Cypress Hill Till Death Do Us Part CD

Parental Advisory. W/D.Narley, T.Armstrong(Rancid),Prodigy &

Cypress Hill: B-Real, DJ Muggs, Sen Dog (rap vocals).
Additional personnel: Tego Calderon, Damian Marley, Prodigy, Twin, Tim Armstrong.
Producers: Muggs, The Alchemist, Tony "CD" Kelly, Fredwreck Nassar.
Personnel: Tim Armstrong (vocals, guitar); Traci Nelson, Chace Infinite (vocals); Fred Wreck (guitar, keyboards, Moog synthesizer); Rob Hill (guitar, keyboards, programming); Mike Sims (guitar, keyboards); Rogelio Lozano (guitar, programming); Reggie Stewart (guitar); Tim Burton (saxophone); Dan Boer (keyboards); Al Pahanish, Scott Abels (drums); Ray Ramundo (congas); Muggs (programming).
Audio Mixers: Muggs; Rob Hill; Fred Wreck.
Recording information: Fred's Crib.
Photographer: Estavan Oriol.
B Real: "Throw it on the wall/See if it sticks/If it don't work/Take another hit." Sen Dog: "Take another hit!" Those are not quotes. However, if Cypress Hill were to take the lead from every other MC who has declared honesty to be the only policy, the group might've included lines like that somewhere near the beginning of their eighth album. More restless than ever, fleeting flirtations with Jamaican music of most stripes -- dancehall, dub, and ska included -- are handled clumsily. The results are as mixed as the approaches. The most problematic moment of all is the missed opportunity that is "What's Your Number?," where Rancid's Tim Armstrong is drafted in to help replicate the dubby lope of the Clash's "Guns of Brixton"; though it would've been more fitting to hear B Real spit another grimy rhyme in this setting, he chooses instead to spin a tale of picking up a woman. The highlights all take place when the group sticks to what it does best, though the pro-weed moments keep on getting increasingly dire. The Alchemist-produced and Tego Calderón-assisted "Latin Thugs" is one example of the group retaining its strengths, since it's full of fire and swagger. All points aside, the album is strictly for the devout fan base. ~ Andy Kellman
Till Death Do Us Part sees Cypress Hill more restless than ever, flirting with Jamaican music of most stripes -- dancehall, dub, and ska included. On "What's Your Number?," Rancid's Tim Armstrong is drafted in to help replicate the dubby lope of the Clash's "Guns of Brixton"; though it would've been more fitting to hear B Real spit another grimy rhyme in this setting, he chooses instead to spin a tale of picking up a woman. Unsurprisingly, the highlights all take place when the group sticks to what it has done best in the past. The Alchemist-produced and Tego Calderón-assisted "Latin Thugs" is one example of the group retaining its strengths, since it's full of fire and swagger. ~ Andy Kellman
TILL DEATH DO US PART opens with the emphatic, violent rampage of "Another Body Drops," with B-Real's trademark high-pitched vocal playing off Sen Dog's brusque moan. It almost seems impossible that more than a decade has fallen away since the L.A. trio's seminal, self-titled debut. In 1991, there was nothing quite like Cypress Hill's hardcore horror/thug rap, filtered through a narcotic haze and bowling over hardcore hip-hoppers and college-radio types alike.
It's truly remarkable that on their seventh record, after dozens of artists have incorporated their style, Cypress Hill still stands up, guns and verbiage blazing in equal proportion. Nowhere is their versatility more on apparent than when they follow the Tejano-flavored "Latin Thugs" with the reggae-infused, bilingual "Ganja Bus." Rancid's Tim Armstrong drops by on the menacing, slightly ska "What's Your Number?" Cypress Hill also reminds us how proficient they are at straight-ahead, hardcore hip-hop with the Prodigy-assisted "Last Laugh." TILL DEATH DO US PART is vintage Cypress Hill, beguiling, ominous, foggy, clever; it's no coincidence they've managed to prosper years after their breakthrough.

Rolling Stone (4/1/04, p.89) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]he combination of mournful maturity and club-ready fun they come up with on TILL DEATH DO US PART suits them just fine."
Q (p.94) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[A] funk-driven return to familiar ground, laced with dark imagery, beefy hooks and sharp vocal trading."