How I Could Just Kill a Man - Radio version

Cypress Hill is from South Gate, California, which was a rough area just outside of South Central Los Angeles. Their lead rapper, B-Real, was in a gang called the Latino Bloods and was shot when he was 17, and incident he details in their 1993 song "Lick A Shot." "How I Could Just Kill A Man" is about life in South Gate, where gang banging could lead to murder. B-Real had to be ready to kill a man if he had to, or else he could be killed himself. They sum up the sentiment in the chorus: Here is something you can't understand How I could just kill a man

"How I Could Just Kill A Man" was Cypress Hill's first single. It was a #1 hit on the Rap chart and helped their self-titled debut album sell over 2 million copies, making them the first big-time Latino rap group. Their next album, Black Sunday, was released in 1993 and was even bigger, selling over 4 million and crossing them over to a wider audience with the hit "Insane In The Brain."

Cypress Hill was a trio at this time comprised of rappers B-Real and Sen Dog along with DJ Muggs. They followed West Coast gangsta rappers like N.W.A and Ice-T, but with a very distinctive sound. B-Real has a high-pitched, nasally voice that sounds almost comical, and Sen Dog provides the harsh growl - he's the one who does the line, "How I could just kill a man!" Their DJ/producer, DJ Muggs, was a chemist on the turntables, working in lots of samples and grooves into distinctive sonic collages. "How I Could Just Kill A Man" hit in 1991 while gangsta rap was trending upward. A year later, Dr. Dre released The Chronic, which brought the genre to the forefront.