House of Pain

DJ Muggs was one of the most talented hip-hop producers to emerge in the '90s, a real missing link between the wailing artillery barrage of Public Enemy and the claustrophobic minimalism of Wu-Tang. But Cypress Hill's albums hardly tell the full story. Muggs' commercial success with his home crew led him to endlessly imitate himself, and the group's smoked-out fans neither noticed nor cared. Fortunately, he hooked up with a couple of rowdy white guys who fit his groove. The result, House of Pain's Same As It Ever Was, is a lost classic -- relentless, clever, and free of the sentimental bullshit with which tough guys try to explain away their nastiness.

It had to be all that, if only on account of "Jump Around," probably the only House of Pain track you've ever heard, a party anthem that launched itself recklessly in the air without the slightest care where it might land. It was as inescapable in the summer of 1992 as that other "Jump," by Kris Kross, and it earned House of Pain just as much street cred. But Same was a statement of purpose -- Everlast represents the first generation of white kids raised on hip-hop who speak its rhythms and lyrical codes as a first language -- though he's capable of dropping some punky comparisons ("Like G.G. Allin I'm crazy ill" or "I'm not Phil Collins/More like Henry Rollins"), he has none of the Beasties' indie roots.

Though capable of telling stories (check out the criminal vignettes of Same's "It Ain't a Crime," neither celebratory nor judgmental, just factual) Everlast preferred sticking to ingenious boasts, which only takes you so far. The third album showed that the concept had outlived its usefulness. And Everlast apparently understood that -- he went on, of course, to a solo career that ably mixed hip-hop and protest folk, overflowing with genuine empathy. (KEITH HARRIS)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide