House of Pain - House of Pain
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Music CD Cover
Artist: House of PainEdition: Music CD
Format: Explicit Lyrics
CD Release Date: 1992-07-28
Music Label: Rhino / Ada
Soundtracks:
- Salutations
- Jump Around
- Put Your Head Out
- Top O' The Morning To Ya
- Commercial 1
- House And The Rising Son
- Shamrocks And Shenanigans
- House Of Pain Anthem
- Danny Boy, Danny Boy
- Guess Who's Back
- Commercial 2
- Put On Your Shit Kickers
- Come And Get Some Of This
- Life Goes On
- One For The Road
- Feel It
- All My Love
- Jump Around (Pete Rock Remix)
- Shamrocks And Shenanigans (Boom Shalock Lock Boom/Butch Vig Mix)
Free Music Notes for House of Pain
Free Music Review: Top 'o the Morning
Hit: 3 Stars
A few weeks ago I knew almost nothing about House of Pain. What I did know was Everlast, now a trashy blues singer, and DJ Lethal, who embarassingly ended up with Limp Bizkit, were members, and that wasn't encouraging. I figured they were ranked barely above Vanilla Ice in the realm of pre-Eminem white rappers. Then one day my roommate was playing a song I really liked, which never happens. It had that early 90s sound I love and the beat seemed to be the work of DJ Muggs, one of my favorite producers. I was surprised to learn it was House of Pain's "Jump Around," and I immediately did my research and then ordered this album.
What I got was a decent CD, not bad, not great. Everlast isn't a terrible rapper but he's not that good, either. He's got a very simple flow characteristic of the time period. The lyrics are all tough posturing, drinking, and Irish pride; I don't think there's a single track with any real lyrical content. This isn't surprising or expected. B-Real and Son Doobie, the other lead Soul Assassins rappers, also put style over content. But of these three, Everlast is the least impressive.
But nobody is buying this album because they heard Everlast is the greatest rapper. The production is handled by DJ Muggs, DJ Lethal, and some small contribution by Ralph Tha Funky Mixican. Most of these are Muggs' more average beats, but his average is still quality. Lethal comes off as a Muggs imitator, but a surprisingly good one. House of Pain's debut certainly doesn't save the best for last. "Jump Around," probably the reason you're reading this, is the first (minus the intro) and best song on here. The bouncy groove is classic Muggs, and Everlast is at his best. The second song, "Put Your Head Out" with B-Real, is in my opinion barely below "Jump Around," another classic Muggs joint, though this time with a much darker and more brooding groove.
Everything that comes afterwards pales in comparison to these two songs, which is disappointing. But then, it would have been really hard to bring that level of quality for a whole album. Of the other tracks, some are better than others but there's no real standouts. The beats are mostly simple basslines with acoustic drumsets and short guitar or horn loops set over them. The Muggs' grooves are slightly more complex than the Lethal ones. The two tracks with the Mixican on them have slightly different styles, one with slow, laid-back guitars and the other with some more East-coast-sounding horns. There are two remixes at the end. The first is Pete Rock's "Jump Around" remix which isn't bad but isn't as good as the original. The second, the metal remix of Shamrocks and Shenanigans, is terrible. Why do white hip-hoppers have to do this? It doesn't sound good and is damages their hip-hop credibility.
So this is mostly an average album, although average for the early 90s is a lot better than average in 2007. I don't expect to play this album a lot, but I don't mind having it in my collection.
I don't know why House of Pain doesn't get more attention for being white. We hear about the embarassment of Vanilla Ice and then skip right to Eminem, but on this album House of Pain hold it down. I'm impressed that instead of taking a wanna-be black route, they flaunt their Irish heritage every chance they get. They don't avoid their whiteness but they also don't come of as corny outsiders, probably because of their involvement with Soul Assassins. Their current careers may be questionable, but back then we had some decent white hip-hoppers.
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