Tomahawk Slang

It must have been weird being the second fiddle in a 90's Soul Assassins band after their initial breakout album - so many of those groups had such an overwhelming personality at the forefront - the quickly secondary Garfunkels in the posse must have sucked it up with a "shut up and cash the paycheck while this lasts" mentality. Look at House Of Pain. Danny Boy doesn't even appear in half the songs on Same It As Ever Was - and the opener "Back From The Dead" is clearly Everlast's step towards a solo career. Same with Cypress Hill. Once they hit Black Sunday can you think of one Cypress song that Sen Dog has a prominent part? Yeah he says "Insane in the brain" and shit in the background a lot but to me there is a noticeably strange lack of input. Next case study we have the second Funkdoobiest album - 1995's Brothas Doobie. Benchwarmer Tomahawk Funk appears in only four of the fucking twelve songs (I'm not counting the gay-ass "interlude") on the album - twenty-fucking-five percent. I hope Son Doobie made a note of that for his royalty checks. Well, enough of my soapbox. Funkdoobiest's sophomore release is my favorite album from the band - thanks to Son Doobie's amazing skills - "XXX Funk" and "Lost In Thought" are easy faves but amazingly the underdog "Tomahawk Bang" is the highlight of the album. Man - the fattest beat and coolest groove is wasted on Tomahawk Funk (and some no-name named Sebastain Rousett - don't get me wrong, he's a fucking solid rapper but I just don't know who the fuck he is). Sorry T.F., but the first time I heard this song I sat with baited breath waiting for Son to break in with his verse. Oh well, Brothas Doobie is still an awesome fucking album and great kick back to the days I was dating a chick from Maine whose weird veggie-dog granola mom cultivated her own über-pungent hydroponic weed. Actually, I barely remember anything from those days...

Wake Up, America

Fine Malt Lyrics

Hot off the heels of Nevermind (and, to a lesser extent, Gish) Butch Vig was the producer of the hour in 1992. It wasn't too much of a stretch to combine his grunge rock skills with a rap group - Anthrax and Public Enemy had already basked in significant success with their "Bring The Noise" genre blend - House Of Pain was riding high on the strength of "Jump Around" and was a perfect contender. For the second single to the platinum eponymous debut, House Of Pain brought on Vig to remix "Shamrocks And Shenanigans" into a ridiculously titled "Metal Mix". In actuality, it's more crossover and works pretty well for the most part, partially since the original song is a tad dull. The CD-single version has a few other mixes - DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill offers a pretty smooth version much truer to its hip hop origins and Salaam Remi (later to work with Nas and Amy Winehouse of all people) has a solid offering. While House Of Pain would never really match the success of their first album, this remix clearly paved the way for the metal/rap collaborations on the Judgement Night soundtrack (including one between House Of Pain and Helmet) in 1993.

Get Your River Flowin'

Latvian Pride

By 1996 House Of Pain had definitely worn out their welcome in the rap world. Their 1994 sophomore effort Same As It Ever Was (while an incredible release) didn't strike #1 single gold like their first album did, a major falling out with old pals Cypress Hill drove producers away, and Everlast converted to Islam, a religion whose teachings contrasted starkly with the pseudo-Irish-hooligan lifestyle of the band, causing significant conflict between members of the group. Out of the mishmash came Truth Crushed To Earth Shall Rise Again (yep, that's a typo on the album's front cover) - a forgettable look at what happens to a great band when they piecemeal a record together. To be honest, Truth Crushed To Earth Shall Rise Again doesn't just not sound like a House Of Pain album, it barely can be called one. The more significant rapping duties are covered by a up-and-coming duo called the Scheme Team (Divine Styler and Cockni O'Dire) in lieu of Everlast and Danny Boy. What a mistake. The two founding rappers actually sound like guest appearances on this album. Sadat X and Guru submit legitimate guest appearances to try and add some life - but the beats are weak and it just seems to fall apart. So why am I posting this do you ask? The same reason I actually like Phantom Menace a decade after Jar Jar Binks made me want to puke in my movie theater seat. Once you get past shattered expectations and obvious bad creative decisions, the flick is not too bad. It'll never be great, but that's OK. So take a listen to Truth, for the second time.

Forgive