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“Insane In The Brain” was released as the lead single from Cypress Hill’s second album. It topped in August 1993 the US Rap Chart and reached #19 on the US Pop Chart the following month. It was also successful outside the US, reaching the top 40 in several countries like Ireland, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The song remains their most successful and well-known. B-Real says this song “is the one that really put us on the map”.
According to B-Real, “Insane In The Brain” was actually a diss song aimed at Chubb Rock. The group felt Chubb had ridiculed their style on his song “Yabadabadoo” from his 1992 album I Gotta Get Mine Yo. Sen Dog explained:
"Chubb Rock did a whole song dissing B-Real, so I told B-Real, ‘Cook his ass real good,’ which he did."
The phrase “Insane in the membrane” was a localized gang term used at the time by the Crips when doing something crazy. Sen Dog explained:
"Back then, the Crips and the Bloods – who I ran with – were at war,“ he said. You could have a shootout with the police or anyone. So if you walked up to somebody and said, ‘I’m crazy insane, got no brain,’ you’d better be ready to prove that shit. That lingo was reserved for the hardest homies."
DJ Muggs has previously produced the song “Jump Around” by House of Pain, and it is claimed he used the basic formula to produce this song, with minor changes.
The song is built around many samples: 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 & 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.
Billboard ranked “Insane In The Brain” as the #65 biggest song of 1993. In 2007, it was ranked #85 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s.
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