultimately so very unique and identifying of the 1990s Southern California rap culture. Ultimately the subject matter is the same as most 90s gangster rap. This has that unmistakable G Funk sound which lends to an incredible end product. Remains influential and holds up over time. Great album, well produced and the right size and length.

Great hip hop record

DJ Muggs has to be admired for essentially coming up with the Wu-Tang style all on his own. His beats are trunk-rattlingly grimy, with a sense of dark and minimal forward motion that wouldn’t become infamous until RZA’s work on Enter the 36 Chambers 2 years later. It's amazing how two producers on two different coasts could have such similar agendas. Although here he seems to be riding the late monotone 80s boat and becomes very boring, and, remembering his coolness in 90s, this didnt age well, the annoying sound of siren on almost every track doesn't help. On top of that we have one and a half stupid cartoon character juvenile rapping about shooting cops and stoning brain - kudos to them for not being violent about women. Shit, not long after this release, pot leaf logos began popping up all over non-psych acts from Dr. Dre to Pantera, proving that stoned really was the way of the walk, and I think that is Cypress'es true Legacy

Holds up shockingly well. A little too heavy on the record pops and crackles though to the point that it can be distracting. Incredibly blunt and, unfortunately, still applicable lyrics.

Straight beeeeeaaats

While not my favorite rap genre it is funky as fuck.

First time listening to an album from them and I'm vibing. I think I just like when rap sounds a bit more "silly"? They actually put a lot of effort into the beats too 3/5

Nah, not for me.

Rap like beastie boys

Entertaining but not my thing.

Buen album

Hip hop

I'm not the biggest hip hop fan, and based off the fact that this has the genre tags "gangsta rap" and "stoner rap" (neither of which I knew existed on RYM), I wasn't expecting to like this. I like some of the beats, but they're a little repetitive for my liking. When listening to hip hop, I prefer the instrumentals to evolve with time, or at least be a longer loop as to not be repetitive. And now comes the obligatory disclaimer that I put in all my hip hop reviews: I don't know how to review hip hop. I know the genre is mostly about lyricism, but I don't often pay attention to lyrics when listening to an album (especially for the first time). I can talk about how I like the sounds of the words as they go together, or I can talk about how they flow, but I don't want to be analyzing lyrics here. I won't let that negatively impact my rating, though. I like this more than the previous hip hop album that the album generator gave me ("Me Against the World"), but I can't really tell you WHY other than "it sounds better." It's alright. Just alright. ----- #0034 Heard on: 28 Oct. 2026 Rating: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ (223 / 359) Favorite track: How I Could Just Kill a Man Least favorite track: Real Estate

More than one trick for these ponies, didn't expect to enjoy it but I did.

Cypress hill was the soundtrack to road trips with a couple specific friends summers 94 and 95. The minute I heard pigs I was transported to summer 30 years ago.

Goede beats, maar toch snel samey

God dit klinkt achterhaald. Wat een vermoeiende eenheidsworst van een plaat. De rede dat ik geen 1 ster geef is door de sporadische hele harde beat, maar ook die zijn inconsistent.

I need to relisten… couldn’t ignore the afrobeats blasting in the background while working out

4.5 This was a revelation for me. Playful, layered, political, funky - so much more than nasal stoner raps. I feel silly for having overlooked DJ Muggs as a producer.

I like this a lot more than I thought I would. The songs mostly have great beats, and I like how they have a rock sound behind them, different than the jazzier stuff from the early 90s that I have heard so far on the list. I can see what an influence it had on music that came after it, especially rap-metal. The last few songs were interesting to listen to, with all the Spanish in them. I really think that Lin-Manuel Miranda had “Latin Lingo” in the back of his mind when he was writing “In the Heights.” “Real Estate” was probably my favorite song and I’m putting it on my Gym mix.

A solid relic of early stoner rap. It’s hard for me to qualify this as some masterpiece and it’s not an album I’m putting on frequently, but I enjoyed it.

Sure, why not

Absolutely loved this

I actually saw some of these songs performed live when B-Real was part of the supergroup called Prophets of Rage - along with some of the guys from Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave and Chuck D of Public Enemy. This was in 2016 as part of their "Make America Rage Again Tour". Twas a great show. I already like the song "How I Could Just Kill A Man" - from the above concert and from the Rage Against the Machine cover version - but for some reason hadn't clicked like this version (the original) yet. I ended up liking 7 songs - "Pigs", "How I Could Just Kill a Man", "Hand on the Pump", "Ultraviolet Dreams", "The Phuncky Feel One", "Stoned Is the Way of the Walk" and "Something For the Blunted" I think 16 songs is just too much. They could have edited it down to 10-12 songs and it would have been a better album. Feels like there is some definite filler on here. But the songs I liked are pretty fun. Liked songs on Spotify: 7/16 Rating: 2/5

The list probably only needs one of their first two albums, and I would not have picked this one. Black Sunday is, I think, considered their masterpiece, although some folks prefer this one. Totally unique flow style.

