Cypress Hill - Black Sunday 30th Anniversary 2xLP - Brown Vinyl (/1993)

Get On Down / Columbia (2022, Reissue) 

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

I couldn't help myself and I bought this fancy version of Cypress Hill's second album from 1993, Black Sunday.  I did have a perfectly serviceable copy of this on vinyl already, but the inclusion of some extra bonus tracks and the deluxe version and all piqued my interest enough that I couldn't help but double dip.

Is it worth it? I don't really know.  Bonus track wise, maybe not.  There are three bonus tracks in total.  First is an extended version of "Insane In The Brain" that is exactly as advertised.  It's longer.  That's really it and not something I would say is super important.  Then we have "Scooby Doo," originally released as a B side on the Lick A Shot single.  It's not the most exciting song in their catalog and I wish it had drums that hit harder.  That would improve it in my eyes.  Lastly is the T-Ray remix of "Hits From The Bong."  This one is quite excellent and while not quite on the level as the original version, it is still some pretty stellar Cypress Hill-ing.

The main album sounds great, I'm not sure it's any better or worse than the other version that I have, but it gets the job done.  The artwork really is lovely as a nice gatefold with shiny metallic print job.  It definitely looks the business.  So, is it worth it?  If you don't have the album, this is absolutely the one to get.  If you have it already, it's probably not that important to pick up unless you're a sucker for fancy reissues (guilty).  I'll probably end up selling my other copy though, there's no reason to have two of these.