The Smarks Hip Hop Album of the Week Club

[Jimmy King]

I’m a big fan of Lupe ever since the first time I heard Food & Liquor, and The Cool. Lasers is another one of his albums I like a lot.

This one is one I hadn’t heard before but I really dug it and vibed with it. It’s got a bit of different sound from his other works but I liked it a lot and it’s something I could see myself going back to. Like Booty, I don’t know what else to say really and put it eloquently like Hoss does with his reviews but yeah I dug this one a lot.

 

[Professor Booty]

Been a few days so I’ll throw this one out there. Gonna go classic here with the debut of Cypress Hill. Their second album was their breakout with Insane in the Brain but this is for me their best album.

 

[Tommy MBE]

If you want someone who's on the rise amd done it without any big label finance. Check out Ren.

His Album is Called Sick Boi. Man's a genius and deserves his flowers. Can do it all Sing, Rap, Play own instruments, makes own music. His rawness is something I've never heard since the first first Slim Shady Lp and that's it with the comparison with Eminem.

 

[Hosferatu]

Aight so I just checked out Cypress Hill's self-titled album. Of course, very familiar with Cypress Hill and a pretty big fan. They're easily some of the recognizable counterculture icons of the 90s and it's quite apparent from their music why they were so successful during such an edgy time. On this album, almost every song has something to do with smoking weed and/or putting cops on blast, as is their usual approach.

The only songs I knew from this album already were How I Can Just Kill A Man and Hand On The Pump which honestly are probably my favorite Cypress Hill songs already. Not a whole lot of notable things to say about the album that won't be apparent to anyone who's heard Cypress Hill. It's a very Cypress Hill album, no songs sounding out of place or breaking from their usual vibe.

As for singling out particular songs, Real Estate was very infectious and my favorite song that I hadn't heard before. The production on Psycobetabuckdown was the most interesting by far. Had to see who was behind the production and it was still DJ Muggs, but I guess the particular Parliament sample gave it a very unique vibe to the rest of the album. Something For The Blunted I also loved, even if it was just an interlude. It samples the same Curtis Mayfield track that UGK sampled on Pinky Ring.



All in all, though I don't have too many specifics to say about this album, it's definitely the album that I would be most likely to listen to on my own time out of all the albums recommended so far. I'd probably go with like a 7.5 for the grade.

 

[Professor Booty]

Yeah Real Estate is probably my favorite Cypress Hill song tbh

 

[Jimmy King]

I was familiar with How I Could Just Kill A Man from GTA San Andreas. I had never heard anything else from here and this is where they started their signature sound. This is classic Cypress Hill and if you go in on this for the first time while having heard their later stuff you’re pretty much getting what you’d expect from them. Not that it’s a bad thing either, and it’s a super solid first effort from them.