I enjoyed it but don’t really feel like listening again. Proto-insane-clown-posse vocals make it kind of grating but the beats are great and would be worth revisiting or sampling.

Let's go!! I really love Black Sunday, and I've been excited to get this on the list! I didn't expect to get it this early! Also I saw one of the top reviews of this album, and it was low-key one of the most racist things I've ever seen on the internet that wasn't just a slur. Like, be real (pun intended). 01. Pigs One of the first hip-hop acts besides N.W.A. to really tear into the police. Great opener! 02. How I Could Just Kill A Man One of the first examples of actual lyrical hip-hop! A resemblance of flow, with internal rhymes as well! Birthed what is now modern hip-hop. 03. Hand On The Pump Infectiously catchy. Just a real fun song! 04. Hole In The Head Shout out Scooby-Doo. Pretty average gangster rap song, nothing to write home about. 05. Ultraviolet Dreams Really cool instrumental that I wish they used more properly! 06. Light Another Just really sick. A thing with gangster rap is that there's not a lot to say. It's just rather really good or not. 07. The Phuncky Feel One Really fun, with a great vibe! 08. Break It Up Has a really cool instrumental. 09. Real Estate I was on the fence about this one... then that beat switch won me over. 10. Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk Pretty funny; is a fun song. 11. Psychobetabuckdown This far into the album, is mostly just an alright track. Not bad, just could be better. 12. Something For The Blunted Really slick instrumental, with a cool call & response in the back. 13. Latin Lingo A nice song dedicated to Sen Dog. Overshadowed by B-Real (since he's better imo), but Sen Dog does a pretty good job here! 14. The Funky Cypress Hill Shit One of my favorites! Great instrumental, great vocal performance, and is just really fun! 15. Tres Equis This is NOT about the beer. Is a cool little song, probably wouldn't put it on often. 16. Born To Get Busy Kinda weirdly mixed. A shame this is going out on one of the weakest tracks. This is just kind of okay. The influence for the future pours out of this... but I just kind of find it alright. I believe the stuff they do here is drastically improved on Black Sunday, as it's more of the same but better! Still, I enjoyed this a lot.

Rap

C’est sympa mais trop répétitif

J'ai bien kiffé

I could listen to this guy say literally anything. Important

Really not my thing I don't know enough about the genre to know whether this is actually any good, but I found it quite irritating in terms of the delivery. And the bloody siren-like sound in the background all the fucking time It's difficult to judge, and I did consider a 3 because it's clearly an influential record, but there's better stuff that came before it. And it annoyed me at times

Not sure how I missed this in high school, it would have been perfect for me then. I guess I had already started listening to the Bahooas and Dead Milkmen and this wasn't cool any more. Pretty fun, although there is some mention of conduct unbecoming of Gentlemen here.

Es wirkt vieles wie ein endloses Déjà‑vu. Die Beats sind träge, die Hooks austauschbar, und der einstige Reiz des Nebel‑Rap verpufft ohne echte Überraschungen. Ein Album, das mehr acid Routine als Revolution bietet

I understand the appeal of Cypress Hill- they're hardcore hip hop with catchy hooks. This album was fine- nothing special but with some clear talent for writing decent songs structured around big hooks in spite of in-your-face, edgy songwriting.

Not my jam, but recognize the og stoner rap.

I've enjoyed Cypress Hill in moderation before this, the hit song here and there, 'Insane in the Brain' especially. Though I've admittedly always found B Real's delivery to be too gimmicky, despite his generally undeniable flow and wordplay. They're ultimately a pretty quintessential group in hip-hop, and this record was, for the most part, enjoyable. The beats are generally fat and dynamic, with a heavy emphasis on very punchy drums - the production is more akin to PE than any other traditional East Coast rap act from the early '90s. Though there's certainly that East Coast grit seeping in on these tracks, it's still mostly pretty clean-sounding on the production end. And I'll say it again, flow-wise, you'd be hard-pressed to find rappers like B Real and Sen Dog with their rapid-fire spitting on songs like 'How I Could Just Kill A Man' or 'The Phunky Feel One'. A cool album that captures a very unique transitional period in '90s East Coast hip-hop, a sound that I generally enjoy. Though I'll admit that, topically and instrumentally, it's pretty samey all throughout; it's maybe my biggest gripe. But regardless, it was an enjoyable and high-velocity listen, and a much-needed one at that.

