Cypress Hill - Black Sunday

Black Sunday debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in August 1993 and moved 261,000 copies in its first week, the biggest SoundScan opening any rap group had managed at that point. Their self titled debut was still in the top ten, making Cypress Hill the first hip hop act ever to hold two albums there at once. Not bad for a record that is mostly about weed and paranoia.

DJ Muggs produced almost all of it and the sound is unmistakable: dusty, murky loops built low in the mix, drums that sound like they were recorded in a basement, and a bass end that pushes everything forward. "Insane In The Brain" is the one that broke through to MTV and the frat houses, driven by B-Real's helium sneer and a hook nobody has been able to shake in thirty years. "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That" is faster and angrier, "Cock The Hammer" is the best pure Muggs beat here, and "Hits From The Bong" lifts a Dusty Springfield sample into something genuinely narcotic.

Sen Dog's counterpunch verses give the record its weight, and the whole thing runs a lean forty three minutes. Certified triple platinum and still the entry point for anyone working backwards through West Coast rap.

Standard double LP pressing on 180 gram black vinyl in a gatefold jacket, lacquers cut by Chris Bellman.