Reader Review: Psycho Realm - The Psycho Realm (October 28, 1997)

(Almost immediately following his take on Liquid Swords, which I swear I only posted last week, Banksta returns with his write-up for B-Real's other group, Psycho Realm, and their debut album, conveniently titled The Psycho Realm. I'm not personally familiar with this album, so I'll let him take it from here.)

As you may remember from reading my Liquid Swords review, I was a huge Cypress Hill soldier back in the days. I still really like B-Real, even though he thinks 3 multiplied by 4 equals 7, but back in the day I was checking for as much of his work as possible, even from outside of the Cypress Hill confines.

His primary side project was this.

I think some kind of introduction to Psycho Realm is in order. From what I remember, the group was founded by brothers Joaquin (Sick Jacken/Jacken/Uncle Fester) and Gustavo (Mr. Duke/Big Duke/Duke) Gonzalez, and in 1993 B-Real heard their show, which he loved so much that he wanted to join the group. Charming. The three-member group was signed to Sony and released their first album, The Psycho Realm, in 1997, which was chock full of socio-political commentary on the state of the world today, with the three artists leaning toward a darker world view more often than not. I always considered Psycho Realm as the West Coast's Gravediggaz, since they share many common things in their history (if you want to read more about them, check out my first Reader Review for their second album, The Pick, The Sickle And The Shovel, or Max's write-ups). At first, Psycho Realm may look like a spin-off from much more successful group (Cypress Hill, of course), but it's a completely different project. Both groups consist of a star (B-Real here) and his two rhyming partners (Jacken and Duke), with one more guy on production (Eric Bobo was part of the Psycho Ward, a production team consisting of him and Psycho Realm). Lyrically, B-Real forgets about his usual topics (smoking weed, killing hundred people in less than five minutes, smoking weed, chilling in his lowrider, and smoking weed) and assimilates into the new environment very well.

Sadly, just like with Gravediggaz, the most famous guy in the group would leave (Cypress Hill was calling), leaving his two rhyming partners alone, and while they could have continued making more music, one of them would find himself unable to rhyme (Duke was shot in 1999 and was paralyzed from the neck down). (While this tale correlates with what happened with The Rza and the Gravediggaz, at least the second Psycho Realm album didn't turn into a pseudo-Cypress Hill project. Banksta oversimplifies what happened, though: Sick Jacken and Duke were dropped by Sony because of their lyrical content, and B-Real was unable to legally follow them to their new home because he was obligated to Cypress Hill, which is why he only made a few appearances on their follow-up.)

While I found more comparisons with Gravediggaz than anyone deems necessary, and both groups (on their first albums) come off as morbid and demented, Gravediggaz was more of a dark humour, while Psycho Realm are dead serious. Last time I heard this album, it was... huh, I can't remember..

Let's see if it has changed any.

1. PSYCHO CITY BLOCKS / PSYCHO INTERLUDE
B-Real handles only hook duties here, in order to properly introduce Sick Jacken and Mr. Duke. The interlude at the end of this track (a recurring theme on this album) is enjoyable, thanks to the climax and its instrumental. I believe this was a single, which is an understandable choice, because this is probably the only track here that could even fit on a radio station's playlist.

2. SHOWDOWN
B-Real doesn't impress me much on here, but his flow is less high-pitched and nasal than on, say, Black Sunday, which may make him more accessible for a general audience. Duke's lyrics are more complicated that Jacken's, but the latter comes off better, because Gustavo has a horrible delivery, although it is not visible that much on this particular song. Maybe it comes off as a part of his “psycho” image, but the quality suffers. The beat is really good, too.

3. THE BIG PAYBACK
I never cared for it. Not that it's bad by any means: the beat is solid, but nothing special.

4. PREMONITIONS
This is really just a short B-Real solo song. The beat sounds Latin-inspired and sad, and the mixing of the song with interludes works well. Side note: unlike Legend Of The Mask & The Assassin, the DJ Muggs collaborative album with Sick Jacken, every song on The Psycho Realm is performed in English.

