Three 65, Day 11
Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill

In honor of today's date (4/20), we're going to take a look at a truly marijuana-influenced album, Cypress Hill's self-titled debut. I was first introduced to the hip-hop group before ever smoking pot, and I didn't know what to make of it at first. The beats sounded odd and distant; the music was a queasy, almost seasick mix of samples and sounds; the vocals are delivered by rapper B Real in a nasal, cartoonish voice. And of course, there's the subject matter, which boils down to two topics: getting high and getting killed.

Of course, when I finally did pick up a blunt, things began to make a lot more sense. Because Cypress Hill, as cartoonish as it seems, perfectly replicates the aural experience of getting high. Just check out the song titles: "Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk"; "Something For The Blunted"; "Light Another." Of course, when they're not getting baked, they're shooting at people: "How I Could Just Kill A Man"; "Hole In The Head"; "Hand On The Pump." (They're also obsessed with a cop named "O'Malley," but we'll just leave that one alone.)

Which would seem like a ridiculously narrow amount of topics for a full-length album, but I'll be damned if Cypress Hill hasn't made a career out of it. Not only did their stoned musings influence Dr. Dre's The Chronic, but they were one of the first hip-hop groups to actively court Alternative Nation, appearing at Lollapalooza and on the Judgment Night soundtrack alongside other acts like Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth.

A review of this album would be amiss without mentioning the group's clever knack for sampling. "Hand On The Pump" samples Gene Chandler's "Duke Of Earl" to great effect, Kool & The Gang are ripped off several times throughout the album, and dialogue from the film Car Wash appears on the track "The Funky Cypress Hill Shit." Cypress Hill would release more popular albums, including Black Sunday (which included their hit "Insane In The Brain"), but for those who want to get blunted - or want the next best thing - their debut is where it's at.