Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom [PA]

Performer: Cypress Hill
Artist: RZA; U-God
Engineer: RZA; Jason Roberts
Producer: Muggs; RZA
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Cypress Hill: B. Real, Sen-Dog, Muggs. Additional personnel includes: Red Dog (organ, bass); Bobo (congas); Buddah Monks Of Hamkaimea Temple, Shag (background vocals); U-God, The RZA. Recorded at The Compund, Larabee Studios, Hollywood, California & Ameraycan Studios, North Hollywood, California. "Throw Your Set In The Air" was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. Cypress Hill: B. Real, Sen-Dog, Muggs. Additional personnel includes: Red Dog (organ, bass); Bobo (congas); Buddah Monks Of Hamkaimea Temple, Shag (background vocals); U-God, The RZA. Recorded at The Compund, Larabee Studios, Hollywood, California & Ameraycan Studios, North Hollywood, California. "Throw Your Set In The Air" was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. Personnel: Red Dog, Reg Dog (organ); Bobo (congas); Shag (background vocals). Audio Mixers: Joe Nicolo; Muggs; RZA; Ross Donaldson; Jason Roberts . Recording information: 36 Chambers Studio, NY; Ameraycan Studio; North Hollywo; Ameraycan Studios, North Hollywood, CA; Compound; Larrabee Studios, Hollywood, CA; The Compound, Larrabee Studio;. Photographers: Chris McCann; Chris McCann ; Ken Schles. Unknown Contributor Role: Buddah Monk. Arranger: Muggs. While their themes and mannerisms were always rooted in the So-Cal style, Cypress Hill never really fit the stereotype of real Compton Gs. Blunted? Always! Dangerous? At times. On the G-funk tip that rules West Coast hip-hop? Not at all. Muggs' productions were more dissonant and edgier than anything coming off Death Row, more like a junior Bomb Squad. And the true precursor to B. Real's nasal style on the mic was no Comptonite but Beastie Boy Adrock. So it's no surprise that on CYPRESS HILL III (TEMPLES OF BOOM) this Budda Tribe align themselves with the hottest crew that the East Coast has to offer (the Wu-Tang Clan's U-God joins them on "Killa Hill," an RZA production), and that some of the boldest words on III are molotovs lobbed in West Coast old-schooler Ice Cube's direction (on "No Rest For The Wicked"). Otherwise, TEMPLES OF BOOM is full of the same old rituals: Muggs keeps spinning the grey noises, while B. Real and Sen-Dog go to extremes to describe the disrespect they've garnered, the payback it'll result in, and the amount of smoke they'll be blowing toward the perpetrator's fallen body. While their themes and mannerisms were always rooted in the So-Cal style, Cypress Hill never really fit the stereotype of real Compton Gs. Blunted? Always! Dangerous? At times. On the G-funk tip that rules West Coast hip-hop? Not at all. Muggs' productions were more dissonant and edgier than anything coming off Death Row, more like a junior Bomb Squad. And the true precursor to B. Real's nasal style on the mic was no Comptonite but Beastie Boy Adrock. So it's no surprise that on CYPRESS HILL III (TEMPLES OF BOOM) this Budda Tribe align themselves with the hottest crew that the East Coast has to offer (the Wu-Tang Clan's U-God joins them on "Killa Hill," an RZA production), and that some of the boldest words on III are molotovs lobbed in West Coast old-schooler Ice Cube's direction (on "No Rest For The Wicked"). Otherwise, TEMPLES OF BOOM is full of the same old rituals: Muggs keeps spinning the grey noises, while B. Real and Sen-Dog go to extremes to describe the disrespect they've garnered, the payback it'll result in, and the amount of smoke they'll be blowing toward the perpetrator's fallen body.

Rolling Stone (11/16/95, p.109) - 3.5 Stars - Good - "...half of III bumps with a new and improved Cypress Hill sound that marks producer Muggs' progress....For all the rude immediacy of its rhymes, III is an album of many musical hues...Cypress Hill still wield an intoxicating power that's all their own..." Rolling Stone (11/16/95, p.109) - 3.5 Stars - Good - "...half of III bumps with a new and improved Cypress Hill sound that marks producer Muggs' progress....For all the rude immediacy of its rhymes, III is an album of many musical hues...Cypress Hill still wield an intoxicating power that's all their own..." Q (1/96, p.124) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...The production is sophisticated, incorporating Indian sitar and sloping, almost psychedelic bass grooves to create a vaguely threatening ambient hardcore..." Q (1/96, p.124) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...The production is sophisticated, incorporating Indian sitar and sloping, almost psychedelic bass grooves to create a vaguely threatening ambient hardcore..." Melody Maker (10/28/95, p.39) - Bloody Essential - "...resonates with freakish cheese-wire paranoia....a gobsmacking paradox of expansive claustrophobia....The funk patters like an erratic heartbeat, the voices are stretched to bursting with menace and loathing and mockery..." Melody Maker (10/28/95, p.39) - Bloody Essential - "...resonates with freakish cheese-wire paranoia....a gobsmacking paradox of expansive claustrophobia....The funk patters like an erratic heartbeat, the voices are stretched to bursting with menace and loathing and mockery..." Rap Pages (1/96, p.32) - 7 (out of 10) - "...B-Real spits out lyric after lyric lambasting critics, ex-homies and anyone else not down with his familia....Some of the record might sound familiar, but, hey, that's the Cypress sound..." Rap Pages (1/96, p.32) - 7 (out of 10) - "...B-Real spits out lyric after lyric lambasting critics, ex-homies and anyone else not down with his familia....Some of the record might sound familiar, but, hey, that's the Cypress sound..." NME (Magazine) (10/28/95, p.54) - 7 (out of 10) - "...At its most powerful, tuneful, sarcastic and entertaining, it's sneering '90s hip-hop....In the weeks of the OJ fall-out and the Nation Of Islam Million Man March, Cypress Hill have made the album which reflects US and, therefore, global paranoia with spookily apt timing..." NME (Magazine) (10/28/95, p.54) - 7 (out of 10) - "...At its most powerful, tuneful, sarcastic and entertaining, it's sneering '90s hip-hop....In the weeks of the OJ fall-out and the Nation Of Islam Million Man March, Cypress Hill have made the album which reflects US and, therefore, global paranoia with spookily apt timing..."

Cross hardcore rap, alternative rock, and a defiantly pro-marijuana agenda, and you get groundbreaking hip-hoppers Cypress Hill. The band's genre-bending approach, as well as its English-Spanish bilingualism and rapper B-Real's distinctive nasal style, has earned them a wide and varied following. They debuted in 1991, but hit the big time two years later with the crossover hit "Insane in the Brain." Along the way, they've managed to work with the likes of Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth without ever losing their hip-hop credibility.

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