We all remember Cypress Hill. B-Real had the high pitched voice and was the ‘leader’ of the group, or at least the most famous/recognizable. Sen Dog’s job was to accent B-Real with his deep voice, but was never really known as a great lyricist (the Vinny to B-Real’s Treach, the Flavor Flav to B-Real’s Chuck D).. DJ Muggs to this day is known as one of the best producers in the world along with DJ Premier and the Alchemist.

Psycho Realm consisted of Sick Jacken – the high pitched lyricist, and his brother Duke – the deep voiced accompaniment, and were produced by DJ Muggs, so essentially they were ‘Cypress Hill 2000′, or just a newer or updated version of the elements that made Cypress Hill what they were in the 80′s and 90′s.

Anyone who heard the first self-titled studio album from the ‘Psycho Realm’ noticed B-Real’s lyrics on his guest appearances suddenly were light years better than they used to be. I feel that this has something to do with Psycho Realm member, Sick Jacken’s influence. Sick Jacken is one of the best lyricists that most people have never heard of so whether he ghost wrote or B-Real just had to step his lyric game up to be on tracks with him, I was never sure.

Most people thought that B-Real had left Cypress Hill and that his new group was going to be Psycho Realm, but Sony wanted Sick Jacken and Duke to be less revolutionary and their refusal caused Psycho Realm to be dropped from Sony, so they went on to start Sick Symphonies Records, presumably with their Sony cheque, while B-Real was still stuck in his Cypress Hill contract.

The second Psycho Realm album ‘A War Story: Book I’ only had one guest appearance from B-Real and their second and third albums were met by little to no response from the general hip hop community (similar to any ‘Gravediggaz’ albums released after a few members left).

Then came Ill Bill. Ill Bill was the ‘lead’ member of Non-Phixion, one of the first ‘underground hip hop’ groups that really made it big without having to change their style for a record company (similar to Jedi Mind Tricks), and happened to have major influence with the latino hip hop community that Big Pun left behind.

During this time someone had the idea to create ‘La Coka Nostra’ which is a supergroup consisting of the members of House of Pain, Cypress Hill and Psycho Realm, along with Ill Bill and some of their friends, most notably newcomer Slaine, who represented Boston in the Ben/Casey Affleck movie Gone Baby Gone, and has seemed to somehow manage to stand out alot in the midst of such greats.

The supergroup idea, which had been previously perfected by such greats as Wu-Tang Clan and Hieroglyphics, has done wonders for the creativity and marketability of everyone involved, both of which were suffering on an individual basis.

Slaine in Gone Baby Gone

I chose Sick Jacken in particular for my first article for a few different reasons. The obvious one is that he’s almost unknown and criminally underrated as a lyricist, but he is also an unbelievably inspirational influence and has Immortal Technique levels of ‘conspiracy’ knowledge, but i feel with a more melodic approach that is somehow a bit easier on the ears of people that aren’t used to having someone rap AT them.

His recent album ‘DJ Muggs & Sick Jacken: The Legend of the Mask and the Assassin” from beginning to end is a masterpiece, finally allowing Sick Jacken to shine on his own with amazing production that was made solely for him without having to sacrifice creative control.

The outcome is a must hear album for anyone interested in hip hop or poetry or the ‘state of the world’, but anyone who claims that Cypress Hill is their favorite rap group but has never heard of Sick Jacken had better do their homework and fast… starting with this track ‘Dj Muggs & Sick Jacken- Praying Mantis (Goodlife Remix)” which was not on “The Mask and The Assassin” so even those heads who are already aware might have missed this track. Enjoy and stay tuned.

-SlowBe aka Mike Sorbara-

The Advanced Listener: Blog One is a post from: The List

This year we begin a commentary on the world of music through articles, pictures and video with the help of music insiders and guest writers. Today, we introduce Mike Sorbara, a man with a lot to say, who will be a regular here on The List.

I started listening to hip hop in about 1987 when I was 7 or 8 years old, at this time hip hop was also 7 or 8 years old and the world/scene was much different. I come from a very musical family that has appreciated artists, in many different genres, that make music for the sake of the music… not the wealth, for many generations. my great gramma was the lead soloist at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist, St. John’s, Newfoundland and her two brothers were drummers in WW1, their job was to march in FRONT of the front lines and play the soldiers into battle, a job that is only performed once.

I grew up hearing stories from the 70′s when my dad and uncle saw everyone from Harry Chapin and Diana Ross to Humble Pie, Miles Davis, Emerson Lake and Palmer and Queen. my brother Joe is very involved in the jazz community and received the highly regarded Oscar Peterson scholarship from york university and is a founding member of the Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto.

I chose to make hip hop my particular path and have met similar achievements although in a different form in a forum that hasn’t been recognized by most of the world for very long. I used the general music/media knowledge that I grew up with to become one of Guelph’s favorite HMV employees. This allowed me to network with essentially every hip hop fan in the surrounding area, and as hip hop and the world changed, I continued to make sacrifices to travel to concerts and put in alot of work to listen to music that wasn’t always very easy to even purchase in Canada at the time.

Through close ties with noah23′s ‘plaguelanguage records’ and Philaflava.com (the elite message board for ‘progressive hip hop’ which boasts members such as Aesop Rock and Slug) my knowledge and opinions have become of interest to many people, some agree, many don’t, but give me a chance, it’s often difficult (at first) to understand someone who comes from a completely different world than most…

-Mike Sorbara aka Intellicon aka SlowBe aka SlowBe Won Kenobi aka SlowBe Trice (Real Name No Gimmicks).

Profile: Mike Sorbara is a post from: The List