CYPRESS HILL "Insane In The Brain" is the name of the first single and video clip from Cypress Hill's new RuffHouse/Columbia album Black Sunday. It's also a warning: that when it comes to the Cypress Hill crew, crazed intensity is more than skin deep; it's a state of mind and a way of life. Cypress Hill - visionary rappers B-Real and Sen Dog, and DJ/Producer Muggs - are back again and explosive as ever. The group's self-titled RuffHouse/Columbia RIAA platinum debut album of 1991 has sold more than 1 million copies to date in the U.S., establishing them as one of the most popular as well as hardest hitting, musically innovative, hip-hop acts on the planet Earth. The Cypress Hill album remained in the upper reaches of the Billboard's Pop Album chart for over 73 weeks, earning the group the Billboard Music Award for Best Rap Artist. That's a hard act to follow, but B-Real and company remained cool under pressure. "When it came to Black Sunday, people asked 'can we top the last one,' you know? What we did was take all those questions about making a follow-up and asked ourselves that shit. "With everything that had been going on this year, we felt we should have made this album months ago, but we were doing a lot of shows and that took time away from doin' the album. We were kind of frustrated that we hadn't started yet, because we were so eager to make this record. We came up with a lot of dope shit that we felt topped the last one. So being that we were hungry to do it, it brought out the best when we finally got to record. "The new album is named Black Sunday because its whole vibe is ominous," B-Real continues. The album was recorded in Muggs' native New York in early '93. "We captured a dark feel. It's kinda like one of those movies you go to and you just know every time when you think shit is well, shit always turn on you, you're not ready because you think everything is cool and nothing's gonna happen. So we always like to make ourselves ready and prepare for any kind of turn-around." "Insane In The Brain" features a hydraulic bass groove and pounding beat being strafed by braying screeches - classic Cypress Hill. "I wrote 'Insane In The Brain' about when people come to our concerts they lose their mind in the adrenaline of it all. It's also talking about some of the people on the street, who are just crazy motherfuckers." "When The Ship Goes Down," the B-side to "Insane In The Brain," and second video, is also cautionary. Cypress Hill may be stoned, but don't think for a minute they're sleeping. The rap is a reminder for everybody out there to be ready when the going gets rough. "It's saying, 'don't sleep,' because if you sleep and let somebody get the drop on you, whether it's in business, sports, rap, or out on the street fighting, you just gotta be ready for anything." Muggs cooks up an ultra-funky mix of scratchy deep-fried soul guitars and fat bass licks. Black Sunday also features "Cock The Hammer," a cut that also appears on the soundtrack to Arnold Schwartzenegger's "The Last Action Hero." "Originally we were gonna call that song 'Black Sunday,' but we decided to call it 'Cock The Hammer' because it's like we're going to put a lyrical hit on this rapper with a pretty haircut, because he said a couple of things we didn't like. "We're letting certain people know that we're not lettin' shit slide. It's really not a vendetta, it's just a verbal eye-for-an-eye thing: you jack me and I'll jack you back. 'Cock The Hammer' is just saying, 'Yo, I got my shit ready to respond. You drew, but I got the drop on you.'" Built around a shuffling, snare beat and eerie, acoustic bass riff, the song features guest vocals by Queens-based deejay Poison. It begins and ends with the sound of storm, reinforcing the song's dark mood. "Ain't Goin' Out Like That" opens with looped feedback, giving way to saxophone screeches, a jazzy bass figure and crackling drums. B and Sen's raps reprise some of the rhymes from the debut album that helped establish them as the hardest and smartest hip hoppers on the street, promising more of the same and then some this time around. In addition, Black Sunday includes special new, never-commercially available versions of "A To The K" (the original appeared on the "Juice" soundtrack) and "Hand On The Glock" (a radical remodeling of "Hand On The Pump"). In order to make the album more readily available to Cypress' younger fans, there is a "clean," unstickered version released on CD and cassette. * * * In the beginning, Cypress Hill was completely unknown on the rap scene, a trio of "locals gettin' paid for their vocals." When people first heard the name, they thought this was another crew from Brooklyn. In