Cypress Hill is an American hip-hop group from South Gate, California. Cypr… Read Full Bio ↴Cypress Hill is an American hip-hop group from South Gate, California. Cypress Hill was the first latino group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums and one of the first rap groups to gain a following with fans of hard rock and metal. The band was originally called DVX, but the name was changed after Mellow Man Ace left in 1988.
Their first album, which was self-titled, was released in August 1991. Its single was "Phuncky Feel One", but it was the B-side "How I Could Just Kill A Man" (formerly "Trigga Happy Nigga") that attracted more airplay on urban radio and college radio. Based on the success of the single and other tracks such as bilingual track "Latin Lingo" and X-rated Spanish track "Tres Equis", the album sold two million copies in the US alone. Subsequently, DJ Muggs produced the first House of Pain album, then worked on other projects like Funkdoobiest. The band made their first appearance at Lollapalooza on the side stage in 1992.
Black Sunday, the group's second album, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 1993, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group up until that time. Also with their debut still on the charts they became the first rap artists to have 2 albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 at the same time. With "Insane in the Brain" becoming a crossover hit, the album went triple platinum in the U.S. and sold about 3.25 million copies.
Cypress Hill was banned from Saturday Night Live after Muggs smoked cannabis on-air and the band trashed their instruments while playing their second single "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That". The band headlined the "Soul Assassins" tour with House of Pain and Funkdoobiest as support, then performed on a college tour with Rage Against the Machine and Seven Year Bitch. In 1993, Cypress Hill also had two tracks on the Judgment Night soundtrack, teamed up with Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth.
The band played at the 1994 Woodstock Festival introducing their new member Eric Bobo, formerly a percussionist with the Beastie Boys. Bobo is the son of salsa musician Willie Bobo. Rolling Stone magazine named the band as the best rap group in their music awards voted by critics and readers. Cypress Hill played at Lollapalooza for two successive years, topping the bill in 1995. They appeared on the The Simpsons episode "Homerpalooza".
Their third album Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom was released in 1995 selling 1.5 million copies and reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the hit single "Throw Your Set in the Air". Cypress Hill also contributed a track "I Wanna Get High" to the High Times sponsored Hempilation album to support NORML.
Feud With Ice Cube
Ice Cube asked to put "Throw Your Set in the Air" on his Friday soundtrack, but B-Real refused, prompting Cube to record a new song "Friday" with a similar chorus; Cypress Hill responded with the track "No Rest For The Wicked." Westside Connection replied with the diss track "King Of The Hill" and "Cross Em Out & Put a K", to which Cypress Hill replied with "Ice Cube Killa," which uses the same beat as "King Of The Hill" and disses Ice Cube and Mack 10. "Ice Cube Killa" has never been released officially. In 1997 B-Real of Cypress Hill and Ice Cube were invited to a late night talk show in order to reconcile their differences for the benefit of the hip hop community, and the feud thus ended. Cube And B-Real would work together later that year as guest features on the track "Men of Steel" for the soundtrack of Shaquille O'Neal's film Steel. B-Real and Cube did even feature as guests in Warren G's single "Get U Down" which also featured Snoop Dogg.
Continued career
Sen Dog took a break from the band to form a Los Angeles based punk-rap band SX-10. Meanwhile in 1996, Cypress Hill appeared on the first 'Smokin' Grooves' tour, featuring Ziggy Marley, The Fugees, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest. The band also released a nine track EP Unreleased and Revamped with rare mixes. In 1997, band members focused on their solo careers. Muggs released Muggs Presents ... the Soul Assassins featuring contributions from Wu-Tang Clan members, Dr. Dre, KRS-One, Wyclef Jean and Mobb Deep. B-Real appeared with Busta Rhymes, Coolio, LL Cool J and Method Man on "Hit Em High" from the multi-platinum Space Jam Soundtrack. He also appeared with RBX, Nas and KRS-One on "East Coast Killer, West Coast Killer" on Dr. Dre's Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath album, and released an album entitled "The Psycho Realm" from his side project of the same name. Though the focus that year was not on Cypress Hill, the band played Smokin' Grooves with George Clinton and Erykah Badu.
