Skull & Bones (album)

Skull & Bones is the fifth studio album by American hip hop group Cypress Hill, released on April 25, 2000, by Columbia Records. The album's genre and style are divided into two discs — a pure hip hop disc ("Skull") and a rap metal disc ("Bones"). It features guest appearances from Everlast, Eminem, N.O.R.E., Christian Olde Wolbers and Dino Cazares of Fear Factory, Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine, and Chino Moreno of Deftones.

Skull & Bones
Studio album by Cypress Hill
Released	April 25, 2000
Recorded	1999–2000
Studio	Ameraycan Studios, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California[1]
Genre	Hip-hop rap metal nu metal[2]
Length	64:27
Label	Columbia
Producer	DJ Muggs
Cypress Hill chronology
IV (1998) Skull & Bones (2000) Live at the Fillmore (2000)
Singles from Skull & Bones
"(Rap) Superstar / (Rock) Superstar" Released: February 29, 2000[3] "Highlife / Can't Get the Best of Me" Released: October 31, 2000[4]

Background

Cypress Hill landed a slot supporting the Offspring and MxPx on the Conspiracy of One tour.^[5] The song "(Rock) Superstar" was a radio hit on both rap and rock stations.^{[citation needed]} It was performed live by the band with Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum, members of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, on Jimmy Kimmel Live.^{[citation needed]} The Intro includes a sample from Ralph Bakshi's film Wizards.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[6]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[7]
Entertainment Weekly	C+[8]
RapReviews	6/10[9]
Rolling Stone	[10]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[11]

• Rolling Stone - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "A bipolar breakdown…proving hip-hop is more like T2…capable of morphing into anyone they wanna be."^[10]
• CMJ - "Proves rather convincingly that Cypress Hill still packs a mighty punch."^[12]
• Vibe - "Marks the first major shift in the group's direction....Half of [the album] is a head-banging jam session....Songs like '(Rap) Superstar' prove that the group still has that winning formula."^[13]
• The Source - 3.5 mics out of 5 - "May be their most drastic turn yet.… Cypress' flavor runs thick across the disc.… They break down the barriers in order to transcend the industry-imposed terms of alternative and rap…another set for the weeded."^[14]
• Rap Pages - "May be the best album you hear for the next 2 years.… [It] is so artistically good that it [will] stay in your personal rotation…"^[15]
• Mojo - "Finds them sticking a finger in the air and finding the wind blowing in the direction of thrash-metal."^[16]
• NME - 7 out of 10 - "Picks up where the groggy metal/rap melange of '98s Cypress Hill IV left off.… It's business as usual.… They do hip-hop and they do funk-metal rawk…evolving slowly."^[17]

Track listing

Skull (disc 1)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro"	Muggerud	1:52
2.	"Another Victory"	Freese Muggerud	3:11
3.	"(Rap) Superstar" (feat. Eminem and Noreaga)	Freese Muggerud	4:53
4.	"Cuban Necktie"	Freese Muggerud	4:13
5.	"What U Want from Me"	Freese Muggerud Reyes	3:50
6.	"Stank Ass Hoe"	Freese Muggerud	5:09
7.	"Highlife"	Freese Muggerud Reyes	3:53
8.	"Certified Bomb"	Freese Muggerud Reyes	4:03
9.	"Can I Get a Hit"	Freese Muggerud	2:47
10.	"We Live This Shit"	Freese Muggerud Reyes	4:20
11.	"Worldwide"	Freese Muggerud Reyes	2:45

Bones (disc 2)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Valley of Chrome"	Freese Muggerud Reyes	4:04
2.	"Get Out of My Head"	Freese Muggerud	3:31
3.	"Can't Get the Best of Me"	Correa Freese Muggerud Reyes Wilk	4:15
4.	"A Man"	Correa Freese Reyes Fleener Zambrano	3:08
5.	"Dust"	Correa Freese Muggerud Reyes Fleming	3:56
6.	"(Rock) Superstar" (feat. Chino Moreno and Everlast)	Freese Muggerud Reyes	4:37

All tracks produced by DJ Muggs.

Notes

The untitled instrumental segue after "Stank Ass Hoe" was re-used for the track "Heart of the Assassin" on the 2000 DJ Muggs produced album Soul Assassins II.

Personnel

Cypress Hill

• B-Real - vocals
• Sen Dog - vocals
• DJ Muggs - turntables, sampler
• Bobo - drums

Guitarists Dino Cazares Jeremy Fleener Rogelio Lozano Andy Zambrano Alfunction - also keyboards

Bassists Christian Olde Wolbers Reggie Stewart - also guitar

Other personnel Michael Barbiero - engineering Brad Wilk - drums

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2000) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] 6 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[19] 5 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[20] 17 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[21] 37 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[22] 3 Canadian R&B Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[23] 2 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[24] 10 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[25] 1 French Albums (SNEP)[26] 13 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[27] 4 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[28] 13 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[29] 24 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[30] 29 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[31] 7 UK Albums (OCC)[32] 6 US Billboard 200[33] 5 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[34] 4

Year-end charts Chart (2000) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[35] 84 Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[36] 98 European Albums (Music & Media)[37] 94 Finnish Foreign Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[38] 165 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[39] 96 US Billboard 200[40] 84 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[41] 91 Chart (2002) Position Canadian R&B Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[42] 197 Canadian Rap Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[43] 97

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[44]	Platinum	100,000^
Finland	—	12,445[45]
United Kingdom (BPI)[46]	Gold	100,000^
United States (RIAA)[47]	Platinum	1,000,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.