For many Cypress Hill fans, the last eight years has been a long, patient wait for new material. Fortunately, the Hip Hop icons have been steadily working in their lab, creating a brand new type of Cypress Hill album that encompasses all the sounds and styles that have made them who they are, and now it finally sees the light of day on Friday, September 28, 2018 with the anticipated release of Elephants on Acid via BMG.
A veteran group, celebrating over thirty years established, Cypress Hill still holds a lot of clout in the Hip Hop world. Having not released an album of new material since 2010’s Rise Up, they steamroll their way back into the stratosphere with a spacey masterpiece. Their ninth overall studio album, Elephants on Acid has all the classic blueprints that one would expect from Cypress Hill – rugged, hypnotic beats, thundering bass, a Southern Californian Latin-vibed album mixed with masterful lyrics from B-Real and Sen Dog.
With DJ Muggs at the helm, Elephants on Acid is his first Cypress Hill production since 2004’s Til Death Do Us Part. An oasis of sound, after a short instrumental intro, the 21-track-interlude mix propels itself into “Band of Gypsies.” Laced with a sweet Hindu-esque instrumentation sample, the track brings the listener right back to the mid ’90s where one could hear Cypress Hill on the radio or see them in heavy rotation on MTV.
Then, with songs such as “Put Em in the Ground,” Cypress Hill, once again, instantly transported their audience back to a time when Hip Hop was in its golden era. Simply put, it is a classic Cypress Hill jam with a 2018 feel. Soaked in the DNA of Cypress Hill, another big standout comes with “Jesus Was a Stoner,” featuring a ruggedly tough beat that has B-Real rhyming about marijuana and he is called the ‘weed messiah.’ After all, what Cypress album is complete without a song about cannabis?
Filled with bold moments, “Falling Down” is another highlight with its fuzzed out bass line and grimy beat we hear B-Real rhyming about how time will get us all and how it waits for nobody. Then, where most albums begin to falter midway through, Cypress Hill seems to gain momentum on Elephants on Acid with cuts such as the instrumental “The 5th Angel,” “Warlord,” and “Crazy” – all songs that epitomize the classic Cypress Hill vibe, lyrical content, and imagery that has made them standouts for over 25 years. The latter, “Crazy,” in general, is a masterpiece about how B-Real is losing his mind one night and how he feels like he is flying on a spaceship headed for disaster. Adding to its potency, Sen Dog’s verse is just as good as B-Real’s, eight MC’s rhyming about how they are losing grips on what is real and fantasy.
Lastly, the culminate song on the album comes with “Stairway to Heaven,” a 5 minute plus Hip Hop gem. Grabbing the listener from the start, it features an eerie tone that is matched with lyrical content which takes you on a journey through B-Real’s mind, touching on topics such as murder and getting to the pearly gates and faced with meeting the victims whose’s lives he took. An absolutely striking trip!
Overall, Elephants on Acid is everything a Cypress Hill fan would want. It has all the beats and samples you would want, great production, great work from DJ Muggs, plus phenomenal lyrics from B-Real and Sen Dog. Bringing you on a journey with each song, Elephants on Acid is just that – a musical trip through the creative masterpiece minds of a group that has been putting out one classic Hip Hop album after another for over 25 years. Eight years is a long time, but it was well worth the wait. That is why CrypticRock gives Elephants on Acid 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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