Same As It Ever Was – House Of Pain – Released June 28th, 1994, Tommy Boy Records
Same As It Ever Was is the second album by US hiphop group The House Of Pain. It was released in 1994 by Tommy Boy Records and features the singles Who’s The Man and On Point.
The House Of Pain consists of rappers Everlast, Danny Boy and DJ Lethal.
Everlast, real name Erik Schrody, began rapping as part of Ice T’s Rhyme Syndicate and released his debut solo album for Warner Brothers, Forever Everlasting, back in 1990. Despite a solid performance plus a guest appearance by Ice T, the album didn’t perform well and remains mostly unknown.
Unperturbed, Everlast got in touch with his old high school friend Daniel O’Connor, aka Danny Boy, and the pair decided to form a rap group.
They also recruited DJ Lethal (Leor Dimant), who previously worked on the Everlast album providing scratches on the single I Got The Knack.
Realising that an all-white rap group was going to need a gimmick to get airplay, they adopted the personas of rowdy Irish Americans and the rest is history.
Signing to Tommy Boy, the group released their debut album Fine Malt Lyrics in 1992 with additional production from Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs. This included work on the group’s first-single Jump Around, which launched the House of Pain to superstardom.
32 years on, Jump Around is still one of the best-loved and most played hiphop anthems of all time. It was huge in hiphop clubs at the time while also enjoying massive mainstream success.
While the Irish rapper gimmick certainly helped sell albums, it came at the cost of credibility and the group ran the risk of being written off as just another fad, “oh it’s those Jump Around guys.”
With Same As It Ever was, the group dialled back the “shamrocks and shenanigans” considerably, resulting in an album that sounded more grounded, mature and authentic.
Everlast is, without a doubt, the true star of the show here, while Danny Boy (the only House of Pain member with a bone fide Irish name) plays more of a supporting role.
DJ Lethal also joins in on the mic briefly alongside his DJ/production duties. While DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill returns to provide some beats for the album, much as he did with Fine Malt Lyrics.
While Fine Malt Lyrics has its fair share of bangers, Jump Around being the biggest one, Same As It Ever Was is a far more accomplished and compelling album.
On a personal level, it’s also one of my most beloved hiphop albums, an enduring fixture of my teenage years that always brings back memories of playing Super Nintendo at my mate’s house. He had this album on near-constant rotation and thus it was the soundtrack to endless Mario Kart battles and heated Street Fighter 2 tournaments.
A Lethal Combination
Though DJ Lethal is the group’s musical core, the first two House of Pain albums have the added benefit of beats from DJ Muggs. As such, I’ve always considered this to be a companion piece to Black Sunday.
House of Pain and Cypress Hill are close contemporaries who came up around the same time. They both came out swinging with their debut albums but didn’t truly hit their stride until their second album. House of Pain were punch drunk white boys while Cypress Hill were dark and hazy Latinos. Culturally they were worlds apart but with shared gritty sonics and a grimy, sepia-toned visual aesthetic.
Another parallel with Cypress Hill is their love of rock and roll.
Many commented on Everlast’s post-House of Pain pivot, “oh he’s gone solo now and now he’s a rocker.” This was because, A, they were unaware that he had a solo album before Fine Malt Lyrics (which bombed). And B, that Everlast was a rocker first, well before he started rapping.
The commercial success of Fine Malt Lyrics allowed Everlast to pare back the Irish airs and affectations considerably, allowing the rock influences to cut through.
In addition to taking its name from a Talking Heads track, the album references Pearl Jam, Henry Rollins, Aerosmith and Nirvana, alongside the usual plastic Paddy raiméis about corned beef and cabbage.
Listen carefully and you’ll also hear shoutouts to Sinn Féin (because it rhymes with House of Pain) and other up-the-‘Ra-related phrases which seems to have slipped by most people at the time. Though we certainly took notice.
In a fucked-up way, we were happy just to have our tiny little country acknowledged by a US rapper, whatever the context. Besides, if Everlast wanted to get a few digs in at the British and annoy John Major, who were we to object?
Thankfully, Same As It Ever Was has nowhere close to the amount of tacky Shillelagh-swinging shite talk as its predecessor and a lot of the Irish references almost feel like they were there to meet the bare minimum requirements of a contractually-obliged quota.
And since the album represented the tail end of the group’s Irish pretentions it sounded way more authentic as a result.
(Having said that, as someone who’s been driving around in Ireland re-listening to all these albums for review, I can tell you that this one is far more suited to driving around town during Irish weather than Warren G’s Regulate was, we just don’t have g funk weather in this country.)
Guess Who’s Back?
For the second time in a row Everlast is back from the dead, except this time he doesn’t have a shaved head. The lyrical Lazarus enjoyed multiple resurrections in the early 90s, seemingly popping his brogues on a regular basis.
Can’t quite recall the exact story behind this one, beyond the fact that there were rumours about Everlast’s death. This is despite the fact he’d just appeared in the movie Judgement Night, while providing one of the better songs for its soundtrack.
Back From The Dead is a perfect way to open the album and serves as a reminder that fake news existed well before the growth of the internet. It’s also a reminder of how good peak-DJ Muggs was with a gob-slapping double bass, swift-jabbing jazzy stabs and a stupefying punchy beat.