5. INTERLUDE / STONE GARDEN / INTERLUDE
This was the first Psycho Realm song I ever paid attention to, and it might have also been the first single. The musical background here is both depressing and magnificent, and Sick Jacken outraps everyone else here, even though he rhymes about dying on the street and smoking weed within the span of four lines. This shit is just awesome.

6. TEMPORARY INSANITY
Conceptually the most “insane” track here, and I like the chorus and B-Real's verse. This review may sound like a lovefest so far, but the quality of The Psycho Realm is really good, and although each beat resides in the same climate, they all manage to sound distinct.

7. DOORS INTRO / CONFESSIONS OF A DRUG ADDICT
This was pretty awesome, too. The vivid imagery on this one is just unbeatable, and everyone does a great job on here. However, I have to state that Duke's spitting still sucks balls.

8. WHO ARE YOU INTERLUDE / BULLETS
This is my favourite interlude on here. The punchlines take this song to another level, but then again, I could say that for every other song on The Psycho Realm.

9. LOVE LETTERS INTRO / LOVE FROM THE SICK SIDE
The beat is decent, and B-Real's verse is not bad, but Mr. Duke completely ruins the whole song , coming off as a guy who never heard of the concept “rhyming to the beat”.

10. R. U. EXPERIENCED / OUTRO
Joaquin sounds impressive, and the message presented here is good. Gustavo still doesn't give a fuck about the simple rules of rap, but the song is good enough to make me forget about him.

11. PSYCLONES
Nice title. This track features a faster-paced beat, one which forces everyone to keep up. Even Duke manages to sound like an actual rapper. Color me impressed.

12. LOST CITIES
Gustavo also doesn't sound that bad over this slow, melancholic beat, which compliments the lyrics perfectly.

13. LA CONECTA INTRO / LA CONECTA (PT 1.)
The two last tracks are a story divided into two parts (and an intro), with Psycho Realm acting as fictional characters. B-Real is the only guy creative enough to give his character a completely different name than his own, as his Sonny kicks off a pretty good track.

14. LA CONECTA (PT. 2) / GOIN' IN CIRCLES OUTRO
And we're out. This was a really good way to end such an album.

FINAL THOUGHTS: The Psycho Realm is very depressing listen. Sick Jacken, Mr. Duke and B-Real spit on such topics as warring between neighborhoods, drug addiction, crime, and death, but without glorifying anything. The production on here is impressive and much more entertaining (if I may call this disc), than some of the work by Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs. You've probably heard of B-Real and already formed an opinion on him, but it's good to hear him rhyming about something other than marijuana, especially since he sounds fully immersed within the crew. Sick Jacken is talented and solid (I strongly recommend Legend of the Mask & the Assassin, as he's stepped his game up tremendously), but for some of you may find yourselves annoyed with him. Some of Mr. Duke's written lyrics are actually really fucking good, but his delivery is horrible, for reasons unknown to me. The Psycho Realm's booklet also contains the lyrics, and I recommend listening to this album while following along with the them, as your experience will be a better one if you understand exactly what's going on. All in all, this album is brilliant, even with Duke's uneven contributions.

BUY OR BURN? This may be blasphemy, but if you had to choose between this album and, say, The Infamous or Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), you should go with this one. Every hip hop fan in the world knows about those two discs, but not everyone is familiar with Psycho Realm. Support real hip hop.

BEST TRACKS: “Stone Garden”; “Confessions Of A Drug Addict”; “R. U. Experienced”; “Temporary Insanity”; “Bullets”; “Lost Cities”; "Bullets"; "La Conecta (Pt. 2)"

- Banksta

(Huh. I may need to track this one down. Be sure to leave your questions, comments, and concerns below, and if you're interested, here is a link to the Cypress Hill reviews I've written thus far. Not truly related to Psycho Realm, I know, but it'll do.)