Cypress Hill – “Dios Bendiga” review

South Gate, California veterans Cypress Hill going full Spanish for their 11th studio LP. Consisting of B-Real & Sen Dog on the mic as well as DJ Muggs on the boards & Eric Bobo on percussion, the quartet would take the west coast by storm a little over 3 decades back off their eponymous debut under Ruffhouse Records in tandem with Columbia Records because of Muggs’ unique production style & their pro-marijuana legalization themes. Other standouts in the group’s discography include Black Sunday, my personal favorite Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom, the criminally underappreciated Cypress Hill IV, Elephants on Acid & the Black Milk-produced Back in Black through MNRK Music Group. Considering they’ve made Spanish songs in the past, Dios Bendiga seemed like a long time coming & the HYBE Corporation getting involved was even more of a shock.

“Wacha Trucha” featuring Alemán begins talking about staying alert & preparing for what’s to come whereas my favorite single “Campeones” reunites with O.G. member Mellow Man Ace so the discussing the new style that the team’s employing. “Rosas Verdes” continues from there talking about having only the greenest roses in their garden while “Run” featuring Poe Leos cautions against getting away from them if they pull up on you.

Coyote teams up with B-Real & Sen Dog on “Sueños” to deliver one of the strongest guest appearances explaining that the days of their dreams are anything but small while “Estamos Listos” ends the 1st half talking about how they always stay ready. “Voló” featuring Sick Jacken kicks off the 2nd leg discussing the war & everyone smoking what they grew up with in the streets leading into “Saca La Bolsita” featuring Trueno talking about there being trouble if someone crosses the line with them.

“No Tengo Miedo” featuring Sick Jacken admits to them not being afraid of death & leaving slowly whenever their time comes while “Barrios Prendidos” featuring La Santa Grifa talks about Mexican bandits turning against neighborhoods. “El Perro Y El Coyote” featuring Guapo pleads for their guardian angels to let them rest & a long live burdening them while the reggae-influenced closing track “Otra” sends off Dios Bendiga talking about their love of smoking weed.

It’s a bit surprising to me that Cypress Hill waited a quarter of a century after the Los Grandes Exitos En Español compilation came out to make their full Spanish debut but as much as I wanna like it, there are some flaws unfortunately. The rapping’s on point from both B-Real & Sen Dog including a majority of the guest appearances, my biggest issue with Dios Bendiga lies more with the production lacking the same consistency Back in Black had earlier this decade.

Score: 3/5

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Serial Killers – “This Thing of Ours” review

The Serial Killers are a west coast supergroup consisting of B-Real, Demrick & Xzibit. Joining forces on Halloween 2013 by dropping an eponymous debut mixtape under Open Bar Entertainment, they would go on to follow it up a couple years later with The Murder Show & followed it up with the Day of the Dead extended play. Their debut album Summer of Sam would come out in the fall of 2020 despite its title getting more political than the trio’s earlier output, reuniting to have Scoop DeVille produce the sophomore effort.

“SK Anthem” sets the tone with this grisly boom bap intro spitting the kind of raps that’ll make you wanna punch someone in the face whereas the title track aggressively talks about the trio building a circle of trust together. “Call the Cops” gives off an old school hardcore vibe dropping bars that’ll make people snitch to the Feds leading into the horn-infused “Fired Up” advising against people trying their luck because each of them being vexed.

Moving on from there, “Levels” talks about improving oneself if anybody’s striving to reach the top just before “Hand Grenade” goes full rap rock so they can end the 1st leg boasting that they can walk through Hellfire & communicate with the dead. “High Energy” continues the 2nd leg of the album talking about life being this much of a trip & time being money while “Anarchy” encourages those listening to start promoting the strength we have instead of that other bullshit.

“Slippin’” nears This Thing of Ours’ conclusion incorporating some strings talking about keeping an eye out for the other side & not letting them catch you fuckin’ up while “By Any Means” speaks of constantly staying more solid than the concrete & representing the west coast. “We’re the Killers” finishes up the album with this ghostly boom bap outro talking about fearing no man & the lyricism of each member proving to be more deadly than fentanyl.

Summer of Sam to me was a lot enjoyable than The Murder Show or Day of the Dead were, but the Serial Killers return a little over halfway through the 2020s with Scoop DeVille behind the boards to make This Thing of Ours the greatest LP of their entire existence. Scoop’s production hits harder top to bottom as opposed to the predecessor having a couple lackluster moments instrumentally & I like that they refrained from having any guest appearances to focus more on their synergies.

Score: 4/5

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Real Psycho – Self-Titled review

Real Psycho is a superduo consisting of Los Angeles, California emcee B-Real as well as Queens, New York emcee/producer Psycho Les. One of whom is notable for being the frontman of Cypress Hill & the other being 1/2 of The Beatnuts. After only collaborating with each other a couple times in the past off songs like “Fuck ‘Em If They Listenin’” & the Robosonic-produced “High Like”, they’re getting together for an official full-length debut album.

After the titular intro, the first song “Doin’ What You Never Did” starts with a jazzy boom bap instrumental talking about never falling off whereas “Laugh 2 Da Bank” hooks up this mind-altering beat for them to talk about puttin’ in the work that they do & eventually cashin’ out. “What We Came to Do” featuring Too $hort unites the trio for them to aptly tear the party up prior to “You Might Know Us” warning your arms will get broken if you touch them.

“Put That Work In” featuring Son Doobie finds all 3 of them linking up for 4 minutes talking about showing y’all how it be done while “Excuse Me” goes for a generally old school vibe to the beat making this joint feel like it was taken straight from a mixtape. “Once in a Lifetime” has a quirkier instrumental talking about how you’ve haven’t seen this freshness previously just before “This Goes Hard” featuring Big Twins & Demrick lets off hardcore lyricism in their own unique styles.

