Golden Era Greats: Cypress Hill

Cypress Hill stands out among the many west coast acts who got on in the era of ‘Gangsta rap.’ Not only did their self-titled debut make a huge splash when it dropped in 1991, but the group has gone on to achieve that rare feat of longevity over the course of a seven-album career that continues to this day. With four platinum and three gold discs to their credit—a total of 20 million albums sold worldwide--they also became the first rap group to earn a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in 2019.

Appearing out of nowhere with the double A-side of “Phunky Feel One/“How I Could Just Kill A Man,” no one could have foreseen such successful trajectory. Their music was dense and layered but funky while B-Real’s unique nasal delivery was not always ingratiating and seemed hard to place. In fact, early on, heads like myself weren’t even sure where they were from since all the group’s videos were shot on the gritty streets of New York. Brooklyn also lay claim to a notorious housing project called Cypress Hill.

But these brothers were representing their ‘hood in L.A.’s Southgate neighborhood, where B-Real (Louis Freeze) and Senen “Sen Dog” Reyes had grown up. Along with Sen’s brother Sergio (aka Mellow Man Ace), they initially started a group called DVX, which lasted until Sergio got a solo deal with Capitol Records. Then, after linking up with Lawrence Muggerud (aka DJ Muggs), formerly of the group 7A3 (composed of himself and fellow transplanted New Yorkers Brett and Sean Bouldin, who had released one record together, Coolin in Cali on Geffen/Warner in1988), they formed a new trio that took the rap world by storm.

Cypress Hill represented a lot of firsts in hip-hop. Not only were they one of the first predominantly Latino groups—with B-Real, a Mexican; Sen, a Cuban; and Muggs of mixed Hispanic and Italian descent—but their biggest claim to fame was openly championing marijuana in an era when the drug was still illegal everywhere. Interlaced with graphic tales of gangbanging were joints like “Ultraviolet Dreams” and “Stoned is the Way of the Walk,” which paid homage to their main inspiration. Meanwhile, “Latin Lingo” distinguished itself as one of the first Spanglish tracks to crossover to the mainstream at the time (Eat your heart out Rico Suave!).

While their Ruffhouse/Columbia album officially debuted in August 1991, the genius marketing campaign was intentionally hazy offering no pictures and little information about the group besides their skull logo with the marijuana leaf. The record was also a slow burner, not really gaining traction until around December of that year. Curiously, interest in the album coincided with the Philly Blunt craze in hip-hop, when people started rolling their weed in the outer, tobacco-leaf wrapper of a cheap dollar cigar brand.

Their first major show in New York at a downtown club called Wetlands was memorable for the sheer amount of marijuana being openly consumed in the club—obviously before the universal smoke-free restrictions went into effect. Not only was this intimate venue packed to the gills with heads trying to catch their first glimpse of Cypress, but practically everyone in the house was partaking in the illegal festivities, slitting open Phillies and littering the floor with their guts. Like a Rastafarian revival, you could barely see the group onstage through the cloud of blunt-smoke and regardless of whether you were puffing or not, everyone felt the effects of the high. In an era before social media, no marketing campaign could have done more to launch a group than word of mouth following that show. The Cheech & Chong of hip-hop had arrived.