Cypress Hill released IV in 1998 which went gold in the U.S., even though the reviews were somewhat negative,[citation needed] on the backs of hit singles "Tequila Sunrise" and another tribute to smoking cannabis "Dr. Greenthumb." Sen Dog also released the Get Wood sampler as part of SX-10 on the label Flip. In 1999, Cypress Hill helped with the PC crime/very mature video game Kingpin: Life of Crime. Three of their songs from the 1998 IV album were in the game ( "16 Men Till There's No Men Left", "Checkmate" and "Lightning Strikes"). B-Real also did some of the voices of the people in the game. Also in 1999, the band released a greatest-hits album in Spanish, Los grandes éxitos en español. Cypress Hill then fused genres with their two-disc release, Skull & Bones, in 2000. The first disc, "Skull" was comprised of rap tracks while "Bones" explored further the group's forays into rock. The album reached the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 in Canada. The first single was "Rock Superstar" for rock radio and "Rap Superstar" for urban radio. The band also released Live at the Fillmore, a concert disc recorded at the Fillmore (in San Fransico) in 2000. Cypress Hill continued their experimentation with rock on the Stoned Raiders album in 2001. However, its sales were a disappointment, as the disc did not even reach the top 50 of the U.S. album charts. In 2001, the group appeared in the film How High.
Cypress Hill recorded "Just Another Victim" for the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a theme song for Tazz. At the time, WWE was using original music for almost all of the wrestlers, so this was an unusual step for the company to take, but it remains one of the more memorable songs to emerge from the wrestling organization. The band released Till Death Do Us Part on March 23, 2004. The album saw the band experiment with reggae especially on the lead single "What's Your Number". The track features Tim Armstrong of Rancid on guitar and Rob Aston of The Transplants on backup vocals. It is based on the classic song "Guns of Brixton" on The Clash's London Calling and has proven to be a success on the modern rock charts. However, the album represented a further departure from the signature sound of their first four albums. The album also features appearances by Damian Marley, son of Bob Marley, Prodigy and Twin of Mobb Deep and producer the Alchemist.
In 2004, the song How I Could Just Kill A Man was included in the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto San Andreas created by Rockstar Games, playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos. In December of 2005 a best of compilation album titled Greatest Hits From the Bong was released including 9 hits from previous albums and 2 new tracks. The group's next album was tentatively scheduled for an early 2007 release. In the summer of 2006, B-Real appeared on Snoop Dogg's single "Vato". Pharrell Williams produced the track, and originally sang the hook, but because of the video idea, B-Real was asked to sing the hook. Sen Dog is now currently touring with the Kottonmouth Kings, Kingspade and Dogboy on the Joint is on Fire Tour
In 2007 Cypress Hill toured with their full line up as a part of the Rock the Bells tour, held by Guerilla Union, and headlined with Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Other acts included Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, EPMD, Pharoae Monch, Jedi Mind Tricks, Erykah Badu, MF Doom, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, The Coup, Blue Print, Lucky I Am, Living Legends, Felt, Cage, Mr. Lif, Grouch & Eligh, and Hangar 18.
Departure from Sony
Having fulfilled their contractual obligations with Sony Music, Cypress Hill will release an as-yet untitled album through a different record label in 2008.
Recently, it was announced that Cypress Hill will be members of the Kannabis Kartel along with the Kottonmouth Kings and Potluck. Their album will be released on Suburban Noize Records.
STYLE
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Production
One of the band's most striking aspects is B-Real's exaggeratedly high-pitched nasal vocals, which fits and emphasizes the lyrics' concentration on parodied gangster stories.
Sen Dog's lyrics are progressively more violent and tend to involve fewer rhyme schemes compared with B-Real's. In addition, as the style is today, some words are emphasized by adding a background voice to say them, however, Sen Dog's emphases are always more prominent, mostly shouted alongside with the rapping.
