*** Cypress Hill

IV

(Ruffhouse/Columbia)

On their fourth full-length, perennial Smokin' Grooves favorites Cypress Hill still can't decide whether they want to be Cheech and Chong or the Brothers Kray. The disc opens ominously with the reunited (just in time to tour last summer) B-Real and Sen Dog pulling a Bad Lieutenant on "Looking Through the Eyes of a Pig," demonstrating some surprising empathy (though not sympathy) for a deeply messed-up man in blue over one of DJ Muggs's classic hip-noir grooves. The rapping duo stay tough as Muggs reminds Prodigy that he was making disco noize first on "Riot Starter," and B-Real connects with his Latino gangsta roots à la Psycho Realm on "Tequila Sunrise," with its flamenco guitar noodling and mariachi horns. But all the tough talk is offset by some slapstick between-song shtickery, and yet another amusing ode to the chronic, "Dr. Greenthumb."

-- Matt Ashare