Their first album, which was self-titled, was released in August 1991. Its single was "Phuncky Feel One", but it was the B-side "How I Could Just Kill A Man" (formerly "Trigga Happy Nigga") that attracted more airplay on urban radio and college radio. Based on the success of the single and other tracks such as bilingual track "Latin Lingo" and X-rated Spanish track "Tres Equis", the album sold two million copies in the US alone. Subsequently, DJ Muggs produced the first House of Pain album, then worked on other projects like Funkdoobiest. The band made their first appearance at Lollapalooza on the side stage in 1992.
Black Sunday, the group's second album, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 1993, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group up until that time. Also with their debut still on the charts they became the first rap artists to have 2 albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 at the same time. With "Insane in the Brain" becoming a crossover hit, the album went triple platinum in the U.S. and sold about 3.25 million copies.
Cypress Hill was banned from Saturday Night Live after Muggs smoked cannabis on-air and the band trashed their instruments while playing their second single "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That". The band headlined the "Soul Assassins" tour with House of Pain and Funkdoobiest as support, then performed on a college tour with Rage Against the Machine and Seven Year Bitch. In 1993, Cypress Hill also had two tracks on the Judgment Night soundtrack, teamed up with Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth.
The band played at the 1994 Woodstock Festival introducing their new member Eric Bobo, formerly a percussionist with the Beastie Boys. Bobo is the son of salsa musician Willie Bobo. Rolling Stone magazine named the band as the best rap group in their music awards voted by critics and readers. Cypress Hill played at Lollapalooza for two successive years, topping the bill in 1995. They appeared on the The Simpsons episode "Homerpalooza".
Their third album Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom was released in 1995 selling 1.5 million copies and reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the hit single "Throw Your Set in the Air". Cypress Hill also contributed a track "I Wanna Get High" to the High Times sponsored Hempilation album to support NORML.
Feud With Ice Cube
Ice Cube asked to put "Throw Your Set in the Air" on his Friday soundtrack, but B-Real refused, prompting Cube to record a new song "Friday" with a similar chorus; Cypress Hill responded with the track "No Rest For The Wicked." Westside Connection replied with the diss track "King Of The Hill" and "Cross Em Out & Put a K", to which Cypress Hill replied with "Ice Cube Killa," which uses the same beat as "King Of The Hill" and disses Ice Cube and Mack 10. "Ice Cube Killa" has never been released officially. In 1997 B-Real of Cypress Hill and Ice Cube were invited to a late night talk show in order to reconcile their differences for the benefit of the hip hop community, and the feud thus ended. Cube And B-Real would work together later that year as guest features on the track "Men of Steel" for the soundtrack of Shaquille O'Neal's film Steel. B-Real and Cube did even feature as guests in Warren G's single "Get U Down" which also featured Snoop Dogg.
Continued career
Sen Dog took a break from the band to form a Los Angeles based punk-rap band SX-10. Meanwhile in 1996, Cypress Hill appeared on the first 'Smokin' Grooves' tour, featuring Ziggy Marley, The Fugees, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest. The band also released a nine track EP Unreleased and Revamped with rare mixes. In 1997, band members focused on their solo careers. Muggs released Muggs Presents ... the Soul Assassins featuring contributions from Wu-Tang Clan members, Dr. Dre, KRS-One, Wyclef Jean and Mobb Deep. B-Real appeared with Busta Rhymes, Coolio, LL Cool J and Method Man on "Hit Em High" from the multi-platinum Space Jam Soundtrack. He also appeared with RBX, Nas and KRS-One on "East Coast Killer, West Coast Killer" on Dr. Dre's Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath album, and released an album entitled "The Psycho Realm" from his side project of the same name. Though the focus that year was not on Cypress Hill, the band played Smokin' Grooves with George Clinton and Erykah Badu.
Cypress Hill released IV in 1998 which went gold in the U.S., even though the reviews were somewhat negative,[citation needed] on the backs of hit singles "Tequila Sunrise" and another tribute to smoking cannabis "Dr. Greenthumb." Sen Dog also released the Get Wood sampler as part of SX-10 on the label Flip. In 1999, Cypress Hill helped with the PC crime/very mature video game Kingpin: Life of Crime. Three of their songs from the 1998 IV album were in the game ( "16 Men Till There's No Men Left", "Checkmate" and "Lightning Strikes"). B-Real also did some of the voices of the people in the game. Also in 1999, the band released a greatest-hits album in Spanish, Los grandes éxitos en español. Cypress Hill then fused genres with their two-disc release, Skull & Bones, in 2000. The first disc, "Skull" was comprised of rap tracks while "Bones" explored further the group's forays into rock. The album reached the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 in Canada. The first single was "Rock Superstar" for rock radio and "Rap Superstar" for urban radio. The band also released Live at the Fillmore, a concert disc recorded at the Fillmore (in San Fransico) in 2000. Cypress Hill continued their experimentation with rock on the Stoned Raiders album in 2001. However, its sales were a disappointment, as the disc did not even reach the top 50 of the U.S. album charts. In 2001, the group appeared in the film How High.