The sound and groove of their music, produced by Muggs, is also notable for its influence and stoned aesthetic; with its bass-heavy rhythms and odd sample loops ("Insane in the Brain" is notable for having a horse neigh looped in its chorus), it carries a psychedelic value, which lessened in the later albums.
The band is also known for involving rock instruments in their songs. This has caused the band to sometimes be classified as a rapcore group. In IV, there is Lightning Strikes which doesn't truly use electric guitars, but a synthesized version of it. Skull & Bones has an entire disc using such instruments, labeled Bones. As for their later works, their involvement in rock ended with the album Stoned Raiders (the tracks Trouble (also the first single of the album), Amplified and Catastrophe being the songs).
The band's music is constantly subject to change; while the first album follows a more minimalistic and funky sound, Black Sunday, the successor, has a slightly darker side to it. III (Temples of Boom) and IV are mostly influenced by psychedelic music. The band abandoned that on Skull & Bones and got closer to the modern rap as it is today. Stoned Raiders has a more authentic sound than the rest, and Till Death Do Us Part carries reggae influences.
The band is also known to involve horns in their songs, and often have guitar and horns together in the instrumentals. What's Your Number?, Trouble, Tequila Sunrise, and (Rock) Superstar have become some of the bands most popular songs featuring these elements. Cypress Hill's experimenting in different genres of music even includes reggaeton in their track "Latin Thugs" which features Tego Calderon.
Some fans feel that the band has drifted somewhat from the values of their earlier albums. For example in "Strictly Hip Hop" from Temples of Boom, the band complain about hip hop artists who have an album of hardcore tracks but have one or two pop songs which just so happen to be the singles. Cypress have arguably fallen into this trap with the single "What's You Number?"
The sound contribitions of DJ Muggs seems to be clearly influenced by marijuana consumption. Since one of the effects of a cannabis high is an altered audio sensual perception, the often slow paced and deep bass can be better appreciated. Furthermore, psychedelic sequences underly some parts of certain tracks such as "I Wanna Get High" for example. This is an interesting feature of their music, that had also been used before, especially during the 60's and 70's (e.g. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles).
Lyrics
The lyrics of tracks like "How I Could Just Kill A Man" offer an insight into the cultural expression of social stratification in L.A. at that point in history. Many other songs have cited topics such as police brutality, racial profiling, gang violence and anecdotes about invasion of privacy by police.
Furthermore the celebration of marijuana consumption is what they are often associated with in songs like "I Wanna Get High", "Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk" or "Hits From The Bong", the themes of recreational use of marijuana are prevalent.
Many of their songs also protest the current marijuana laws and voice their opinions on the hypocrisy of drug enforcement institutions.
Their lyrics often reflect the hip hop culture of Los Angeles in their earlier work such as their self-titled album and Black Sunday, which were very influential not only to Latino hip hop of the time but to many other hip hop groups around the world as well.
Throughout their career they have commonly incorporated Spanish into their lyrics as well as slang used by some Latinos in Los Angeles on songs like "Latin Lingo". Their album "Los Grandes Exitos En Espanol" features Spanish translations of many of their hit songs.
Years active 1987 - present.
Their first album, which was self-titled, was released in August 1991. Its single was "Phuncky Feel One", but it was the B-side "How I Could Just Kill A Man" (formerly "Trigga Happy Nigga") that attracted more airplay on urban radio and college radio. Based on the success of the single and other tracks such as bilingual track "Latin Lingo" and X-rated Spanish track "Tres Equis", the album sold two million copies in the US alone. Subsequently, DJ Muggs produced the first House of Pain album, then worked on other projects like Funkdoobiest. The band made their first appearance at Lollapalooza on the side stage in 1992.
Black Sunday, the group's second album, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 1993, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group up until that time. Also with their debut still on the charts they became the first rap artists to have 2 albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 at the same time. With "Insane in the Brain" becoming a crossover hit, the album went triple platinum in the U.S. and sold about 3.25 million copies.
