CYPRESS HILL - Rise Up

It's been almost twenty years now since Lawrence Muggerud, aka Dj Muggs, proposed to Louis Freese, aka B-Real, and Senen Reyes, aka Sen Dog, that they use his beats for a concept rooted in their wayward adolescence, lived dangerously on the streets of Cypress Ave, in South Gate, Los Angeles. The hill of cypresses, Cypress Hill, precisely. The birth of one of the longest-running and most fruitful partnerships in the history of classic rap. A sizable chunk of that very history. One of the few collectives to emerge at the crossroads between the golden age and gangsta rap, at the start of the Nineties, still adventurously in the saddle despite splits, bloody East-West feuds, hiatuses for reflection, label crises, changing times and tastes, and various mishaps along the way. Leaving behind, over the years, a unique style — a spicy, high-proof melange of urban funk, Latin gothic and dopamine-fuelled psychedelia — at least three albums, the first three, milestones in the heraldry of this genre, and commercial success as genuine "rap superstars", as the title of one of their most famous tracks puts it, around 18 million copies sold across seven official albums and a few extras.

Albums which, truth be told, have grown sparser and progressively lost their shine over the course of the last decade. They sought new lifeblood in rap-rock, pushing to extremes the crossover intuition of which they had been among the forerunners (the track "The Real Thing" with Pearl Jam on the seminal soundtrack to "Judgement Night", 1992), winking at nu-metal. They released Spanish-language versions of their hits. They sought fresh air in solo projects (nearly all forgettable, aside from a couple of Dj Muggs albums). They inhaled trendier sounds into the fermented, old-school body of their sharp, visionary hip-hop. In short, they tried to come to terms with their "untouchable" status without denying their dip in inspiration and popularity. And they've managed to age with dignity, the way tough groups do, the ones with a strong identity, whatever music they happen to play.

Strength and identity that, fortunately, haven't entirely evaporated in the six years separating the last "'Till Death Do Us Apart" (2004) from the present "Rise Up". The new record, despite a production approach that's a bit too urban, rubbery and polished (and it's easy to see why, given that the producers involved include the likes of Pete Rock, Jim Jonsin and Dj Khalil) which smooths out the most authentic, visceral core of their sound, shows us a group settled into musical horizons that are perhaps a little flat and predictable, but far from lacking in backbone or good songs.

Then again, Dj Muggs (here also executive producer) remains a top-notch musician, and the flow of B-Real and Sen Dog is rock-solid. And when the three of them put their minds to it, they can still craft pieces of fine rap craftsmanship, like the out-of-season but still tasty g-funk of "Armed And Dangerous", the old-school-reloaded "Light It Up", the stylized, psychedelic Caribbean moves of "Pass The Dutch", the anthemic fanfare of "K.u.s.h.", yet another weed-legalization hymn that certainly doesn't match "Dr. Green Thumb" or "Hits From The Bong", but is good fun all the same (especially when B-Real, half-jokingly, reveals the names of the celebrity supporters of the "noble cause", including Bruce Willis and "Halle Berry too, but don't tell no one"). As for the rest, there's rock-solid gangsta stuff ("Get It Anyway"), slick easy-listening numbers ("It Ain't Nothing" and "Bang Bang"), bombastic ethnic cheesiness ("Armada Latina") and a sizeable crew of featured guests fuelling the inevitable rap-rock component (Tom Morello chews over his classic riffs on "Rise Up" and "Shut' em Down", Mike Shinoda of Linkin' Park on the melancholy "Carry Me Away", Daron Malakian, ex-SOAD, on "Trouble Seeker" and old pirate Everlast, who sings on "Take My Pain").

In the elephant graveyard of contemporary rap, the good old cypresses are still standing and, all things considered, still green.

Ride the wave of great music

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02/05/2010