Cypress Hill recorded "Just Another Victim" for the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a theme song for Tazz. At the time, WWE was using original music for almost all of the wrestlers, so this was an unusual step for the company to take, but it remains one of the more memorable songs to emerge from the wrestling organization. The band released Till Death Do Us Part on March 23, 2004. The album saw the band experiment with reggae especially on the lead single "What's Your Number". The track features Tim Armstrong of Rancid on guitar and Rob Aston of The Transplants on backup vocals. It is based on the classic song "Guns of Brixton" on The Clash's London Calling and has proven to be a success on the modern rock charts. However, the album represented a further departure from the signature sound of their first four albums. The album also features appearances by Damian Marley, son of Bob Marley, Prodigy and Twin of Mobb Deep and producer the Alchemist.
In 2004, the song How I Could Just Kill A Man was included in the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto San Andreas created by Rockstar Games, playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos. In December of 2005 a best of compilation album titled Greatest Hits From the Bong was released including 9 hits from previous albums and 2 new tracks. The group's next album was tentatively scheduled for an early 2007 release. In the summer of 2006, B-Real appeared on Snoop Dogg's single "Vato". Pharrell Williams produced the track, and originally sang the hook, but because of the video idea, B-Real was asked to sing the hook. Sen Dog is now currently touring with the Kottonmouth Kings, Kingspade and Dogboy on the Joint is on Fire Tour
In 2007 Cypress Hill toured with their full line up as a part of the Rock the Bells tour, held by Guerilla Union, and headlined with Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Other acts included Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, EPMD, Pharoae Monch, Jedi Mind Tricks, Erykah Badu, MF Doom, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, The Coup, Blue Print, Lucky I Am, Living Legends, Felt, Cage, Mr. Lif, Grouch & Eligh, and Hangar 18.
Departure from Sony
Having fulfilled their contractual obligations with Sony Music, Cypress Hill will release an as-yet untitled album through a different record label in 2008.
Recently, it was announced that Cypress Hill will be members of the Kannabis Kartel along with the Kottonmouth Kings and Potluck. Their album will be released on Suburban Noize Records.
STYLE
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Production
One of the band's most striking aspects is B-Real's exaggeratedly high-pitched nasal vocals, which fits and emphasizes the lyrics' concentration on parodied gangster stories.
Sen Dog's lyrics are progressively more violent and tend to involve fewer rhyme schemes compared with B-Real's. In addition, as the style is today, some words are emphasized by adding a background voice to say them, however, Sen Dog's emphases are always more prominent, mostly shouted alongside with the rapping.
The sound and groove of their music, produced by Muggs, is also notable for its influence and stoned aesthetic; with its bass-heavy rhythms and odd sample loops ("Insane in the Brain" is notable for having a horse neigh looped in its chorus), it carries a psychedelic value, which lessened in the later albums.
The band is also known for involving rock instruments in their songs. This has caused the band to sometimes be classified as a rapcore group. In IV, there is Lightning Strikes which doesn't truly use electric guitars, but a synthesized version of it. Skull & Bones has an entire disc using such instruments, labeled Bones. As for their later works, their involvement in rock ended with the album Stoned Raiders (the tracks Trouble (also the first single of the album), Amplified and Catastrophe being the songs).
The band's music is constantly subject to change; while the first album follows a more minimalistic and funky sound, Black Sunday, the successor, has a slightly darker side to it. III (Temples of Boom) and IV are mostly influenced by psychedelic music. The band abandoned that on Skull & Bones and got closer to the modern rap as it is today. Stoned Raiders has a more authentic sound than the rest, and Till Death Do Us Part carries reggae influences.
The band is also known to involve horns in their songs, and often have guitar and horns together in the instrumentals. What's Your Number?, Trouble, Tequila Sunrise, and (Rock) Superstar have become some of the bands most popular songs featuring these elements. Cypress Hill's experimenting in different genres of music even includes reggaeton in their track "Latin Thugs" which features Tego Calderon.
Some fans feel that the band has drifted somewhat from the values of their earlier albums. For example in "Strictly Hip Hop" from Temples of Boom, the band complain about hip hop artists who have an album of hardcore tracks but have one or two pop songs which just so happen to be the singles. Cypress have arguably fallen into this trap with the single "What's You Number?"
