                      CYPRESS HILL

  "Insane In The Brain" is the name of the first single and video clip from
Cypress Hill's new RuffHouse/Columbia album Black Sunday.  It's also a
warning:  that when it comes to the Cypress Hill crew, crazed intensity is
more than skin deep; it's a state of mind and a way of life.


   Cypress Hill - visionary rappers B-Real and Sen Dog, and DJ/Producer Muggs
- are back again and explosive as ever.  The group's self-titled
RuffHouse/Columbia RIAA platinum debut album of 1991 has sold more than 1
million copies to date in the U.S., establishing them as one of the most
popular as well as hardest hitting, musically innovative, hip-hop acts on
the planet Earth.  The Cypress Hill album remained in the upper reaches of
the Billboard's Pop Album chart for over 73 weeks, earning the group the
Billboard Music Award for Best Rap Artist.


   That's a hard act to follow, but B-Real and company remained cool under
pressure.  "When it came to Black Sunday, people asked 'can we top the last
one,' you know?  What we did was take all those questions about making a
follow-up and asked ourselves that shit.


   "With everything that had been going on this year, we felt we should have
made this album months ago, but we were doing a lot of shows and that took
time away from doin' the album.  We were kind of frustrated that we hadn't
started yet, because we were so eager to make this record.  We came up with
a lot of dope shit that we felt topped the last one.  So being that we were
hungry to do it, it brought out the best when we finally got to record.


   "The new album is named Black Sunday because its whole vibe is ominous,"
B-Real continues.  The album was recorded in Muggs' native New York in
early '93.  "We captured a dark feel.  It's kinda like one of those movies
you go to and you just know every time when you think shit is well, shit
always turn on you, you're not ready because you think everything is cool
and nothing's gonna happen.  So we always like to make ourselves ready and
prepare for any kind of turn-around."


   "Insane In The Brain" features a hydraulic bass groove and pounding beat
being strafed by braying screeches - classic Cypress Hill.  "I wrote
'Insane In The Brain' about when people come to our concerts they lose
their mind in the adrenaline of it all.  It's also talking about some of
the people on the street, who are just crazy motherfuckers."


   "When The Ship Goes Down," the B-side to "Insane In The Brain," and second
video, is also cautionary.  Cypress Hill may be stoned, but don't think for
a minute they're sleeping.  The rap is a reminder for everybody out there
to be ready when the going gets rough.  "It's saying, 'don't sleep,'
because if you sleep and let somebody get the drop on you, whether it's in
business, sports, rap, or out on the street fighting, you just gotta be
ready for anything."  Muggs cooks up an ultra-funky mix of scratchy
deep-fried soul guitars and fat bass licks.


   Black Sunday also features "Cock The Hammer," a cut that also appears on
the soundtrack to Arnold Schwartzenegger's "The Last Action Hero."
"Originally we were gonna call that song 'Black Sunday,' but we decided to
call it 'Cock The Hammer' because it's like we're going to put a lyrical
hit on this rapper with a pretty haircut, because he said a couple of
things we didn't like.


   "We're letting certain people know that we're not lettin' shit slide.
It's really not a vendetta, it's just a verbal eye-for-an-eye thing:  you
jack me and I'll jack you back.  'Cock The Hammer' is just saying, 'Yo, I
got my shit ready to respond.  You drew, but I got the drop on you.'" Built
around a shuffling, snare beat and eerie, acoustic bass riff, the song
features guest vocals by Queens-based deejay Poison.  It begins and ends
with the sound of storm, reinforcing the song's dark mood.


   "Ain't Goin' Out Like That" opens with looped feedback, giving way to
saxophone screeches, a jazzy bass figure and crackling drums.  B and Sen's
raps reprise some of the rhymes from the debut album that helped establish
them as the hardest and smartest hip hoppers on the street, promising more
of the same and then some this time around.


   In addition, Black Sunday includes special new, never-commercially
available versions of "A To The K" (the original appeared on the "Juice"
soundtrack) and "Hand On The Glock" (a radical remodeling of "Hand On The
Pump").  In order to make the album more readily available to Cypress'
younger fans, there is a "clean," unstickered version released on CD and
cassette.


*     *     *



   In the beginning, Cypress Hill was completely unknown on the rap scene, a
trio of "locals gettin' paid for their vocals."  When people first heard
the name, they thought this was another crew from Brooklyn.  In fact,
'Cypress Hill' refers to Cypress Street in Southgate, a section of Los
Angeles about five minutes from South Central.  Cypress Hill's three
members have lived in L.A. most of their teenage and adult lives.


