Cypress hill, the pioneers of Latino rap, have hit us with another disc (2-discs, actually), sticking with their "mainstream underground" image and fronting that they're still some of the baddest drugged-out muthaz to hit rap music since whenever.

   The releases 2-discs are split by "genre", the Skull disc being pure hip-hop, with the Bones disc containing six songs of the currently trendy rap-rock style.  Both discs feature biting lyrics and excessive expletives, in typical Cypress Hill style.  However, both have differing themes; whether this was intentional or not, its not a bad thing.

    The Skull disc is "traditional" Cypress Hill, with traditional rap themes of drugs, conflicts, and life.  It begins with the somewhat-tired "we're back with a new album intro track" ("Intro"), but luckily the disc isn't all self-centered tracks (although the couple that are, namely "Another Victory" and "Stank Ass Hoes", feature great verses, like, "while I've got platinum records up on my walls / you got double cheeseburgers in your toilet stall").  Next up is the album's first single, "(Rap) Superstar"; I like this track because, although its far from the first "a million-dollar musician's life isn't all fun" track, it seems to be presented from a more personal view, with sound clips from Noreaga and Eminem.  The other tracks are, lyrically, a continuation of the Cypress Hill "tradition" of hangin' with your homies, causing trouble for the fakers and haters, never changing for anyone.  I really love DJ Mugg's production, as always, it's different from most else on the mainstream market, and the symphonic element is a breath of fresh air (or rather it would be if it weren't for the huge cloud of bong smoke).  The oddest thing about this disc, however, is that after some of the tracks, there are "outro" beats totally different from the song.

   The Bones disc, the shorter of the 2 (only 6 tracks), is quite an angry disc, and should appeal to fans of Limp Bizkit and their clones; this rap-rock is unique however, in that it's not all that bad.  However, there is the main problem that the tracks mesh together, making it difficult to tell when one track ends and another begins.  The highlights of this disc (or at least the ones easiest to tell apart) are "(Rock) Superstar", basically the same, but featuring sound clips from Everlast and Chino of the Deftones (who chooses to rap his sound clip instead of just say it... ok...) and "Get Out Of My Head".  These tracks make most apparent the theme of the Bones disc, that Cypress Hill are haunted by something... something that wasn't there before they were famous.  Whether that is greedy record execs, the demanding public, or just the fact that one can never settle down once in the lime-light of modern celebrity, we may never know; but Cypress Hill seem determined not to be stopped, and the Bones disc is an expression of this anger and rebellion in its purest form.  Or it's just a cheap plug for Sen Dog's rap-metal band.