As the title suggests, third studio album by Cypress Hill, group from South Gate, California. The production is handled entirely by DJ Muggs, who reserves a beat for his friend RZA. Muggs is in charge of mixing, aided by Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo, Jason Roberts and Ross Donaldson. Percussionist Eric Bobo becomes an official member of the group.
Wu-Tang Clan rappers RZA and U-God are the only guests on the record. Entirely in black and white, this is perhaps the most beautiful and darkest cover made by the group, everything seems to work, even that font for the title looks captivating: a guy protected by a cloak, presumably a monk, sets out in the darkness, is about to go towards the entrance of a monastery at the top of a very steep staircase, in the middle of the night. It's a gloomy image. Even better, it's representative of this album, and in particular, of the music that DJ Muggs has put together.
Thematically, B-Real maintains the formula that has allowed him to be successful in the circuit so far: bravado bars, weed, thug, random gangsterisms, etc. His pen writes in a dull and poor way, the boy recites his lyrics with an inspired, effortless, light-hearted and relaxed style, at times energetic and hardcore, and is constantly overshadowed by every single rhythm on every single track: he's in one of his best moments in his career, it's hard to find a record where he's more tolerable. In addition, the CD boasts the absence of Sen Dog, who leaves the group for a short time to devote himself to something else. Leaving aside the lyricism of what is, ultimately, a passive protagonist, an walk on, in this album, remains to go and see the main protagonist of the third act of Cypress Hill, that is, the music chosen by DJ Muggs.
"Spark Another Owl" kicks off the project and presents the mood of the album: dark, gloomy, good samples, tight and poor dry drum, B-Real lets the rhythm breathe, then delivers with his style, relaxed and light-hearted. "Throw Your Set in the Air" is the first single of the product: dark and haunting samples from Power of Zeus and Rotary Connection, with dry and hard drum and a simple hook with explosion of sounds, the rapper enjoys spitting without effort and slowly. "Stoned Raiders" is track number three and coincides with the first of an impeccable production series that seems to have no end (but there is, unfortunately). Flawless boom bap by DJ Muggs, the drum machine is perfect, midtempo, dry, hard, poor, accompanied by a fantastic sample of "Picture 6" by Jack DeJohnette, there's a dark piano and an equally dark female melodic support. B-Real also delivers worthily, energetic, syncopated, everything works.
Pick number four, "Illusions", some consider it the best work of B-Real. I don't know. I've never paid too much attention to him. What is sure is that Muggs throws down another of his best beats ever: spectacular boom bap, minimal drum, midtempo, lean and hard, Henry Mancini sample combined with "Las Vegas Tango" by Gary Burton, who sounds jazzy and obscure. B-Real's rap delivery is light-hearted, effortless, slow, regular, and somehow, completely fit with the beat, the track has classic vibes. "Killa Hill Niggas" is a blessing. The only beat not produced by DJ Muggs is provided by RZA. It sounds exactly like a beat that, for some reason, stayed out of GZA's "Liquid Swords". King Midas gives one of the best moments of the edition. Sample of humble and plaintive strings in the background, from "Don't Let Go" by Ben Sidran, dirty and dusty midtempo drum, dark and nocturnal mood, but soft, warm, enveloping, fantastic, with a scratched vocal extract from Prodigy.
Then, a different rhythm arrives, this yes, it seems to be performed by Muggs: midtempo drum, dirty, dusty and hard, perfect, with dark samples taken from "90% of Me Is You" by Gwen McCrae, and synthesized piano. B-Real is the first MC and he looks pretty good, after him come two professionals, RZA performs half bars than those who preceded him, but he has a deep confidence, personality and a raw voice that makes his few bars sharp on a rusty beat. Hook, then U-God: bringing U-God, guest, in '95, well, it's not something you should ever want, and in fact, the others don't make a good impression, the young man was in top shape in this period. He kills the cut, he's gone away, dropped one of his finest verses in life, but nobody seems to care. MVP for me here. And then in the album. Hands down. I will point this out again at the end. The sixth choice boasts a boom bap, dry and pounding hard midtempo drum, combined with some of the most melodic samples of Muggs, somber, gloomy, jazzy: the rhythm is perfect, B-Real spits confident, inspired, light-hearted, cannot ruin a masterpiece production.