Cypress Hill was banned from Saturday Night Live after Muggs smoked cannabis on-air and the band trashed their instruments while playing their second single "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That". The band headlined the "Soul Assassins" tour with House of Pain and Funkdoobiest as support, then performed on a college tour with Rage Against the Machine and Seven Year Bitch. In 1993, Cypress Hill also had two tracks on the Judgment Night soundtrack, teamed up with Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth.
The band played at the 1994 Woodstock Festival introducing their new member Eric Bobo, formerly a percussionist with the Beastie Boys. Bobo is the son of salsa musician Willie Bobo. Rolling Stone magazine named the band as the best rap group in their music awards voted by critics and readers. Cypress Hill played at Lollapalooza for two successive years, topping the bill in 1995. They appeared on the The Simpsons episode "Homerpalooza".
Their third album Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom was released in 1995 selling 1.5 million copies and reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the hit single "Throw Your Set in the Air". Cypress Hill also contributed a track "I Wanna Get High" to the High Times sponsored Hempilation album to support NORML.
Feud With Ice Cube
Ice Cube asked to put "Throw Your Set in the Air" on his Friday soundtrack, but B-Real refused, prompting Cube to record a new song "Friday" with a similar chorus; Cypress Hill responded with the track "No Rest For The Wicked." Westside Connection replied with the diss track "King Of The Hill" and "Cross Em Out & Put a K", to which Cypress Hill replied with "Ice Cube Killa," which uses the same beat as "King Of The Hill" and disses Ice Cube and Mack 10. "Ice Cube Killa" has never been released officially. In 1997 B-Real of Cypress Hill and Ice Cube were invited to a late night talk show in order to reconcile their differences for the benefit of the hip hop community, and the feud thus ended. Cube And B-Real would work together later that year as guest features on the track "Men of Steel" for the soundtrack of Shaquille O'Neal's film Steel. B-Real and Cube did even feature as guests in Warren G's single "Get U Down" which also featured Snoop Dogg.
Continued career
Sen Dog took a break from the band to form a Los Angeles based punk-rap band SX-10. Meanwhile in 1996, Cypress Hill appeared on the first 'Smokin' Grooves' tour, featuring Ziggy Marley, The Fugees, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest. The band also released a nine track EP Unreleased and Revamped with rare mixes. In 1997, band members focused on their solo careers. Muggs released Muggs Presents ... the Soul Assassins featuring contributions from Wu-Tang Clan members, Dr. Dre, KRS-One, Wyclef Jean and Mobb Deep. B-Real appeared with Busta Rhymes, Coolio, LL Cool J and Method Man on "Hit Em High" from the multi-platinum Space Jam Soundtrack. He also appeared with RBX, Nas and KRS-One on "East Coast Killer, West Coast Killer" on Dr. Dre's Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath album, and released an album entitled "The Psycho Realm" from his side project of the same name. Though the focus that year was not on Cypress Hill, the band played Smokin' Grooves with George Clinton and Erykah Badu.
Cypress Hill released IV in 1998 which went gold in the U.S., even though the reviews were somewhat negative,[citation needed] on the backs of hit singles "Tequila Sunrise" and another tribute to smoking cannabis "Dr. Greenthumb." Sen Dog also released the Get Wood sampler as part of SX-10 on the label Flip. In 1999, Cypress Hill helped with the PC crime/very mature video game Kingpin: Life of Crime. Three of their songs from the 1998 IV album were in the game ( "16 Men Till There's No Men Left", "Checkmate" and "Lightning Strikes"). B-Real also did some of the voices of the people in the game. Also in 1999, the band released a greatest-hits album in Spanish, Los grandes éxitos en español. Cypress Hill then fused genres with their two-disc release, Skull & Bones, in 2000. The first disc, "Skull" was comprised of rap tracks while "Bones" explored further the group's forays into rock. The album reached the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 in Canada. The first single was "Rock Superstar" for rock radio and "Rap Superstar" for urban radio. The band also released Live at the Fillmore, a concert disc recorded at the Fillmore (in San Fransico) in 2000. Cypress Hill continued their experimentation with rock on the Stoned Raiders album in 2001. However, its sales were a disappointment, as the disc did not even reach the top 50 of the U.S. album charts. In 2001, the group appeared in the film How High.
