Cypress Hill

Cypress Hill is a Latin-American Hip-Hop group from California. Their 1993 album Black Sunday debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Their hit single "Insane in the Brain" became the number one song on the rap charts in the summer of 1993.

Many of the lyrics of Cypress Hill relate to recreational use of marijuana, and some songs are used to voice their opinions about marijuana laws. The band was banned from Saturday Night Live after DJ Muggs lit a marijuana joint on air during their performance. And during their second song the group trashed their instruments. http://popular-culture.families.com/blog/banned-from-saturday-night-live-part-iii

Other topics covered in their songs are racial profiling, police brutality, and gang violence.

Cypress Hill began as DVX and formed in 1986. Brothers Sen Dog and Mellow Man Ace, along with Muggs and B Real began by fusing Latin-American and hip-hop slang together inventing a new sound. In 1988 Mellow Man Ace left the group and they renamed themselves to Cypress Hill after a Los Angeles street. In 1991 the new group signed with Ruffhouse/Columbia Records.

Early in 1992, Hill’s debut album became a sensation. Along with underground hit singles such as, "How I Could Just Kill a Man" and "The Phuncky Feel One" the band’s pro-marijuana stance earned them many new fans. One year later in 1993, they followed up with a similar sounding but still a hit album, Black Sunday. The album entered the charts at number one and featured their crossover-hit single, “Insane in the Brain.”

Their new hit single brought in a new audience for Cypress Hill; a predominantly white audience. This along with new member, drummer Bobo and touring with Lollapalooza led Hill to lose some support in the hip-hop community. Temples of Boom, their third album, released in 1995 with mixed reviews and no hit singles. Unlike their previous record, this album did play better on the R&B charts than it did on the pop charts. Then in 1996, member Sen Dog left Cypress Hill and Muggs began working on a solo album. Muggs album, Muggs Presents the Soul Assassins received positive reviews during its release in 1997.

In 1998 Sen Dog returned to the group to release their fourth album, IV. Following two years later, the band released a double-disc set, Skull & Bones. The set consisted of one disc featuring more rock-inspired songs and the other hip-hop material. “Skull & Bones’’ including their hit single, “Superstar”. On the set fans could find a rap and rock versions of the song and subsequently Cypress Hill shot a video for each version. The videos became popular on MTV because of the many rap and rock musicians featured in them.

The group went on to release several more records including the 2000 release, Stoned Raiders, and 2004’sTill Death Do Us Part. Then in 2010, the band signed to Priority Records and released their eighth album, Rise Up. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fifwxq95ld6e~T1

• B-Real
• Sen Dog
• DJ Muggs
• Eric Bobo
• Mellow Man Ace (former member)

• 1991: Cypress Hill
• 1993: Black Sunday
• 1995: III: Temples of Boom
• 1998: Unreleased and Revamped
• 1998: IV
• 1999: Los Grandes Exitos en Espanol
• 2000: Skull & Bones
• Live at the Fillmore
• 2000: Stoned Raiders
• 2002: Stash
• 2004: Till Death Do Us Part
• 2005: Greatest Hits from the Bong
• 2010: Rise Up
• 2010 : Strictly Hip Hop: The Best of Cypress Hill

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