walking upstream…
Cypress Hill
photo: jb quentin · cc by-sa 4.0 ↗Cypress Hill
Formed in South Gate, California, Cypress Hill fused Chicano and Cuban-American identity with hardcore West Coast rap, DJ Muggs's murky, sample-warped production, and B-Real's instantly recognizable nasal whine into one of hip-hop's most singular voices. Their self-titled 1991 debut and 1993's 'Black Sunday' made them one of the first Latino rap acts to go platinum, and their unapologetic marijuana anthems and horror-movie imagery carried the group's outsider aggression across genres for decades. That reach extended overseas: Seo Taiji and Boys borrowed directly from B-Real's vocal delivery for 1995's 'Come Back Home,' carrying Cypress Hill's sound into the foundational moment of K-pop.
the sound in question
1993
Insane in the BrainCypress Hill
walk the tributaries ↓
Public Enemy1980s · Hip hop / Political hip hop / Conscious hip hop
DJ Muggs has said Public Enemy's debut album 'blew him away' as a teenager, and the dense, sample-collaged menace of the Bomb Squad's production directly informed the way Muggs layered horror-film sounds and sirens under Cypress Hill's beats.
listen: upstream & here
1987
Bring the NoisePublic Enemy
1991
How I Could Just Kill a ManCypress Hill
listen forCompare Public Enemy's 'Bring the Noise' with Cypress Hill's 'How I Could Just Kill a Man' — different regional accents and subject matter, but the same instinct for burying a snarling vocal under a chaotic wall of samples.
Black Sabbath1970s · Heavy metal / Hard rock
B-Real has said he was listening to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and The Doors before he even knew what hip-hop was, drawn to the darkness in their music — an atmosphere Cypress Hill later rebuilt out of horror-movie samples and minor-key basslines rather than guitar riffs.
listen: upstream & here
1970
ParanoidBlack Sabbath
1993
Hits from the BongCypress Hill
listen forSit with the doomy, minor-key dread of Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid,' then drop into Cypress Hill's 'Hits from the Bong' — no shared riff or sample, but the same suffocating, ominous haze.
Run-D.M.C.1980s · Hip-hop / Old-school hip-hop
DJ Muggs has named Run-D.M.C. among the early rap records that shaped him, and the group's stripped-back, beat-and-voice minimalism taught him how much empty space a hip-hop track could leave for a vocalist's personality to fill.
listen: upstream & here
1983
Sucker M.C.'sRun-D.M.C.
1993
Insane in the BrainCypress Hill
listen forPlay Run-D.M.C.'s 'Sucker M.C.'s' against Cypress Hill's 'Insane in the Brain' — both let a spare, hard-hitting beat do almost nothing but frame the voice riding on top of it.