Cypress Hill recorded "Just Another Victim" for the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a theme song for Tazz. At the time, WWE was using original music for almost all of the wrestlers, so this was an unusual step for the company to take, but it remains one of the more memorable songs to emerge from the wrestling organization. The band released Till Death Do Us Part on March 23, 2004. The album saw the band experiment with reggae especially on the lead single "What's Your Number". The track features Tim Armstrong of Rancid on guitar and Rob Aston of The Transplants on backup vocals. It is based on the classic song "Guns of Brixton" on The Clash's London Calling and has proven to be a success on the modern rock charts. However, the album represented a further departure from the signature sound of their first four albums. The album also features appearances by Damian Marley, son of Bob Marley, Prodigy and Twin of Mobb Deep and producer the Alchemist.
In 2004, the song How I Could Just Kill A Man was included in the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto San Andreas created by Rockstar Games, playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos. In December of 2005 a best of compilation album titled Greatest Hits From the Bong was released including 9 hits from previous albums and 2 new tracks. The group's next album was tentatively scheduled for an early 2007 release. In the summer of 2006, B-Real appeared on Snoop Dogg's single "Vato". Pharrell Williams produced the track, and originally sang the hook, but because of the video idea, B-Real was asked to sing the hook. Sen Dog is now currently touring with the Kottonmouth Kings, Kingspade and Dogboy on the Joint is on Fire Tour
In 2007 Cypress Hill toured with their full line up as a part of the Rock the Bells tour, held by Guerilla Union, and headlined with Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Other acts included Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, EPMD, Pharoae Monch, Jedi Mind Tricks, Erykah Badu, MF Doom, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, The Coup, Blue Print, Lucky I Am, Living Legends, Felt, Cage, Mr. Lif, Grouch & Eligh, and Hangar 18.
Departure from Sony
Having fulfilled their contractual obligations with Sony Music, Cypress Hill will release an as-yet untitled album through a different record label in 2008.
Recently, it was announced that Cypress Hill will be members of the Kannabis Kartel along with the Kottonmouth Kings and Potluck. Their album will be released on Suburban Noize Records.
STYLE
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Production
One of the band's most striking aspects is B-Real's exaggeratedly high-pitched nasal vocals, which fits and emphasizes the lyrics' concentration on parodied gangster stories.
Sen Dog's lyrics are progressively more violent and tend to involve fewer rhyme schemes compared with B-Real's. In addition, as the style is today, some words are emphasized by adding a background voice to say them, however, Sen Dog's emphases are always more prominent, mostly shouted alongside with the rapping.
The sound and groove of their music, produced by Muggs, is also notable for its influence and stoned aesthetic; with its bass-heavy rhythms and odd sample loops ("Insane in the Brain" is notable for having a horse neigh looped in its chorus), it carries a psychedelic value, which lessened in the later albums.
The band is also known for involving rock instruments in their songs. This has caused the band to sometimes be classified as a rapcore group. In IV, there is Lightning Strikes which doesn't truly use electric guitars, but a synthesized version of it. Skull & Bones has an entire disc using such instruments, labeled Bones. As for their later works, their involvement in rock ended with the album Stoned Raiders (the tracks Trouble (also the first single of the album), Amplified and Catastrophe being the songs).
The band's music is constantly subject to change; while the first album follows a more minimalistic and funky sound, Black Sunday, the successor, has a slightly darker side to it. III (Temples of Boom) and IV are mostly influenced by psychedelic music. The band abandoned that on Skull & Bones and got closer to the modern rap as it is today. Stoned Raiders has a more authentic sound than the rest, and Till Death Do Us Part carries reggae influences.
The band is also known to involve horns in their songs, and often have guitar and horns together in the instrumentals. What's Your Number?, Trouble, Tequila Sunrise, and (Rock) Superstar have become some of the bands most popular songs featuring these elements. Cypress Hill's experimenting in different genres of music even includes reggaeton in their track "Latin Thugs" which features Tego Calderon.