fact, 'Cypress Hill' refers to Cypress Street in Southgate, a section of Los Angeles about five minutes from South Central. Cypress Hill's three members have lived in L.A. most of their teenage and adult lives. Sen Dog, the 27 year-old lyricist and rapper who supplies the bassy vocal interjections, was born in Cuba and moved to Southgate at age fourteen. Sen grew up in a musical family: his great-grandfather was a pianist in Cuba, grandfather played bass, dad played a number of instruments including flute, sax, trumpet, and drums, mom is a singer, and Sen Dog has uncles who are active in bands in Cuba to this day. When he was growing up, Sen Dog and his brothers and sisters were stars of their church choir. After leaving high school in 1981, Sen started a group called DVX with his brother, now noted solo rapper Mellow Man Ace. Together, they pioneered the "Latin Lingo" style, rhyming in "Spanglish" - alternating lines, phrases and individual words in English and Spanish. Shortly before the end of DVX, Sen and Ace were joined by a young and gifted writer named B-Real. Now Cypress Hill's lead rapper, 23 year-old B-Real has lived in L.A. all his life. He wanted to be a journalist, and in high school spent hours writing poems and prose. But he was turned off by school and left before graduating. His desire to write, however, led him to pen hip-hop rhymes. Eventually he hooked up with Sen Dog and another young hip-hopper, a DJ and producer named Muggs. Muggs moved to Southgate from Queens, New York just before starting high school. Back in Queens, his interest in break-dancing had led to DJing, and in tenth grade, he bought his first piece of equipment, a set of Technic 1200s. After moving to L.A., Muggs joined the rap group 7A3, with whom he released an album and contributed a song to the "Colors" movie soundtrack. Soon after he left 7A3, Muggs joined Cypress Hill and began laying down tracks for the group's first album. Since the release of Cypress Hill in 1991, DJ Muggs has become one of the most sought-after producers on the rap scene, having written, produced or mixed material for House Of Pain, the Beastie Boys, Ice Cube, Yo Yo, Mellow Man Ace and Funkdoobiest. Cypress Hill's first album was one of those rare music industry success stories. Released in 1991 with no fanfare, and no expectation of daytime radio exposure, the album went on to RIAA platinum. "When we first started, we knew we weren't going to get radio exposure," said B-Real. "We tightened our belts and just did a whole bunch of shows. Little by little, after we did show after show, we started picking up on record sales. Because people didn't have access to us on the radio, the only thing they could do was come and see us live, or hear our music on college radio -- those were the only people who really had the balls to play us. "So when we started doing a lot of shows, it started a chain reaction. We did Lollapalooza '92 which exposed us to a whole different audience, fans of alternative music." Relentless touring (including an appearance with Pearl Jam at a massive free concert in Seattle) combined with the support of "Yo! MTV Raps," "The Box," video and club DJs and urban radio's rap specialty "mix shows," carried Cypress Hill into the Billboard Pop Albums chart -- where it actually passed the year and a half mark just a couple of weeks prior to the release of Black Sunday! After completing sessions for Black Sunday, Cypress Hill returned to the studio in mid-93 to collaborate with Sonic Youth and Pearl Jam, respectively, on two cuts that appeared on the movie soundtrack of director Stephen Hopkins' "Judgment Night." For all three members of Cypress Hill, the business of being successful recording artists has become a full-time job since the release of their debut album. "It's definitely a little more hectic now, as far as the business side goes," muses B-Real. "A lot more phone calls about a bunch o' shit. That aspect of it -- it's kind of stressful dealing with the business side of it, but shit, it's a job, you know. I love all the other sides of it, so all that really doesn't matter. "As far as being on the street, it's changed," B-Real says. "I get people bugging out because I'm around. I don't mind. I'm like, "hey, that's cool." I'm just buggin' out on how much they're buggin' out on me. On that tip, it's kinda like a funny thing. I trip because I'm just around them, and I'm watching them trip off me. It's hard to walk around places now a little bit more. It's kinda weird. But I can hang, I'll take the time to do the autograph thing. What makes the group is the people and when you start treating the people fucked up, that's when the group gets fucked up.