Cypress Hill
III Temples Of Boom

THE REVIEW

Dark. Fucking dark. And twisted. This would be enough to describe "III (Temples Of Boom)," the third singular album by Cypress Hill, their masterpiece par excellence, but it definitely deserves a more indicative zoom.

It was 1995, and Hip Hop was not yet a genre for spoiled kids with expensive baggy clothes glued to MTV, there weren't videos with hookers and luxury Cadillacs (or at least in less quantity, just think of the lowriders so appreciated and video-transported by our guys), there wasn't the pathetic Dirty South and Crunk, there weren't stereoids, there weren't "cash & uzi" videos by impromptu pseudo-gangstas who are daddy's boys, there weren't dolls created by thirsty major labels (see 50 cent, the game, kanye, pharrell, lupe fiasco and the strictly lower-case commercial garbage on which this genre now shifts to today, qualitatively DEAD). And continuing on the never-more-true theatrical intro, there wasn't yet the global success of Chubby Timbaland (although he was already active) producing anything and everything, from Mino Reitano to Cristiano Malgioglio passing by Madonna and Justin Timberlake. There weren't even MySpace and YouTube, there weren't 15-year-olds suddenly turned producers, uploading their fruity-loop beats on forums, there weren't iPods, and there weren't P2P networks to steal music and download fakes.

It's necessary to remember how even Cypress, some years later, fell into the commercial trap, first proposing a sort of questionable nu-metal-rap-core (when strong guys like Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Guano Apes were big), later turning to pathetic reggae and exotic sounds (when guys like Sean Paul, Kevin Little, Elephant Man were big), and then again, producing albums with blown-up beats and fast-and-furious synths cranked up (when guys like Ludacris, Lil Jon, Chingy were big), but I won't delve into "things-were-better-when-they-were-worse" speeches, H.H. purity, passion and other rants, even ours like everyone else were interested in the god of money, but there's no doubt that with III they in some ways emerged from certain clichés of the genre and commercial demands.

I like to remember them like this, with "Temples Of Boom," a milestone, a timeless masterpiece, an original journey made into music, a product light years ahead, a work full of unusual experiments and absurd ideas, adjectives abound: crazy, nocturnal, fascinating, obsessive, disturbed, fused, harsh, very hard, at times inhuman, an album that in fact changed the history of Hip Hop, if we want to call it that, because "Temples Of Boom," can be everything and nothing, it’s not just Hip Hop, to be clear, indeed the beat god Lawrence Muggerud (aka Dj Muggs), talented producer of the group, has in fact created from scratch with this album an absolutely new and unique genre, a suggestive "Dark-Hip Hop" which was at times only revisited in the sequel IV of the same Cypress.

Already from the cover, you can have a half idea of the mood of this album, the atmospheres are the darkest and most surreal ever created in the extremely standardized Hip Hop panorama, for being '95 where much of the scene referred to the G-Funk sound, the analog synthesizers from the west coast, in search of the most street beat possible, Muggeroud decided to make a change and look forward. The sound of this record was only partly anticipated by its predecessor "Black Sunday" which featured some similar tracks, but with III it's a whole different story: the settings of III Temples Of Boom are mystical and trippy, almost scary, it's an incredibly insane and very varied album, the group's multi-ethnic nature makes their style even more unusual and unilateral (Mexicans, Cubans, Italian Americans, whites, Latinos, mulattos, percussionists, there's everything in the CH).

So you can move from gothic-lyric samples (!) and the enchanting notes of the beautiful "Stoned Raiders" (an authentic gem of their production and certainly the best track on Temples Of Boom), to the stoned-jam beats of "Throw Your Set In The Air," then shift to tracks of absolute collapse like "Illusions" and the spectacular "Killafornia." There are no shortages of hard and aggressive tracks such as "Locotes" (notable are the percussions by Eric Bobo who helps create a really unique atmosphere), "No Rest For The Wicked" (dissing aimed at Ice Cube) and not least "Killa Hill Niggas'" in collaboration with the valiant RZA and U-God of the Wu-Tang Clan (seriously be careful with the speakers, because the basses of this track are truly E-X-A-G-E-R-A-T-E-D). Also noteworthy are the dreamy and estranging "Boom Biddy Bye Bye" "Funk Freakers" and "Make A Move." At the end, there are the most "Stoned" tracks, particularly the slow "Everybody Must Get Stoned" (a classic omnipresent in Cypress's discography, those who know them well know what sound I'm referring to with this term).

It's worth spending a few words on "Stoned Raiders": it’s the recommended piece a priori, one of the best masterpieces ever produced by Muggs and in general in the Hip Hop scene: almost Horror intro, unsettling choral vocals, powerful beat, very dark bass, mysterious piano notes, and of course the sharp rap of an angrier B-Real than ever. But every track by track leaves the time it finds, this record to be understood must simply be listened to, and, my word, it will be liked even by those who do not love the genre, and (perhaps I'm exaggerating) to the intellectual jazzers or to the growldoomdeathmetallerslagnaaddictedstaymetalleddajeburzumshatters everything who browse around DeBaser.

But in essence, what strikes about this "soenveloping" "III Temples Of Boom"? First of all the concept on which the entire work revolves, for its entire duration it feels like alienating from the outside world, not understanding a damn of what's happening, a mental trip through territories similar to that of the splendid cover (!), and these aren’t review bullshit just to add some scene touch, no, I'm not even high, it's all widely verifiable with careful listening. Secondly, the rap of the great B-Real which with his very particular timbre always provides a substantial contribution (here partner Sen Dog appears much less). Finally, the productions: some stylistic choices are nothing short of ingenious, the beats and bass so powerful you’ll beg for mercy for your poor subwoofers, everything still soaked with that atmosphere so dark and deviant that not even Atrium Carceri locked inside his "Seishinbyouin" in the company of Uzumaki, Kubrick, and Peter Jackson.

After all... is there a reason why over the years I have consumed this record so much that I rendered it unusable twice and had to buy it again as many times?! Or am I perhaps just grumpy by nature? I don't know, what I do know is that I am madly addicted to this great record!

Immortal and absolutely UNMISSABLE.