Some fans feel that the band has drifted somewhat from the values of their earlier albums. For example in "Strictly Hip Hop" from Temples of Boom, the band complain about hip hop artists who have an album of hardcore tracks but have one or two pop songs which just so happen to be the singles. Cypress have arguably fallen into this trap with the single "What's You Number?"
The sound contribitions of DJ Muggs seems to be clearly influenced by marijuana consumption. Since one of the effects of a cannabis high is an altered audio sensual perception, the often slow paced and deep bass can be better appreciated. Furthermore, psychedelic sequences underly some parts of certain tracks such as "I Wanna Get High" for example. This is an interesting feature of their music, that had also been used before, especially during the 60's and 70's (e.g. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles).
Lyrics
The lyrics of tracks like "How I Could Just Kill A Man" offer an insight into the cultural expression of social stratification in L.A. at that point in history. Many other songs have cited topics such as police brutality, racial profiling, gang violence and anecdotes about invasion of privacy by police.
Furthermore the celebration of marijuana consumption is what they are often associated with in songs like "I Wanna Get High", "Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk" or "Hits From The Bong", the themes of recreational use of marijuana are prevalent.
Many of their songs also protest the current marijuana laws and voice their opinions on the hypocrisy of drug enforcement institutions.
Their lyrics often reflect the hip hop culture of Los Angeles in their earlier work such as their self-titled album and Black Sunday, which were very influential not only to Latino hip hop of the time but to many other hip hop groups around the world as well.
Throughout their career they have commonly incorporated Spanish into their lyrics as well as slang used by some Latinos in Los Angeles on songs like "Latin Lingo". Their album "Los Grandes Exitos En Espanol" features Spanish translations of many of their hit songs.
Years active 1987 - present.
Superstar
Cypress Hill Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Most people don't see how much work is really involved
In this rap shit
I didn't know it
I didn't see it
I never saw it until I was actually in it
You really gotta be in it
To understand what its like
But you always gotta
People always gotta see your smile
You always gotta put on that fake
You know what I'm saying
No matter what you just been through
So you want to be a rap superstar
And live large a big house
5 cars, you're in charge
Comin up in the world
Don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
I remember the days when I was a young kid growing up
Looking in the mirror dreaming about blowing up
To rock crowds make money
Chill wit the honies
Sign autographs and whatever the people want from me
Shits funny
How impossible cream manifest in the games that be coming with it
Never the less you gotta go for the gusto
But you don't know about the blood sweat and tears
And losing some of your peers
And losing some of your self
Music has past gone by
Hopefully you don't manifest for the wrong guy
Egomaniac in the brainiac
Don't know how to act
Shits deep
48 tracks
Studio gangsta mack
Sign a deal emcees want to make a mill
But never will
Till he crosses over still
Feeling no hate
But fantasies come wit these
Just to sacrifice the taste of makin cheese
You want to be a rap superstar in the biz
And take shit from people who don't know what it is
I wish it was all fun and games
But the price of fame is high
And some can't pay to play
Trapped in what you rapping about
Tell me what happened when you lost clout
The rout you took started collapsing
No fans
No fame
No respect
No change
No women
And everyone shits on your name
So you want to be a rap superstar
And live large
A big house
5 cars
The rent charged
Coming up in the world don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
To be a rap superstar
And live large
A big house
5 cars
The rent charged
Coming up in the world don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
When you sign to a record label
You don't know you sign your life over
And these whiteboys don't care about you
'cause the minute you fall off
They'll find another Noreaga
And they'll find another Capone-n-Noreaga
And they'll find another be -Real
So you need to just keep
Stack your chips up
Do what you gotta do while your hot
And motherfucking get out the game
Stick to the drug game
And the drug game is even worse
Because if someone jerks you
You can shoot em and kill me
But in this game if someone jerks you
You gotta be humble
No matter what you just been through
Shit has gotta be right
You gotta approach people
You gotta be on the up and up
And everything gotta be all good
When you see someone slap hands with em
You know what I'm sayin give em a pound
