Thursday, June 29, 2006

Cypress Hill - "Hand on the Pump"

Cypress Hill's first album from 1991 is one of the first albums I ever heard and thought, wow, hip-hop is really starting to branch out. This album had production and instrumentation (mostly by DJ Muggs) I had never heard before. In fact, at the time I remember it being one of the only hip hop albums I owned where the lyrics sort of didn't matter. The sounds were so unusual for the time.

This song is very indicative of the West Coast drugs and gangs culture of the early 1990s. I think it's hot. Cypress was basically all about smoking weed and shooting people (which is why I was drawn to them, being that those are also my favorite two activities). This song is just badass, and it uses as sample from the song "Duke of Earl." Now who woulda thought to pull that one off? There is also a certain fluid artistry to the video that I appreciate.

(This is the explicit version of the song. It was followed up by the equally good, if not better, "Hand on the Glock." Same chorus, but slightly different intstrumental.)



Comin at you like a stiff blow, f**kin up your program
Ain't takin s**t from you him or no man
Master mind maniac and a menace, soooo
How they want to pass sentence
All because a nigga tried to play me on the trigger
He missed, so now the n***a's hist
Rude and crude like a pitbull, get to the point
Your f**kin car to get pulled, now
I'm headed up the river with a boat and no paddle
And I'm handin out beatdowns
I'm headed up the river with a boat and no paddle
And I'm handin out beatdowns [get your face down!]
Put me in chains, try to beat my brains
I can get out, but the grudge remains
When I see ya punk 4ss, I'm gonna getcha
F**king do ya
Shotgun goes boo-yaa!

1 comment:

Skylar said...

I forgot there was a video for this joint. Youtube is helping me track down all the oldschool gems!

There's actually a different version of the song remixed a little by Muggs from the same era as well with a different drum sequence, as well as another Muggs mix with a sample made famous by House of Pain's"Put ya head out" (w/B-Real)

I disagree though when you compare Hand on the Pump to Hand on the Glock, the beats are completely different and while some parts of the song and the hook are comparable, the two songs are from different years and B-Real's voice changed ALOT from '91 to '93.

Peace.