Black Sunday (1993) - Cypress Hill

Beginning their career in 1991 with an eponymous debut LP, Cypress Hill achieved the rare feat of making West Coast hip hop that sounded nothing like what the music world would traditionally associate with LA. No thumping 808s, no whiny synths, and not a George Clinton sample in sight. Instead they came from the boom-bap school of hip hop and made a record that was, in equal measure, loud, fun and really quite menacing. Ice-T described their style as sounding like "crazy Mexicans high on angel dust". Now, considering the group consists of two Cubans and an Italian this might not be entirely accurate, but when you listen to a song like "How I Could Just Kill A Man" you see what he's getting at.

Thanks in large part to that very song featuring the 1992 hood classic, and quite underrated in film circles, 'Juice', Cypress Hill found themselves with a quickly growing fanbase - this being despite the fact that B-Real sounds like he's been sucking a helium balloon for three days straight and their album containing strictly hardcore songs like "Pigs" and "Hole in the Head". So, for their next album, they took a similar approach and - quite inexplicably - went even more massive than anyone could've rightly predicted, with 'Black Sunday' going 4x platinum and the group becoming household names in the process. Not bad for some former gang members from the slums of LA crooning "A to the muthaf**in' K, homeboyyyy".

This success was mostly due to the lead single "Insane in the Brain" becoming a colossal hit that crossed over to the level where even your grandmother has likely been caught singing "Insane in the membrane.....insane in the brain". But, that huge smash song aside, this is an album full of early 90s golden age tunes that still hold up here in 2026.

The first thing to note is the album cover, pictured above. As we know, album art sets the tone for a record and usually this sort of subject matter might feature three blokes in a low rider looking hard. However, here we are treated to an album cover that wouldn't look out of place in the death metal section of the (now extinct) record shop. Thus providing something of a spooky, gothic, feel to proceedings. This mood is only exacerbated by the opening track "I Wanna Get High" - which uses some weird siren sound to lull you in, before a luscious and definitely weed-laced baseline kicks in. All of which should let you know that for the next 43 minutes, you are entering a strange new realm. In direct contrast to the smooth, smoky, feel to the track, B Real comes in hot, using his most high-pitched of high-pitched voices, again shifting your balance so that you don't really know what is going on, but you like it. Similar to (I imagine) the sensation of smoking a big, fat, blunt.

More moody baselines riddle tracks like "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That" and "Lick A Shot", again giving you the feeling that you are somewhere you shouldn't be, with the curtains drawn and the air filled with smoke. And despite his voice having the nasal, almost sing-song, quality that this group has become known for, B Real is actually a pretty outstanding rapper. He is never misses a beat and anyone who can turn a chicken impression into "Bawk bawk! Well you can just suck my c**k" is alright by me. Take "Insane in the Brain" for example, yes the beat is banging, and yes the chorus is extremely catchy but without two highly skilled rappers putting some highly memorable bars over the top, it would all amount to nothing.

"Like Louis Armstrong played the trumpet

I'll hit that bong and break you off something

Soon, I got to get my props

Cops, come and try to snatch my crops

These pigs wanna blow my house down

Head underground to the next town"

Like Biggie's "Hypnotize", or House of Pain's "Jump Around" (also produced by DJ Muggs) the beat and song in general have become so ubiquitous in pop culture that you end up ignoring how good the rapping is. But it really is, on just about every song. That said, listening solely to B Real for an entire album would, admittedly, be quite difficult. So it's great that Sen Dog comes in to break up the nasal whine. His gruff voice perfectly compliments B Real's and both of them combined over DJ Muggs' dusty beats are what make this album so memorable.

What cannot be ignored listening to this classic again in 2026 is the weird dichotomy that takes place between the subject matter, the music and the delivery of the words. For example, a song like "Hand on the Glock". It almost sounds like a nursery rhyme, or something you'd hear from a more family friendly act like "Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince" but what they are actually talking about is blowing your head off with a sawn-off shotgun. It's all very disorientating and shouldn't work, but it does. And now hearing "tried to jack me but homie got shot, la-la-la la-la-la-laaaaaa" is actually quite terrifying. It's almost as if they are so hard and so dangerous that, rather than waste time on posturing as such, they're fine singing nursery rhymes about shooting you in the face because they are so used to doing it. Again, the fact that these chaps have become sort of mainstream loveable stoners in this day and age is mad when you listen to the actual lyrics.

Despite the gothic cover, and many darker tracks about violence and drugs, there are a good 4 or 5 undisputed classic tunes on this album and make it well worth a visit for that alone. I defy anyone not enjoy "When The Sh*t Goes Down" at a party, or "Hits From The Bong" (an interpolation of Dusty Springfield's 'Son of A Preacher Man', of all things) when thinking about smoking a doobie. The beats are probably the finest that DJ Muggs ever put together and sound all at once funky, atmospheric, and quite unsettling. Especially on "3 Lil' Putos" which is genuinely what I imagine you would hear playing when getting your house shot up by a van full of maniacs.

It's not really a West Coast album, nor is it an East Coast album. Instead Cypress Hill, in creating this weird little gem, seemed to create a lane all of their own that made them megastars almost overnight, ensuring their music would be played at frat-house parties and underground basements for decades to come. On a personal note, it was the first album that got me into hip-hop and so will always hold a special place in the old boom ticker, but even on a more objective level, it's an album filled with outstanding beats, very threatening lyrics delivered in the voice of a cartoon character, and sing-along choruses that still continue to find a new audience even today.

★★★★☆

JB.