Black Sunday [PA]

Performer: Cypress Hill
Engineer: Jason Roberts
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: The BLACK SUNDAY booklet contains 19 historical and scientific facts pertaining to the useage and safety as well as the medical and commercial benefits of marijuana and the hemp plant. Cypress Hill: B. Real, Sen-Dog, DJ Muggs. Producers: DJ Muggs, T-Ray. "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That" was nominated for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group in the 37th Annual Grammy Awards. Recorded at 38 Fresh And Image Recording, Hollywood, California; Soundtrack Studios, Baby Monster Studios, Green Street Studios, Chung King Studios, New York, New York; Studio 4 Recording, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Up to SKULL & BONES, 1993's BLACK SUNDAY had been Cypress Hill's greatest commercial success, and it's no wonder. The album's funky grooves and mellow but danceable rhythms helped to expand Cypress Hill's audience, hooking fans of alternative rock as well as earning Cypress Hill props from hip-hop die-hards. Fourteen solid grooves make up this album from the West Coast trio, beginning with the dope anthem "I Wanna Get High." "Insane in the Brain" and "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That" are already hip-hop classics, each featuring the signature rolling bass hooks that defined Cypress Hill's sound before the group began experimenting with heavy metal. Deftly culled soul and Latin jazz samples provide a smooth backdrop for the intricate rhythms featured here. Refreshingly intelligent social concerns also find expression, with a tolerance that's rare indeed in the isolationism of rap. BLACK SUNDAY is a delightful departure from the obsession with guns and money that usually taints the West Coast school's output.

Rolling Stone (9/16/93, p.64) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...it's the Cypress combo of stark grooves and cinematic gangsta fairy tales that allows them to rule the streets, a formula not messed with on BLACK SUNDAY..." Spin (8/93, p.81) - Highly Recommended - "...BLACK SUNDAY is a consolidation of power for Cypress Hill, tending more toward perfecting a solid formula than toying with invention..." Entertainment Weekly (7/30/93, p.56) - "...BLACK SUNDAY might as well be titled MORE SONGS ABOUT GATS AND BLUNTS. And that's just fine, because [Cypress Hill]'s basic formula--wacked-out Spanglish tough talk, deep bass & DJ Mugg's trademark squeals and sirens--is such a winner..." - Rating: A- Q (1/94, p.83) - Included in Q's list of `The 50 Best Albums Of 1993' - "...the swaying, slurry beat concocted by DJ Muggs rides roughshod over all reservations...." Q (10/93, p.105) - 3 Stars - Good - "...dope hasn't brought [Cypress Hill] much peace: the bulk of [BLACK SUNDAY] are the usual threats and slanging....Thankfully absent from their hardcore stance is the brute sexism that normally goes along with such a tough guy routine..." The Source (9/93, p.82) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...a darker sequel....this album is definitely worth buying as it easily rips the frame out of all those Cypress bandwagon jumpers..." Melody Maker (1/1/94, p.77) - Ranked #35 in Melody Maker's list of the `Albums Of The Year' for 1993 - "...A smoking record, in every sense'...." Melody Maker (7/31/93, p.29) - "...[BLACK SUNDAY]'s laid-back songs simmer with a violence just barely held in check...Cypress Hill capture that humid, heat-hazy unreal feel where walking the streets is like being inside a bad dream.." Musician (10/93, p.95) - "...B-Real's sinister nasal rhymes still grate and delight....BLACK SUNDAY has enough tracks to keep any rap fan with decent woofers head-nodding..." Village Voice (3/1/94, p.5) - Ranked #29 in the Village Voice's 1993 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll. NME (Magazine) (12/25/93, p.66) - Ranked #8 in New Musical Express' list of `The Top 50 LPs Of 1993' - "...The first crew to take the gangsta shit to a student audience...achieved the all-important compromise-free crossover from the hardcore audience and into mainstream consciousness...." NME (Magazine) (7/24/93, p.34) - 8 (out of 10) - Excellent - "...a record that gets better with each successive play..."

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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