Cypress Hill - III: Temples Of Boom (October 31, 1995)

Although Cypress Hill had already tasted a bit of success with their debut disc, conveniently entitled Cypress Hill, it was Black Sunday that brought them an entirely new level of attention. Their track "Insane In The Brain" opened the field of B-Real and Sen Dog's drug-induced and oft-violent rhymes, and the blunted production work of DJ Muggs, up to the masses, creating a mosh pit anthem for the ages, one that still gets people excited whenever it plays on the radio or in the club.

Cypress Hill's third album, III: Temples Of Boom (which was probably not influenced by the second Indiana Jones flick), was released on Halloween in 1995, and probably provided the soundtrack for many a person who sat at home handing out candy to children. Black Sunday was already a pretty dark album, when you look back on it, but their third effort made Black Sunday sound like a day at fucking Disney World. Muggs twisted his beats into his bleakest images yet, and B-Real and Sen Dog (okay, mostly B-Real) followed suit, and although it's not like their subject matter changed at all (read: they still like to smoke), III: Temples Of Boom still happens to contain some of the best songs the crew would ever record.

III: Temples Of Boom would up selling over one million copies, proving that there was, in fact, still an audience out there that supported acts where only one member of the group was actually maturing as an artist. It's no surprise that DJ Muggs went on to create his first Soul Assassins album after this disc, expanding his horizons by working with a much wider variety of artists. However, it's not like B-Real and Sen Dog sat around twiddling their thumbs, although that may have been an incredibly spiritual experience for them: instead, B-Real linked up with some of his other friends and released an album as the group Psycho Realm, although he had to immediately leave that group because of his day job, and Sen Dog apparently created a punk group called SX-10, although to be honest, I don't believe I've ever heard any of their work.

Neither one of the last couple of sentences have anything to do with III: Temples Of Boom, though. I just felt like actually writing a bit today.

1. SPARK ANOTHER OWL
What could have been a useless rap album intro morphs into an actual song, which automatically makes III: Temples Of Boom seem like a better album than some of these other rap discs out there. Of course, it helps that the song relaxes you and encourages listeners to get as stoned as fucking possible.

2. THROW YOUR SET IN THE AIR
I didn't like this song upon its initial release, but back in 1995, I wouldn't have been able to tell you why. Today, I can: it comes off as a paint-by-numbers Cypress Hill track, specifically engineered to appease the fans that mosh to "Insane In The Brain" but are blissfully unaware of the rest of the Hill's catalog. It's certainly not the worst song they've ever recorded, but there isn't a whole lot of substance here.

3. STONED RAIDERS
I always thought this song was a nice change of pace for Cypress Hill. The Muggs production is relaxing and ethereal (save for the drums, of course), and while the rhymes may be inane (B-Real will never be up for consideration when the best emcees in the game receive their gold watches after retirement), they're not the true focal point anyway.

4. ILLUSIONS
My favorite track on here, by far. When it was released to radio I felt it was kind of ruined, but in its purest form, with the long-ass intro attached, you are thrown into a drugged state of mind. This is possibly the only Cypress cut that has successfully accomplished that feat: for that alone, DJ Muggs deserves a goddamn medal. A remix of this song, produced by A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip, appeared on the 12-inch and CD single to "Illusions", but that version comes nowhere close to the original.

5. KILLA HILL N----S (FEAT THE RZA & U-GOD)
Surprise! I'm a well-documented Wu-Tang stan, and I never liked this song. The effect of having the dude talk all over B-Real's chorus is frustrating, to say the least. Prince Rakeem's beat is blah at best, and worst of all, fucking U-God's on here. (I suppose Rza was unable to shake him at the light.) A major disappointment. I mean, seriously, Cypress Hill seem to be advocates of marijuana use (at least, that's what I understand): where the hell is Method Man???

6. BOOM BIDDY BYE BYE
When compared to this song's remix, which featured labelmates the Fugees, this song is terrible. When you look at it as a standalone product, it's alright, but, once again, there isn't much substance to be found. I had a similar comment about Black Sunday: as a listener, I completely understand that, whenever he's stoned, B-Real likes to violently hurt people, but there's truly more to life, and certainly there's more to rhyme about.