Or whatever it is
But you always gotta act like it ain't shit
So you want to be a rap superstar
And live large
A big house
5 cars
The rent charged
Coming up in the world don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
To be a rap superstar
And live large
A big house
5 cars
The rent charged
Coming up in the world don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
My own son don't know me
Sitting up in the hotel room lonely
But I thank god I'm wit my homies
But sometimes I wish I was back home
But only no radio or videos
'cause they show me no love
The phony gotta hit the road slowly
So the record gets pushed by Sony
I'm in the middle like monie
And the press say that
My own people disowned me
And the best way back
Is to keep your head straight
Never inflate the cranium
Your crew worried about them honies at the palladium
Who just want to cling on swing on
And so on and go on and fall off
The hoes fall off
To the next rap superstar
Wit no shame give him a year
And they'll be right out the game
The same as the last one
Who came before him
Gained fame
Started getting ignored
I warned him
Assured him
This ain't easy take it from weezy
Sleezy people want to be cheesey
They talking evil
So you want to be a rap superstar
And live large
A big house
5 cars
The rent charged
Coming up in the world don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
To be a rap superstar
And live large
A big house
5 cars
The rent charged
Coming up in the world don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
In this rap shit
I didn't know it
I didn't see it
I never saw it until I was actually in it
You really gotta be in it
To understand what its like
But you always gotta
You always gotta put on that fake
You know what I'm saying
No matter what you just been through
So you want to be a rap superstar
And live large a big house
5 cars, you're in charge
Comin up in the world
Don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
I remember the days when I was a young kid growing up
Looking in the mirror dreaming about blowing up
To rock crowds make money
Chill wit the honies
Sign autographs and whatever the people want from me
Shits funny
How impossible cream manifest in the games that be coming with it
Never the less you gotta go for the gusto
But you don't know about the blood sweat and tears
And losing some of your peers
And losing some of your self
Music has past gone by
Hopefully you don't manifest for the wrong guy
Egomaniac in the brainiac
Don't know how to act
Shits deep
48 tracks
Studio gangsta mack
Sign a deal emcees want to make a mill
But never will
Till he crosses over still
Feeling no hate
But fantasies come wit these
Just to sacrifice the taste of makin cheese
You want to be a rap superstar in the biz
And take shit from people who don't know what it is
I wish it was all fun and games
But the price of fame is high
And some can't pay to play
Trapped in what you rapping about
Tell me what happened when you lost clout
The rout you took started collapsing
No fans
No fame
No respect
No change
No women
And everyone shits on your name
So you want to be a rap superstar
And live large
A big house
5 cars
The rent charged
Coming up in the world don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
To be a rap superstar
And live large
A big house
5 cars
The rent charged
Coming up in the world don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
When you sign to a record label
You don't know you sign your life over
And these whiteboys don't care about you
'cause the minute you fall off
They'll find another Noreaga
And they'll find another Capone-n-Noreaga
And they'll find another be -Real
So you need to just keep
Stack your chips up
Do what you gotta do while your hot
And motherfucking get out the game
Stick to the drug game
And the drug game is even worse
Because if someone jerks you
You can shoot em and kill me
But in this game if someone jerks you
You gotta be humble
No matter what you just been through
Shit has gotta be right
You gotta approach people
You gotta be on the up and up
And everything gotta be all good
When you see someone slap hands with em
You know what I'm sayin give em a pound
Or whatever it is
But you always gotta act like it ain't shit
So you want to be a rap superstar
And live large
A big house
5 cars
The rent charged
Coming up in the world don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
To be a rap superstar
And live large
A big house
5 cars
The rent charged
Coming up in the world don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
My own son don't know me
Sitting up in the hotel room lonely
But I thank god I'm wit my homies
But sometimes I wish I was back home
But only no radio or videos
'cause they show me no love
The phony gotta hit the road slowly
So the record gets pushed by Sony
I'm in the middle like monie
And the press say that
My own people disowned me
And the best way back
Is to keep your head straight
Never inflate the cranium
