Hip Hop Hump Days #6: Cypress Hill – Black Sunday (1993)

There aren’t many jobs where you can get away with being completely baked half the time, but Cypress Hill have pretty much built an entire career around their horticultural tendencies.

Considering they were probably smoking the equivalent of an average-sized garden centre on a daily basis, one of the most incredible things about Cypress Hill was that they managed to find their way to the studio in the first place, let alone make a record that would go down as one of the great classic hip hop albums of all time.

While the Californian group’s eponymous 1991 debut was highly acclaimed in its own right, it was 1993 follow-up ‘Black Sunday’ which would see them emerging from the haze into the big time, all bleary-eyed and craving Pringles… lots and lots and LOTS of Pringles, damn it.

‘Black Sunday’ is an intriguing proposition, combining high-pitched cartoon-style vocal delivery with eerie, slowed down bass-heavy grooves reminiscent of a particularly unsettling horror film score. Add to this the heavy metal imagery of the album artwork and the title itself (a nod to Black Sabbath, who are even sampled on ‘I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That’) and you’ve got a record that’s both dark and humorous in equal measure.

As with the first album, ‘Black Sunday’ well and truly wears its stoned heart on its sleeve, setting the tone with opener ‘I Wanna Get High’, plus ‘Legalize It’ and the excellent, Dusty Springfield-sampling ‘Hits From The Bong’ which is about as subtle as an empty packet of king skins on top of a pile of nightclub flyers torn up to make roaches.

And if the group’s stance on the whole debate still isn’t clear enough then they’ve thoughtfully also included 19 facts about their good friend Mary Jane in the sleeve notes. Not sure why they didn’t round it up to 20 – they were probably all too busy laughing at the way a towel was hanging or something.

Anyway, if you’ve heard ‘Black Sunday’ then you don’t need me to tell you why it’s worthy of classic status – and if you haven’t, then it’s never too late to partake. Just make sure you have a takeaway menu handy. Thank me later.