7. NO REST FOR THE WICKED
The first salvo in the case of Cypress Hill v. Ice Cube, which was originally sparked by accusations of song ideas being stolen (specifically, B-Real accused Cube of stealing the concept of the then-unreleased "Throw Your Set In The Air" for his own "Friday", from the Friday soundtrack: now that I think about it, the two songs do share a similar chorus), but was eventually resolved. This song is okay, if only because I tend to like rap songs where the artists specifically call out other artists and talk random shit, but its real contribution to the cause was "King Of The Hill", the song that Cube and Mack 10 responded with on Westside Connection's Bow Down. Now that song is just awesome.

8. MAKE A MOVE
The Pulp Fiction sample runs a bit too long. This song kicked off the second side of the cassette tape version, which I still have somewhere, and to be honest, I could never actually get past this one song: I would listen to side A and then switch out to something else. (Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I had a similar issue with Black Sunday.) This track isn't actually that bad today, but even after listening to it, I can't recall specifics, other than the aforementioned Pulp Fiction lift.

9. KILLAFORNIA
The beat is really fucking good, but B-Real is not even close to being the right fit for the song. Perhaps Muggs should have kept this instrumental in his back pocket, to be used only in case of an emergency, or for one of his collaborative efforts with Gza/Genius, Sick Jacken, or Planet Asia, whichever came first.

10. FUNK FREAKERS
A dull-as-shit track is rendered even more frustrating, as B-Real's final verse fades out prior to the completion of the song. You don't have to be a longtime reader of the blog to know how much that irks me.

11. LOCOTES
Not entirely terrible, as the beat, though relatively simple, works, and the interaction between B-Real and Sen Dog is entertaining, but the track leaves you with an overall empty feeling inside.

12. RED LIGHT VISIONS
I honestly did not remember that the intro to "Illusions" kept popping up throughout the entire album. I thought this song was actually pretty good, although it truly is a godsend that it is incredibly short.

13. STRICTLY HIP HOP
Sadly, for a song with that particular title, this song is boring as shit. From the production down to B-Real's lazy delivery, the track is an overall failure. The only interesting part of the cut is found in one of Sen Dog's multiple meandering monologues, where he claims that "House Of Pain ain't down with us". I can't recall there ever being a beef. Any help, folks?

14. LET IT RAIN
This is actually pretty good. Whenever the Hill abandons their regular programming for some actual hip hop, the crew usually has favorable results. B-Real takes a shot at The Source for good measure, as well. The Muggs beat sounds like some vintage Cypress Hill shit, but sped up and taken to a completely new level.

The following is listed as a CD-only bonus track.

15. EVERYBODY MUST GET STONED
This slow, calm, relaxed, and hunger-inducing song (which shouldn't be surprising, given its title) is to be considered a bonus track for a valid reason: it's kind of really boring. For a song with a similar flavor but a better execution, you should hunt down "Roll It Up, Light It Up, Smoke It Up", Cypress Hill's contribution to the Friday soundtrack, pre-beef with O'Shea.

FINAL THOUGHTS: III: Temples Of Boom represents a progression of the sound that DJ Muggs has been cultivating since the debut disc, and more than a few of the beats on here remain among his best work. However, although some of these songs deserve their eternal place in the crew's catalog, most of III: Temples Of Boom is boring. Obviously, at this point in their career, Cypress Hill (or, more accurately, B-Real, since Sen Dog seems to hardly appear at all) felt that there was no need to switch things up lyrically, as they continue the themes presented on Cypress Hill and Black Sunday. Just like with Black Sunday, though, the first half is much better than the second, which makes for a frustrating listening experience.

BUY OR BURN? Burn this if you must. Cypress Hill has essentially mastered the art of having at least three tracks on each album that hip hop heads must find by any means necessary, but creating full albums is not their strong suit. Follow the guidelines below and be well.

BEST TRACKS: "Illusions"; "Stoned Raiders"; "Spark Another Owl"; "Let It Rain"

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Read up on the other Cypress Hill posts here, and the DJ Muggs-related albums here.