The sound contribitions of DJ Muggs seems to be clearly influenced by marijuana consumption. Since one of the effects of a cannabis high is an altered audio sensual perception, the often slow paced and deep bass can be better appreciated. Furthermore, psychedelic sequences underly some parts of certain tracks such as "I Wanna Get High" for example. This is an interesting feature of their music, that had also been used before, especially during the 60's and 70's (e.g. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles).
Lyrics
The lyrics of tracks like "How I Could Just Kill A Man" offer an insight into the cultural expression of social stratification in L.A. at that point in history. Many other songs have cited topics such as police brutality, racial profiling, gang violence and anecdotes about invasion of privacy by police.
Furthermore the celebration of marijuana consumption is what they are often associated with in songs like "I Wanna Get High", "Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk" or "Hits From The Bong", the themes of recreational use of marijuana are prevalent.
Many of their songs also protest the current marijuana laws and voice their opinions on the hypocrisy of drug enforcement institutions.
Their lyrics often reflect the hip hop culture of Los Angeles in their earlier work such as their self-titled album and Black Sunday, which were very influential not only to Latino hip hop of the time but to many other hip hop groups around the world as well.
Throughout their career they have commonly incorporated Spanish into their lyrics as well as slang used by some Latinos in Los Angeles on songs like "Latin Lingo". Their album "Los Grandes Exitos En Espanol" features Spanish translations of many of their hit songs.
Years active 1987 - present.
Pass the Knife
Cypress Hill Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Na-na-na-na-na-naa, na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-naa
Na-na-na-na-na-naa, na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-naa
Na-na-na-na-na-naa, na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-naa
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress (Pow-Pow)
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress
(Na-na-na-na-na-naa, na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-naa)
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress
(Na-na-na-na-na-naa, na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-naa)
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress (Pow-Pow)
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress (Pow-Pow)
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress
Pass the knife, I'ma take your life
Seems I'm on a bad one, every night
More attention to the light
Burning up at the very touch, runaway train
I perform the ritual, take away all the pain
Free you from this life, from my hands I release you
With the end is what you pray for more than women to appease you
Another chapter starts and more darkness fills the ages
And another stage is set for many names upon the pages
I can sing you all the lullaby and nullify the threat to me
Then disappear, no one knows my whereabouts, presently
Blending with the masses, now I'm fitting in society
Hide behind the mask overwhelmed by the anxiety
In the middle of the street, and I got me a pistol
If you wanna see more all I gotta do is swissle
Ah, shit! Now you looking at a bloodbath
But queued motherfucker is the one who had to have that
Hit the floor, better hit the floor, better hit the floor
Better, better, better hit the floor, better hit the floor
Better, better hit the floor, better hit the floor
Better, better, better hit the floor when you hear the sound
Better hit the floor, better hit the floor
Better, better hit the floor, better hit the floor
Better, better hit the floor, better hit the floor
Better hit the floor when you hear the sound
Rolling stone
Everywhere I go I can call it home
I have adapted to the elements to set the tone
Set the bar high, stars in your eyes
Far as I can see, I can see those little scars that you hide
You one of the bad guy
Why this is only the beginning?
'Cause the ghost is in the shadow
And this patience slowly ending
Sweat stripping down my face
As I'm waiting for the moment
When the metals fly blind
There's no chances for atonement
It's my life and I own it
Inside my sleeve and I'm shown it
I have skill to survive
All my life I didn't know that
I'm the one you should look to
If your enemy shook you
I have the skill if you need it
My name don't even compete it
In the middle of the street, and I got me a pistol
If you wanna see more all I gotta do is swissle
Ah, shit!
Now you looking at a bloodbath
But queued motherfucker is the one who had to have that
Hit the floor, better hit the floor, better hit the floor
Better, better, better hit the floor, better hit the floor
Better, better hit the floor, better hit the floor
Better hit the floor when you hear the sound
The song "Pass the Knife" by Cypress Hill is a gritty and intense track that includes lyrics about violence and power. The song begins with a repetitive chant of "na-na-na-na-na-naa," leading into a series of chants of the word "Cypress" and "pow-pow." The chorus then transitions to the lyrics "Pass the knife, I'ma take your life/Seems I'm on a bad one, every night/More attention to the light/Burning up at the very touch, runaway train." These lyrics portray a sense of danger and a lack of control, as the singer seems to be on a destructive path with no end in sight.
As the song continues, the lyrics delve deeper into the singer's mindset, discussing their desire to "free [others] from this life" and their ability to "nullify the threat." The verses also include references to the singer's possession of a pistol and their ability to survive in dangerous situations. The song culminates with a repeated call to "hit the floor" and a sense of impending violence.