Never listened to this all the way through but I always liked these guys.

Yep this slaps, all of the beats were so well put together and flowed nicely from song to song, subject matter held up to the tone of the beat itself and the vocal quality throughout just really did it for me

I respect Rap, this album and the world the lyrics try to explain.

6/10

the music for what it is started off like it might be ok, nah, the stupid vocal started sorry but cant get away with this nonsense. Hurried the tracks along then off.

I enjoyed the use of brass and some of the funk, but really wasn't in the mood for this today. I don't think anything would have hit the spot today, honestly.

Good clean fun

hardcore very popular hiphop.

Beast Hip-Hop, liked it.

Just a unique sound: great!

gangster rap - no one needs to hear this.

I’m a white woman in her early 20s who has never smoked a blunt before so the problem might be me

Και γαμώ. Είχε και αναφορά στους Τράιμπ, άρα 5/5.

Maybe I'm getting jaded in my age, or maybe from listening to so many albums. This just seemed same old, same old to me.

I don't know if its the fatigue of this list or the simplistic 4/4 back beat. But this album was just boring to me. All the songs just start to sound the same after awhile.

I first learned about Cypress Hill when one of my college roommates brought home Black Sunday and we wore that album out. I never went back and bought this one but I knew "How I Could Just Kill a Man" thanks to RATM covering it on Renegades. These guys had/have an original sound, which is really difficult to do these days. But when you hear these guys you instantly know it's them. "Psycobetabuckdown" sounds like a proto-"Insane in the Brain."

Gear: Punch Audio Portazo Artwork: 💠🃏📓 Production: 😌🧈🍯 Music: 🍩🙅🥦 Rating: 🐖🐖🐖🐖/5

I love this album. It opens just great and continues throughout. I remember a friend of mine playing it for me decades ago and being enamored with it. It still holds as a great album. I can see some of the younger ones being weird about some lyrics but its still solid. Worth a listen and a great addition to the list.

90's Hip Hop albums just have some of the best sounding drums of all time, and this is no exception. All of the beats sound phenomenal, and the rapping is very fun. I also like how all of the songs have a very consistent sound, but none of the songs themselves sound that similar. All around a great album. Mid 5!!!

Uneventful. Inegavelmente bom, porém. Tenho certeza que foi uma paradona em 1991, pq parece ter influenciado muito que veio depois. A cronologia de escuta que não funcionou pra mim.

Too long. Very repetitive sound.

It's a solid rap album. They still have that distinctive sound and feel but it's dated and a little limited.

This is the first album (of over 400 and counting) that has given me a proper headache. One song a day would be OK but the squeaky trebley sounds are too much for me.

Not their best album, but still enjoyed it.

Eh... not a great album but I definitely prefer this over Rod Stewart.

This is a fun, grimy west coast record with plenty of personality and funky beats. It’s not up there with the best of this scene, for me, off first listen, but I definitely had a mostly enjoyable time with it. 1 listen Favorite Tracks: How I Could Just Kill a Man, Pigs, Real Estate, Hand On the Pump

Did I own the Black Sunday CD back in the day? You bet. Not this one though. It's not as good and I get why some may not like it/them. This album just sneaks up into 4 territory for me.

Back in high school there were these jocks in that listened to Cypress High. Frankly, they scared me a little. But I guess in the end they didn't have terrible taste in music. Still would put Black Sunday in here over the self titled, but can't go wrong with funky rap.

How I Could Just Kill A Man

Un groupe que je connais uniquement de nom, un album que je n'ai jamais écouté. Si j'en crois la description de WIkipédia, c'est l'un des albums fondateurs du hip-hop West Coast ? En tout cas, c'était un album fort sympathique, que j'ai trouvé très accessible par rapport à d'autres album de hip-hop de la liste, en plus, il n'est pas très long (à peine plus de trois quarts d'heure), ce qui le rend très digeste quand on n'est pas fan du genre. Mon avis de béotien est que cet album est très qualitatif, très accrocheur et, comme je le disais, assez facile d'accès, avec ses titres courts, ses passages qui rentrent facilement dans la tête. Comme à l'accoutumée, j'ai moyennement fait attention aux paroles, j'ai vaguement entendu de l'homophobie ordinaire comme le genre en était blindé à l'époque, je ne m'en étonne pas particulièrement. Du reste, je ne suis pas sûr de ce qu'ils parlent précisément. Mais dans l'ensemble, j'ai bien aimé mon écoute.