Your crew worried about them honies at the palladium
Who just want to cling on swing on
And so on and go on and fall off
The hoes fall off
To the next rap superstar
Wit no shame give him a year
And they'll be right out the game
The same as the last one
Who came before him
Gained fame
Started getting ignored
I warned him
Assured him
This ain't easy take it from weezy
Sleezy people want to be cheesey
They talking evil
So you want to be a rap superstar
And live large
A big house
5 cars
The rent charged
Coming up in the world don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
To be a rap superstar
And live large
A big house
5 cars
The rent charged
Coming up in the world don't trust nobody
Gotta look over your shoulder constantly
The lyrics of Cypress Hill's song "Superstar" describe the challenges and pressures that come with pursuing a career in the rap industry. The singer reflects on the misconceptions he had before entering the business, and how much work and sacrifice is required to succeed. He speaks about the importance of maintaining a certain public image to appeal to fans and the industry, but also the toll this takes on one's personal life and relationships. The lyrics also touch on the cut-throat nature of the music industry, a sense of betrayal and disposability felt by many artists after they have been used up by record labels that do not have their best interests at heart. The song encourages aspiring rappers to be realistic about the sacrifices and responsibilities of their career choices, and to consider all the risks before chasing after fame.
Line by Line Meaning
Most people don't see how much work is really involved in this rap shit
Many people fail to understand the amount of effort needed in the rap industry.
You really gotta be in it to understand what it's like
You have to experience being in the rap industry to truly comprehend it.
People always gotta see your smile, you always gotta put on that fake, no matter what you just been through
You have to maintain a facade of happiness and positivity even after going through tough experiences.
I remember the days when I was a young kid growing up looking in the mirror dreaming about blowing up
The artist reminisces about his childhood dreams of becoming a famous rapper.
But you don't know about the blood sweat and tears and losing some of your peers and losing some of your self
You are unaware of the hard work, emotional turmoil, and personal sacrifices that come with being a successful rapper.
Just to sacrifice the taste of making cheese
Rappers often have to give up their artistic integrity and originality in order to make a lot of money.
The price of fame is high and some can't pay to play
The cost of becoming famous as a rapper is often too high for some people to handle.
When you sign to a record label you don't know you sign your life over
Signing a record deal can sometimes give the record label too much control over a rapper's life and career.
You gotta be humble
It's important to stay grounded and not let success go to your head.
My own son don't know me sitting up in the hotel room lonely but I thank god I'm wit my homies
Despite being alone in a hotel room, the artist is grateful for the support of his friends.
The phony gotta hit the road slowly so the record gets pushed by Sony
In order to have their record promoted, a rapper may have to fake their personality and play into the hands of the record label.
And the press say that my own people disowned me
The media claims that the artist's own community has turned their back on him.
The same as the last one who came before him gained fame started getting ignored
Rappers who become popular and then lose their fame often get ignored by both fans and the industry.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Larry Muggerud, Louis M. Freeze
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Karl Rock
This song is good advice for anyone who finds success in anything. I dunno about others, but even though in the 90s I was mostly into metal, I was really into Crypess Hill and especially Black Sunday. They're one of those acts that crossed over, it was probably their dark stoner vibe that I dug.
YUNGMEXICANBEANER
What's good Karl Rock! I enjoy your content.
RTM
This was quite a common experience. Rock/metal fans listened to Cypress Hill, Wu Tang Clan and a few others
Steven Williams
you can't let your head too big, best to be a little humble and grateful your gifts in life. i know.
Big U.D
Bhai sunke Accha laga aap cypress hill sunte Ho, respek from India
zeetroyman
this song was also good advice for all the bad drivers that tried some shenanegans this week... they heard the Cypress and closed the window :)
Newton Family Clan
Call me old school but this still kills it!
Mekenyk
Being oldschool is nothing to be ashamed of
Newton Family Clan
@Mekenyk My thoughts exactly!
Professional Boycott Services
Always old school and always old style!