CYPRESS HILL

Elephants On Acid BMG 6/10 Latino rap trailblazers take it global

For a group so enamoured with the properties of marijuana, it’s surprising it’s taken Cypress Hill nine albums to make their gap-year record. But that’s Elephants On Acid: a trippy trip through countries and cultures, as a means to expand the LA trio’s claustrophobic rap. DJ Muggs composed its beats while travelling the world, visiting King Solomon’s Tomb and the Dead Sea. The lyrical content from MCs B-Real and Sen Dog is fairly rote, but a widened sonic palette keeps things interesting: Egyptian mahragan singers on hashish call to prayer “Band Of Gypsies”, or the sitars that drone throughout “Jesus Was A Stoner”.