Insane in the Brain

"Insane in the Brain" is a 1993 single by the American hip hop group Cypress Hill. In addition to hitting number one on the US rap chart, the song also was a mainstream hit, reaching number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1993. It earned a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America and sold 600,000 copies domestically.[2][3] The song was released on the group's Black Sunday album.

"Insane in the Brain"
Single by Cypress Hill
from the album Black Sunday
ReleasedJune 22, 1993[1]
GenreHip hop
Length3:32
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)DJ Muggs
Cypress Hill singles chronology
"Latin Lingo"
(1992)		 "Insane in the Brain"
(1993)		 "When the Shit Goes Down"
(1993)
Music video
"Insane in the Brain" on YouTube

Origins and structure

According to B-Real, the song was actually a diss song aimed at Chubb Rock. The group felt Chubb had ridiculed their style on his 1992 album I Gotta Get Mine Yo.[4]

It is claimed that DJ Muggs produced the song "Jump Around" by House of Pain, which was later used to produce this song, with minor changes.[5]

The song is built around many samples: a repeating sample of a horse from Mel and Tim's "Good Guys Only Win in Movies";[6][7] a drum break from organist George Semper's cover version of Lee Dorsey's "Get Out of My Life, Woman"; a sample of James Brown grunting from the opening of his song "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud"; a sample of the line "insane in the brain" from Cypress Hill's own song "Hole in the Head"; the opening keyboard from Sly and the Family Stone's "Life" and a sample of the line "I think I'm going crazy" from The Youngbloods' "All Over the World (La La)," which concludes the track. In 2008, it was ranked number 34 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.

According to a live interview aired on Double J during a feature of the Black Sunday album, [8] "insane in the membrane" was a localised gang term used at the time by the Crips when doing something crazy. It was then appropriated into this song. A 2019 interview with the British newspaper The Guardian elaborated further that both Bloods and Crips used a similar phrase as an informal insanity plea upon arrest.[5] The Double-J interview also notes that B-Real was a member of the Bloods.

Critical reception

Jesse Ducker from Albumism described "Insane in the Brain" as a "upbeat, pulsing, almost circus-like track".[9] Larry Flick from Billboard wrote, "One of the hip-hop community's leading acts returns with a slammin' romp. Resting on a beat-bed of loopy samples and nimble scratches, act drops rhymes that are even sharper than on previous efforts. A head-bobbin' midtempo groove leads them into a brain-embedding hook that will help knock down urban and pop radio doors."[10]

Music video

A music video for the track was filmed at San Francisco's DNA Lounge. The video, featuring the group performing at what appears to be a rave, makes heavy use of strobing effects and "psychedelic" colorations, alongside numerous shots of marijuana usage, all of which seemingly corresponds with the album's drug-filled recording process, as described by the group.[5]

Track listings
UK CD single
  1. "Insane in the Brain" (Radio Edit) - 3:32
  2. "Stoned Is the Way of the Walk" - 2:46
  3. "Something for the Blunted" - 1:15
  4. "Insane in the Brain" (Extended Version) - 4:56
1999 remix CD1
  1. "Insane in the Brain" (Jason Master Blaster Edit) - 4:06
  2. "Insane in the Brain" (Jason Master Blaster Club Mix) - 5:02
  3. "Insane in the Brain" (Da Funky Chunky Mix) - 6:36
1999 remix CD2
  1. "Insane in the Brain" (Nevins' Asylum Edit) - 3:40
  2. "Insane in the Brain" (Nevins' Asylum Club Mix) - 6:06
  3. "Insane in the Brain" (The Funky French B-Boy Remix) - 5:40

Charts
Chart (1993) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[11] 19
U.S. Hot Rap Songs[12] 14
U.S. Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales[13] 24
Year End Charts (1993) Official
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[14] 65

References
  1. "Insane in the Brain [Single] - Cypress Hill". AllMusic. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  2. "American certifications – Cypress Hill". Recording Industry Association of America.
  3. "Best-Selling Records of 1993". Billboard. BPI Communications. 106 (3): 73. January 15, 1994. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  4. "B Real Online". January 4, 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-01-04.
  5. "How we made Cypress Hill's Insane in the Brain" – The Guardian
  6. Hartz, Ronald; Nienhüser, Werner; Rätzer, Matthias (October 21, 2019). Ästhetik und Organisation: Ästhetisierung und Inszenierung von Organisation, Arbeit und Management. Springer-Verlag. ISBN 9783658219789 – via Google Books.
  7. "Samples of Good Guys Only Win in the Movies by Mel & Tim | SecondHandSongs". SecondHandSongs.
  8. Classic Albums Cypress Hill - Black Sunday
  9. Ducker, Jesse (July 16, 2018). "Cypress Hill's 'Black Sunday' Turns 25: Anniversary Retrospective". Albumism. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  10. Flick, Larry (June 26, 1993). "Single Reviews" (PDF). Billboard. p. 84. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  11. "Cypress Hill". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
  12. "The Year in Music: Rap" (PDF). Billboard. BPI Communications. 105 (52): YE-27. December 25, 1993. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  13. "The Year in Music: Dance" (PDF). Billboard. BPI Communications. 105 (52): YE-53. December 25, 1993. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  14. "Top Songs 1993". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
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