++*: Tres Equis ++: Pigs, How I Could Just Kill a Man, Hand on the Pump, Ultraviolet Dreams, Light Another, Real Estate, Psycobetabuckdown, Something for the Blunted, Latin Lingo +: Hole in the Head, The Phuncky Feel One, Break It Up, The Funky Cypress Hill Shit, Born to Get Busy +-: Stoned Is the Way of the Walk 8,2/10

More obnoxious hip hop crap

Bands like NWA get a lot of implied street cred from their lyrics and implied gang affiliation. However, very few hip-hopoutfits (from either coast) have the real life experiences to back up the lyrics in their songs. Cypress Hill is definitely an exception to the fantasy of gangster rap compared to real-life, every day steady mobbin. By the time their self-titled debut hit the shelves they'd left that life behind, but not before B-Real got shot and almost died during a gang related altercation. Want to know why the album feels so raw and genuine? Because it is. Interludes hold this self-titled debut back but you knew as soon as you hit play that this band was about to make a big splash. The tight production, unrivaled flow, and lyrical believability has helped age Cypress Hill incredibly well.

It's just a really good era for this kind of music. There was just something special in the sauce! Was it crime? Potentially yes, but that isn't what made it good it is just a coincidence.

Feels like a pretty average album from this period of hip hop, all the trappings of the really really good stuff that was happening around it but just not really pushing to that higher bar. Enjoyable enough apart from the standard homophobia etc etc

Smooth and cool. Cyprus Hill has a distinct sound and excellent delivery. I don’t love the album but respect what they were able to create. Fresh for its time and still listenable today.

So far up my street I might as well live there

Bonne découverte

Nope. Did not like this one bit. It's probably well assembled for what it is, but what it is puts me in a perpetual state of fight or flight until it's switched off.

Unless one was listening to hip-hop on a regular basis in 1991, it would be hard to explain just how different Cypress Hill was. Nobody had a flow like this. Nobody. There wasn't any other mainstream artist (other than perhaps the Beastie Boys) who's songs were so busy, varies, and full of unique samples. This album is absolutely deserving of a spot on the 1,001 list ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I never realized this was lowkey experimental in rap at that time.

RAP

I first heard Cypress Hill on a documentary about sex and violence in music. It was just a short 30 second clip of the _How I Could Just Kill A Man_ video and I had to find out more. I was already a fan of House of Pain and learned about the link between those groups and the fact that Muggs had created the _Jump Around_ beat. So in the first half of the 90s I was a huge Cypress fan and this became my fave hip hop and still is. There’s just something about Muggs grimy NY beats sprinkled with the Latin flavour brought by B-Real and Sen Dog that’s truly unique in the hip hop world ! Muggs’ production is fantastic, it has a dark underbelly but it’s the predominantly funk based samples elevate it. And in B-Real they have, not the best rapper, technically, but one that brings something to the table that’s uniquely him and it works. Cypress were massive during the 90s and crossed over into the rock crowd in a way that no other had before or since. Watch their 2022 documentary _Insane in the Brain_ and it gives you a taste of that time.

Another one to skip. Sorry. Didn’t listen.

I definitely enjoy cypress hill but not sure this is their strongest offering.

One of the view rap albums I enjoy

Gotta say, the whole thing felt very one note and I spent the entire time hoping against reality that Insane in the Membrane would suddenly come on

This just grinds me down.

This has not aged well.

Pretty awesome beats and fun stoner rap, if occasionally a bit annoying. The bilingual rapping adds a fun twist as well, but I think there’s better rap albums from this year (like The Low End Theory, which shares a sample with this).

Not totally my style but I did like most of the beats and rhythm. This album's music might be my favorite kind of rap/hip-hop?

My little brother listed to this a lot when he was 14 so I am familiar with it. It's not my cup of tea but maybe due to nostalgia it's mildly enjoyable.

My husband put it best, "If I'm not at a party with a drink and a joint I don't want to listen to this." Agreed. I know Cypress Hill is beloved but I just can't get into these days.

This was an interesting one, seems to sit somewhere in between the 80s "golden era" and the 90s gangster rap, with some elements of each.

One guy kinda sounds like Danny brown, this didn't age that bad but meh