Skull and Bones

A Wretched Wast of Time
by: peter naldrett

The critically acclaimed rap and hip hop outfit Cypress Hill released a new album this past week that will be hotly anticipated by would-be gangsters and cool doods the world over.

With more disgraceful language than a Tarantino movie script, Skull and Bones takes swipes at all walks of life and has a chip on its shoulder the size of Mount Everest. Parents should certainly take note of the warnings on the front of the cover before buying this for angst-ridden teenagers, because the air will be bluer than the deepest ocean once this album begins its journey.

Their last album sold over one million copies and the new single, "Superstar," has already enjoyed widespread success.

But what kind of message is it sending out when it suggests that the drug business is better than the music industry because "in the drug game if somebody jerked you, you could shoot them and kill them."? Maybe I'm getting a little like Mary Whitehouse in my ageing late 20s as my friends start to have children, but this isn't what music should be about. In fact, it's pretty much a disgrace. Even the more liberal music lover would be hard stretched to find anything on Skull and Bones to impress, that is if they can distinguish decent words through the collage of swearing hip hop.

The only cool moments come in instrumentals between tracks. Far from being an outstanding return from Cypress Hill, you feel they should get back to school, find a vocabulary and try to write something inspirational. 25-Apr-2000 4:00 PM