walking upstream…
Cypress Hill
photo: manosolo13241324 · cc by-sa 4.0 ↗Cypress Hill
In the summer of 1991, Cypress Hill's first single was quietly dying. 'The Phuncky Feel One' barely dented radio, and the group was following the rap trio Naughty by Nature around the country in a rented minivan while Naughty toured by bus. Then a New York DJ flipped the record over. The B-side, 'How I Could Just Kill a Man,' turned the South Gate, California trio -- rappers B-Real and Sen Dog, producer DJ Muggs -- from opening-act obscurity into headliners within weeks, and made them the first Latino hip-hop act to go platinum. Percussionist Eric Bobo, son of the Latin-jazz percussionist Willie Bobo, joined soon after. Cypress Hill's sound turned on two engineered opposites: B-Real's switchblade-nasal rap and Sen Dog's bass-register growl, an architecture the group built by imitating other people's records before finding, by accident, their own.
the sound in question
1993
Insane in the BrainCypress Hill
walk the tributaries ↓
Public Enemy1980s · Hip hop / Political hip hop / Conscious hip hop
"For me, if Public Enemy doesn't exist, Cypress Hill definitely doesn't exist," B-Real told Interview magazine, and Sen Dog's account explains exactly how literally he meant it. The pair would blast It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back on repeat, clowning by trading Chuck D's and Flavor Flav's parts -- B-Real nasal and quick, Sen Dog dropping into a deep, guttural growl. One afternoon the bit became a song: Sen Dog dropped into that deep voice for the line that would become the title, and Muggs, as Sen Dog recalls it, cut them off cold: "What the hell was that? That's your new chorus."
listen: upstream & heresource: Interview Magazine — Chuck D and B-Real on Three Decades of Fame, Fans, and Friendship (backs the Public Enemy influence) ↗
1988
Bring the NoisePublic Enemy
1991
How I Could Just Kill a ManCypress Hill
listen forCue up 'Bring the Noise' first: Chuck D's blunt baritone volleys against Flavor Flav's higher, ricocheting ad-libs, two voices trading the same bar. Then play 'How I Could Just Kill a Man' and listen for the same architecture reassembled -- B-Real's thin, nasal attack handing off to Sen Dog's drop into a guttural bass register on the title line, the hook landing exactly where Chuck and Flavor's exchange would.
Rammellzee1980s · Hip hop / Experimental hip-hop / Graffiti art
B-Real traces his entire vocal identity to one record. "There was a guy we used to listen to, coming up, his name was Rammellzee," he told Joe Rogan -- the obscure New York MC and graffiti artist whose 1983 track 'Beat Bop' flips mid-verse from a flat talking cadence into something higher and stranger. "We were always freaking out that he had two styles," B-Real said, so he tried the same switch himself, first on 'Real Estate,' and it stuck for good, carrying straight into the group's breakout year.
listen: upstream & heresource: Ambrosia for Heads — B-Real Details How He Developed 1 of Hip-Hop's Most Distinctive Voices (backs the Rammellzee influence) ↗
1983
Beat BopRammellzee
1991
Real EstateCypress Hill
listen forListen to 'Beat Bop' for the moment Rammellzee drops his deadpan talking cadence and snaps into a higher, harder attack mid-line -- the two-voice trick B-Real describes. Then play 'Real Estate' for his first attempt at the same move: the verses ride in his ordinary register before jumping into the tight, nasal pitch that would define every Cypress Hill hook that followed.
Beastie Boys1980s-2000s · Hip hop / Hardcore punk / Alternative hip hop
When the Beastie Boys came looking for a remix of 'So What'cha Want' in 1992, DJ Muggs answered as a fan first. "I was the biggest Beastie Boys fan," he said. "Anything from Def Jam, I didn't give a fuck what it was, I was buying every Def Jam record." He built the remix, then called in his best friend to rap a verse: B-Real. Cypress Hill opened the Beastie Boys' Check Your Head tour that year, and percussionist Eric Bobo, who had toured with the Beastie Boys before, became Cypress Hill's own permanent fourth member.
listen: upstream & heresource: Complex — DJ Muggs Tells All ↗
1992
So What'cha WantBeastie Boys
1993
Insane in the BrainCypress Hill
listen forPlay 'So What'cha Want' for its woozy, pitched-down chorus vocal -- the group's voices dragged low and warped until the track feels like it's being chewed. Then drop into 'Insane in the Brain' for the same loose, chant-it-back party-rock swagger: a rowdy call-and-response hook riding a rock-tempo breakbeat, built for exactly the kind of stage Cypress Hill was working that same year opening for the Beasties.