cypress hill - till death do us part
another year another cypress hill album. does anyone actually care about them these days?
surely the bands over use of wicked weed puns and spooky atmospheres have become cliched and tired out by now ? even so, having heard the excellent solo muggs album last year (the rich dark 'dust' album - highly recommended), i decided to jump in and give this album a go.
from the outset it's obvious the band are trying hard to branch out here into new areas. for a start the cover is downright creepy with the boys all suited up and glaring looking like a unpleasant set of gangster funeral directors surrounded by the usual skeletons and death paraphenalia, and for a change, i sense a complete lack of dope imagery on the cover - hmm maybe they have moved on ? lets see how long it is before we get to hear someone taking a draw on a herbal cigarette ?
oh hang on .. it's the opening sound effect. damn, that didn't last long. moving on ..
setting aside my usual hip hop passion for '2 turntables and a microphone' old school vibes and avoidance for high production sounds that the majors are churning out every week now, i thought i'd see how the other side of hip hop moves in 2004. opening track 'another body drops' is all nastiness, evil atmospheres and darkly enjoyable rap/rock attitude with a funked up feel, not bad at all, shame then that muggs has decided to spread his production wings into new areas that the lads just cant keep up with the changes. after years of progressing the collision of metal and rap (or was it regressing?) this album has taken a left hand turn and decided to discover scratchy tijuana brass samples, dub, dancehall, ska, and even broken beats and . sonically most of the album works really well, even if some of the hill trademarks have been overused (church bells, strings) , but tis the words that just drag this album down. the usual thug gangsta tales come thick and fast, stories of bad drug deals, and heavily threatened violence subsequently becoming tiresome and weary and unwanted.
yeah yeah yeah, c'mon guys, they've been ploughing this furrow now for far too long. surely they cant still be full of all this negative rage and violence. haven't they got married, had kids and realised that life is for living yet? all that kudos and royalties in the mid-90's must have bought some fine luxuries over the years which must have masked some of the hell and torment of their tortured souls? i worry about the hill. they really need to lighten up and live a little.
for the pop kids who like to pretend they are down with the hardcore underground there is the record label friendly clash cover version ahem reinterpretation of the classic 'guns of brixton' (suspect they never heard the beats international version ?) which has been retitled 'whats your number' which features tim armstrong doing the dubby rock guitar thing, it's lightweight and will keep the profile of da hill in exactly the right places (amercian alt.rock radio), but hey you cant go wrong with that bass line, can you ?
i guess this album will appeal to all the right people - the hill fans will be pleased. and i guess that's all that matters. they don't need to expand their fanbase after all these years. its got all the usual stuff going on track titles 'bong hit', 'one last cigarette', 'ganja bus' kinda tells you things are still the same, i guess its a case of "if it aint broke ..." whether the record label will be stumping up the necessary moolah for an album in 2005 will be interesting. could be very appropriate that the final track on this is called 'eulogy'.. are they telling us something
link