Reaching the conclusion, “Timbos” hooks you Eric Bobo’s signature percussion flexing that he be tiptoeing around in the titular brand of boots while “Lyrical Hammers” embraces a rap rock sound reminding us that they be hanging around henchmen. “Stay Calm” brings a psychedelic boom bap flare suggesting to relax as they spark the bong & “Kitty Kat” for a closer feels underwhelming tackling the theme of sex in an uneventful manner.

For all the hardcore Cypress Hill & Beatnuts fans, I have a pretty good feeling that you’re gonna come away from Real Psycho’s debut with an enjoyable side project from both veterans. Psycho Les hasn’t lost a step with his production game attesting to The Beatnuts being underappreciated behind the boards & his chemistry with B-Real on the mic flows very well during 45 & a half minute experience.

Score: 4/5

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Cypress Hill – “Back in Black” review

This is the 10th full-length album from South Gate’s very own Cypress Hill. Consisting of B-Real & Sen Dog on the mic as well as DJ Muggs on the boards & Eric Bobo on percussion, the quarter would take the west coast by storm a little over 3 decades back off their eponymous full-length debut under Ruffhouse Records in tandem with Columbia Records because of Muggs’ unique production style & their pro-marijuana legalization themes. Other standouts in the group’s discography include Black Sunday, my personal favorite Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom, the criminally underappreciated Cypress Hill IV & even their last one Elephants on Acid. But with the 4 year anniversary of the latter coming up in the fall & since DJ Muggs has been busy fully producing projects for other people ranging from Rome Streetz to more recently Rigz, they’re bringing in Detroit veteran Black Milk to produce Back in Black.

“Takeover” is an energetic opener talking about the return of the group on top of a cloudy boom bap instrumental whereas “Open Ya Mind” goes into a funkier direction celebrating weed being legal in their home-state. Demrick comes into the picture for the groovy “Certified” rightfully bragging about their legacies just before the Dizzy Wright-assisted “Bye Bye” pensively details the warzone that is the hood & the drums are so goddamn dusty.

Meanwhile on “Come with Me”, we have Cypress Hill coming through with a decent homage to the iconic Outlawz joint “Hail Mary” leading into “The Original” taking a funky boom bap route to talk about being OGs in this shit. “Hit ‘Em” finds B-Real & Sen Dog on top of some hi-hats to get anthemic while the song “Break of Dawn” works in a guitar talking about never stopping. The penultimate track “Champion Sound” mixes some elements of trip hop & digital dancehall to declare themselves champs, but then “The Ride” ends the album by jumping on top of a vibraphone & some bongos to tell the story of a crack dealer.

Now for all the fans who weren’t really fucking with Rise Up even though I’d say there are songs I appreciate now as much as I did then, you’re gonna like Back in Black a lot more since I’d say their MNRK Music Group debut could go down as my favorite they’ve done without Muggs’ involvement. In fact, I think it’s one of the best albums that Cypress Hill has put together yet. After all the experimenting that they did on Elephants on Acid, they manage to get one of Detroit’s greatest producers to take them back to their roots & succeeding.

Score: 4/5

Cypress Hill – “Elephants on Acid” review

Cypress Hill is a legendary West Coast hip hop group consisting of MCs B-Real & Sen Dog alongside producer DJ Muggs & percussionist Eric Bobo. Their first 3 albums are widely considered to hip hop classics, but their material since then has been considered average. However, they are returning with their 9th full-length album after an 8 year hiatus.

After the Tusko intro, we go into the first song “Band of Gypsies”. Here, B-Real & Sen are spirting battle bars over a psychedelic beat. The track “Put ‘Em in the Ground” gets murderous over an eerie vocal sample & after the “Satao” interlude, we go into the song “Jesus Was a Stoner”. Here, B-Real makes many references to weed & religion over an instrumental with a haunting atmosphere.

The song “Pass the Knife” returns to the murder bars over an eerie beat & after the “LSD” interlude, we go into the song “Oh Na Na”. Here, B-Real of course talks about getting high over some infectious horns. After the “Holy Mountain” interlude, we go into the song “Locos”. Here, B-Real & Sen deliver street bars over a gritty beat.

The track “Falling Down” confrontationally talks about life over a distorted bass line & after the “Elephant Acid” interlude, the song “Insane OG” pretty much speaks for itself over a apocalyptic beat. However, I wish it was longer than just 84 seconds. “The 5th Angel” is an instrumental interlude that sounds like it could be playing in a trailer for an upcoming horror movie while the track “Warlord” talks about judgement day over a fitting boom bap beat.

The song “Reefer Man” is a sequel to “Dr. Greenthumb” with a tuba-inflicted boom bap beat & after the “Thru the Rabbit Hole” interlude, we go into the song “Crazy”. Here, B-Real & Sen talk about insanity over a trippy beat. The track “Muggs is Dead” is a psychedelic instrumental interlude while the penultimate track “Blood on My Hands” sees B-Real comparing himself to the Grim Reaper over an ominous beat. The closer “Stairway to Heaven” sees B-Real talking about his prediction of the afterlife over a prominent woodwind sample.

From front to back, this was a strong return to form for Cypress. Sure there are WAY too many interludes, but DJ Muggs’ production is just as gritty as the old days & it’s a bit more experimental too. The lyricism is sharper as well. If you wanna hear a fantastic comeback album from one of the greatest West Coast groups ever, PLEASE give this a listen.

Score: 4/5