Overall, the lyrics to "Pass the Knife" provide a dark and intense glimpse into the mind of someone who is struggling to control their violent impulses and navigate a dangerous world.
Line by Line Meaning
Na-na-na-na-na-naa, na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-naa
Repetitive chanting to create a certain atmosphere
Cypress, Cypress, Cypress, Cypress
Repetitive chanting to establish the artist's identity
Pass the knife, I'ma take your life
Threatening someone's life with a knife
Seems I'm on a bad one, every night
Talking about being on a bad path and experiencing negativity frequently
More attention to the light
Shifting attention to more positive things in life
Burning up at the very touch, runaway train
Being overwhelmed by emotions and feeling out of control
I perform the ritual, take away all the pain
Performing a ritual to relieve oneself from pain and discomfort
Free you from this life, from my hands I release you
Promising to free someone from their current life and let them go
With the end is what you pray for more than women to appease you
Sharing the belief that people may pray for an end to their troubles more than seeking comfort in relationships
Another chapter starts and more darkness fills the ages
Reflecting on life's constant ups and downs and how darkness might surround us often
And another stage is set for many names upon the pages
Expecting more events in life that will have many people involved and leave their mark in history
I can sing you all the lullaby and nullify the threat to me
Soothing someone with a lullaby to calm them down and remove the threat that they pose
Then disappear, no one knows my whereabouts, presently
Vanishing from the location and staying hidden from others
Blending with the masses, now I'm fitting in society
Adapting to one's surroundings and blending in with the crowd
Hide behind the mask overwhelmed by the anxiety
Masking one's true identity and feeling anxious about it
In the middle of the street, and I got me a pistol
Being in a public place with a gun
If you wanna see more all I gotta do is swissle
Indicating that more violence is possible if provoked
Now you looking at a bloodbath
Warning of the violent outcome if provoked
But queued motherfucker is the one who had to have that
Blaming the person who instigated the situation and brought on the violence
Hit the floor, better hit the floor, better hit the floor
Ordering everyone to get down to avoid being hurt
Better, better, better hit the floor, better hit the floor
Adding emphasis to the urgency of the order
Rolling stone
Metaphor for someone who is constantly on the move and can't stay in one place for long
Everywhere I go I can call it home
Feeling comfortable and familiar in any location because of their constant movement
I have adapted to the elements to set the tone
Adapting to different environments and using them to create a certain atmosphere
Set the bar high, stars in your eyes
Having high standards and aspirations that are reflected in one's eyes
Far as I can see, I can see those little scars that you hide
Being observant and noticing the emotional pain that someone tries to keep hidden
You one of the bad guy
Addressing someone as a villain or a bad person
Why this is only the beginning?
Asking why the situation has just started and where it's going to go
'Cause the ghost is in the shadow
Implying that something sinister and unexplained is happening in the background
And this patience slowly ending
Running out of patience and nearing the end of tolerance
Sweat stripping down my face
Feeling the physical effects of anxiety and stress
As I'm waiting for the moment
Anticipating a significant moment in time
When the metals fly blind
When things get chaotic and uncontrollable
There's no chances for atonement
There is no possibility of making amends for one's actions
It's my life and I own it
Asserting control over one's life and taking responsibility for it
Inside my sleeve and I'm shown it
Keeping a secret or a weapon close and ready for use
I have skill to survive
Being confident in one's ability to endure and overcome challenges
All my life I didn't know that
Realizing something new after many years
I'm the one you should look to
Positioning oneself as someone who can be relied upon for guidance or protection
If your enemy shook you
Offering help when someone is attacked or threatened by their enemy
My name don't even compete it
Expressing confidence in one's reputation and name
Writer(s): lawrence muggerud, louis freese, senen reyes
Contributed by Caden M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@jessiewalker6918
Damn this beat is sick, this whole record is a true return to form, I love it, dark and atmospheric
@johnslaw7967
Back to there dark beats!
Long live TEMPLE OF BOOM!
@charlesstevenson3448
That album was the shit. Temples of Boom
@wolfhammer88
Temples of Boom is their best album
@drewm1808
Temples was downright amazing
@oscarvasquez1434
I THINK honestly think this album is BETTER. elephants on acid.
@oscarvasquez1434
🐘s on acid is one of the best albums of all time don't at me bruh
@walkmanwillie6455
Old head just remembered Cypress Hill but hey I'm a 45 year old stoner since 16. This beat is dope as fuck!!
@wcfinest
muggs is easy top5 producers in hiphop. one of the greatest who ever touched a mpc.
@chuydominguez4031
They lost it