   Sen Dog, the 27 year-old lyricist and rapper who supplies the bassy vocal
interjections, was born in Cuba and moved to Southgate at age fourteen.
Sen grew up in a musical family: his great-grandfather was a pianist in
Cuba, grandfather played bass, dad played a number of instruments including
flute, sax, trumpet, and drums, mom is a singer, and Sen Dog has uncles who
are active in bands in Cuba to this day.


   When he was growing up, Sen Dog and his brothers and sisters were stars of
their church choir.  After leaving high school in 1981, Sen started a group
called DVX with his brother, now noted solo rapper Mellow Man Ace.
Together, they pioneered the "Latin Lingo" style, rhyming in "Spanglish" -
alternating lines, phrases and individual words in English and Spanish.
Shortly before the end of DVX, Sen and Ace were joined by a young and
gifted writer named B-Real.


   Now Cypress Hill's lead rapper, 23 year-old B-Real has lived in L.A. all
his life.  He wanted to be a journalist, and in high school spent hours
writing poems and prose.  But he was turned off by school and left before
graduating.  His desire to write, however, led him to pen hip-hop rhymes.
Eventually he hooked up with Sen Dog and another young hip-hopper, a DJ and
producer named Muggs.


   Muggs moved to Southgate from Queens, New York just before starting high
school.  Back in Queens, his interest in break-dancing had led to DJing,
and in tenth grade, he bought his first piece of equipment, a set of
Technic 1200s.  After moving to L.A., Muggs joined the rap group 7A3, with
whom he released an album and contributed a song to the "Colors" movie
soundtrack.  Soon after he left 7A3, Muggs joined Cypress Hill and began
laying down tracks for the group's first album.


   Since the release of Cypress Hill in 1991, DJ Muggs has become one of the
most sought-after producers on the rap scene, having written, produced or
mixed material for House Of Pain, the Beastie Boys, Ice Cube, Yo Yo, Mellow
Man Ace and Funkdoobiest.


   Cypress Hill's first album was one of those rare music industry success
stories.  Released in 1991 with no fanfare, and no expectation of daytime
radio exposure, the album went on to RIAA platinum.  "When we first
started, we knew we weren't going to get radio exposure," said B-Real.  "We
tightened our belts and just did a whole bunch of shows.  Little by little,
after we did show after show, we started picking up on record sales.
Because people didn't have access to us on the radio, the only thing they
could do was come and see us live, or hear our music on college radio --
those were the only people who really had the balls to play us.


   "So when we started doing a lot of shows, it started a chain reaction.  We
did Lollapalooza '92 which exposed us to a whole different audience, fans
of alternative music."  Relentless touring (including an appearance with
Pearl Jam at a massive free concert in Seattle) combined with the support
of "Yo! MTV Raps," "The Box," video and club DJs and urban radio's rap
specialty "mix shows," carried Cypress Hill into the Billboard Pop Albums
chart -- where it actually passed the year and a half mark just a couple of
weeks prior to the release of Black Sunday!


   After completing sessions for Black Sunday, Cypress Hill returned to the
studio in mid-93 to collaborate with Sonic Youth and Pearl Jam,
respectively, on two cuts that appeared on the movie soundtrack of director
Stephen Hopkins' "Judgment Night."


   For all three members of Cypress Hill, the business of being successful
recording artists has become a full-time job since the release of their
debut album.  "It's definitely a little more hectic now, as far as the
business side goes," muses B-Real.  "A lot more phone calls about a bunch
o' shit.  That aspect of it -- it's kind of stressful dealing with the
business side of it, but shit, it's a job, you know.  I love all the other
sides of it, so all that really doesn't matter.


   "As far as being on the street, it's changed," B-Real says.  "I get people
bugging out because I'm around.  I don't mind.  I'm like, "hey, that's
cool."  I'm just buggin' out on how much they're buggin' out on me.  On
that tip, it's kinda like a funny thing.  I trip because I'm just around
them, and I'm watching them trip off me.  It's hard to walk around places
now a little bit more.  It's kinda weird.  But I can hang, I'll take the
time to do the autograph thing.  What makes the group is the people and
when you start treating the people fucked up, that's when the group gets
fucked up.
