29. Black Sunday - Cypress Hill 1993
If N.W.A., Ice - T, Ice Cube and a few select others hadn't taken far enough into the worlds consciousness, then this album blew the proverbial doors, wide open! Cypress Hill, from South Gate, California, are a Cuban-American/Latino outfit, made up of a rappers, B-Real and Sen Dog, DJ/Producer, DJ Muggs and drummer, Eric Bobo. Their self-titled debut was a suprise success, and went double platinum so the pressure was on to follow it up, but they stepped up to the plate and, did even better. 'Black Sunday' continues the groups already well documented fondness for marijuana, with many of of the songs (i.e. 'Hits from the Bong', 'I Wanna Get High' and 'Break 'em Off Some') either being solely about, or making references to the chronic. Again, the distinctive, nasally rapping style of B-Real, dominates proceedings, and gives Cypress Hill, one of their most recognizable characteristics. The other is how stark, and groove-laden their music is. Never straying too far from the same BPM's, they leave the songs to be more about the words, often using strong bass lines and keeping samples to a minimal. Often, this can get tiresome on their other albums, but so profound are the rhymes and beats that it never gets old here. Lead single, 'Insane In The Brain', went top 20 in the US and helped 'Black Sunday' sell a whopping 260,000 copies in its first week of release, in the U.S. alone. No wonder that the slightly right of center, were against this album, for a start, it's inner sleeve had 19 facts and positive attributes of hemp and usage of cannabis. The album gained the band a huge alternative and rock following, and started to find themselves on Rock and Metal concert bills, often stealing the show. It was more likely to see their merchandise on a Nirvana or Pantera fans body, than it was on a typical, black, Hip Hop fan. The band even went on to collaborate with several Hard Rock and Metal artists, and incorporated heavy guitars in some songs on later releases. Critically, the album was very warmly received as a darker sequel to the debut album and even Rolling Stone awarded it's not often dished out 4 out of 5 stars, meaning "Excellent". The album still sounds fresh today as it did back in 1993. A Hip Hop milestone and a 90's classic.