"No Rest for the Wicked" stands out as probably the best rhythm created by DJ Muggs on this album: fantastic dark and gloomy piano samples, dystopian vibes, lean and tight midtempo drum, beautiful beat with Silenthillian vibes. On this great work by DJ Muggs, B-Real delivers energetic, confident, smoothness, quick, the cut is a dissing towards Ice Cube, guilty of stealing chorus and lyrics from the song "Throw Your Set in the Air", that Cypress Hill had played him previously and that he had stolen to use in his original song "Friday" for the soundtrack of the film of the same name (Cube at the time had this kind of reputation on the circuit). An aggressive B-Real rips the cut, the beat fades. Pause for ten seconds, then a wonderful loop emerges in the finale, beautiful, straight from the genius of Muggs: exxtroverted and lively drum, dusty and dirty, elegant piano loop, melodic and dark female sample in the background, again from Jack Dejohnette's "Picture 6", is one of the most beautiful, dark and intense beats of the season, deservedly not soiled by poor rap of that guy.
"Make a Move" is opened by a skit, then yet another excellent rhythm from the producer: tight drum, uptempo, hard, dirty and dusty, dark samples in the background, great bass, syncopated, slow, easygoing, inspired delivery by the MC. "Killafornia" is the latest spectacular musical carpet made by DJ Muggs: splendid boom bap, drum uptempo, tight, skinny, dirty and dusty, amazing dark and dystopian piano loop, accompanied by elegant, squeaky and somber strings in the background, they're plotting behind the beat, you can hear them. Simple chorus, syncopated, easygoing, effortless delivery by B-Real. The beat is a jewel, beautiful. Personally, I feel it would be perfect for one of the remixes of the iconic Wu-Tang Clan songs. "Method Man" maybe? Those strings lead me to say "Criminology", anyway, that kind of rap, that kind of performers.
"Funk Freakers" is where I feel the magic ends. A little early? No. It's been about thirty-four minutes, nine tracks, this record is a masterpiece. The production is fantastic so far. Then drop. Rap is always the same. It's B-Real. On the tenth track, he sounds hardcore and inspired again, Muggs gives him a good beat, midtempo and dry drum machine, hard and heavy, pounding and lean, there's a haunting loop that sounds like the sound of whales, but the beat doesn't shine anymore like three minutes before. Even the next song suffers, if compared to the first part: boom bap, bleak vibes, dry, thin and tight drum uptempo, B-Real worthily. This is one of the rare joints in which there's Sen Dog. "Red Light Visions" gives oriental vibes, then comes a sharp and sudden jazzy bap boom, uptempo drum, dry, lean, very hard, loops of a few dark piano keys, short and syncopated delivery of B-Real in this quick extract.
"Strictly Hip Hop" boasts a wonderful dark, haunting and dark piano sample from Procol Harum's "Repent Walpurgis"; DJ Muggs combines it with a midtempo drum, lean and hard dry, to support the rapper's relaxed flow. "Let It Rain" features a dry, poor and uptempo drum machine, dusty and dirty, there are good dark and gloomy melodic samples, accompanied by a mix of synths and the owl verse loop in the background, I guess. It's a good dark beat for the inspired and syncopated rap by Cypress Hill's lead performer. The album is completed by the bonus track "Everybody Must Get Stoned", where B-Real expresses its last bars on a simple production of Muggs, dark boom bap with a good dirty, dusty, dry and hard drum.
Released worldwide by Ruffhouse and Columbia, the album received mixed reviews from critics and was a great commercial success, arriving in third place among pop and rap records, obtaining platinum in less than two months and also ripping certifications in the UK and Canada. U-God steals the show and he's the MVP of the whole disk. DJ Muggs, at his best ever, contributes to realize a cohesive, coherent, regular and dope project, thanks to a profound and powerful, dark and foggy, at times magical production: overall, it's one of the best records of the group and personally, their best.
Rating: 8.3/10.
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