The bell rings for the first round and the gnarly yank in the green fightin’ Irish trunks is already charging out swinging wildly…
And from the first moment you can tell he means business. Fine Malt Lyrics was more gimmicky, more cartoonish, a big lairy leprechaun quaffing ales and vomiting up lucky charms.
But this time it’s serious. Everlast sounds older, angrier, and a lot raspier too, like he’s been gargling rusty nails, thumb tacs and whiskey.
Or, as he puts it, “House of Pain’s in effect, nuff said.”
I’m A Swing It is the first song on the album credited to DJ Lethal though it’s still got a distinctly Muggsy vibe. It’s also sees Danny Boy joining the fray for the first time, though it’s still very much the Everlast show.
I love the Phil Collins/Henry Rollins line on this one, also the cherry tree verse and the shoutout to the Groovie Ghoulies.
All That is the first of a series of short instrumental tracks from DJ Lethal before we get to one of the album’s second single, and one of my personal favourites, On Point.
As teenagers in Ireland getting into hiphop, one line, in particular, rang loud and clear.
“Back in the days there were Irish ways
And Irish laws, stand up for The Cause.”
How much Everlast actually cared about Irish reunification is anyone’s guess, but we lapped it up nonetheless.
Aside from Everlast, Danny Boy gets a lot more to do on this track, as indeed, does DJ Lethal, who not only delivers one of the sickest beats on the album, he also delivers a brief but memorable verse describing himself as “the mad bum Russian”, despite being of Latvian descent.
Guess that’s because nobody in America knows where Latvia actually is but well, that was 1994. I don’t know many Latvians who would willingly call themselves Russian in 2024 though.
Wait, what were we talking about? Ah yes, On Point. I mean who doesn’t like a bitta geopolitics in a House of Pain album review? Ok, I’ll get back on point myself then, moving on…
Runnin’ Up On Ya is the second Muggs track on the album with a beat that could easily have been an outtake from Black Sunday. It’s all about that double bass sound and the high-pitched trumpeting whine sound I love so much.
We also get Everlast’s second up-the-ra-ism on the album, “Sinn Féin, it’s the House of Pain, our day will come” as well as a reference to the Black and Tans.
Pretty incendiary stuff (no pun intended) given the IRA were still active at the time, yet somehow the British tabloids missed it. (I guess they were too busy vilifying the rave scene at the time.)
Add to that some Nirvana (Come as you are) and a Hellraiser reference (“I’ll rip out your veins with whips and chains just like Pinhead”) and you got some pretty intense lyrics that are much darker than anything from the previous album.
Over There Shit is another Muggs track (as if you can’t tell) with yet another sick beat that should come with a health warning, “sustained listening may cause neck strain.”
Seriously, I’m bopping away here and trying to type while my head’s bobbing up and down in tempo…
More faux Hibernia on this one, namely a reference to “corned beef and cabbage.”
<sigh>
…Alright, alright, let’s address this one, let’s get it out of the way so we can move forward with our lives.
Now I’m not going to lie to you and say Irish food is great (it’s absolute shit) but corned beef and cabbage is some bizarre American invention, we don’t eat that shit.
Which comes as a huge surprise to visiting Americans.
Suffice to say you won’t find that crap anywhere in Ireland except Dublin, and only then in one of those tourist-trap pubs in Temple Bar that caters to clueless Americans and vomiting Glaswegians while charging them double figures for a pint.
Anyways, aside from the corned beef bollocks, it’s another quality performance from Everlast. My highlight from this one is the line, “I’m a sick fucker like a redneck trucker.”
Not sure why but that line just tickles me and I emit a tiny giggle every time I hear it.
Word Is Bond sees Everlast team with Diamond D, who also produced the track. Hence the reason it stands out for having a very different vibe to the rest of the album.
Word is bond – I got respect for Diamond D but honestly, but I’ve never been a fan of this track and it’s my least favourite track on the album. Which is why back in the days my mate used to always play it twice just to irritate me.
Keep It Comin’ is another Muggs joint with some more funky double bass courtesy of the track Oh My God by Richard Davis.
It’s not a standout track this one, but it’s still got some great lines by Everlast, with a slightly darker and more introspective tone than some of other tracks, bar the “free John Gotti” line that comes out of nowhere on the last verse.
Interlude is another short instrumental piece by DJ Lethal. Worth noting it samples the Joe Williams version of Get Out My Life Woman, whereas the Lee Dorsey version is also sampled twice on this album and remains a perennial go-to beat for hiphop producers.
Next up is the title track, Same As It Ever Was which sees Muggs at the controls once more. Danny Boy also returns to share equal billing with Everlast for a change as both rappers bring their A-game.
This one also has a killer hook, made all the more infectious due to the inclusion of that unmistakable guitar riff sample of Please Don’t Go.
Please Don’t Go’s an old blues staple, later made famous by the Irish band Them (with Van Morrison on vocals), though the sample used here is from the 1967 Amboy Dukes (Ted Nugent) version.
Ripping off such a well-known track shouldn’t work in theory, but in practice Muggs is the man, and, as-always, delivers a beat with gusto. I also love how Everlast just starts bursting out laughing at the end, he sounds properly demented.
It Ain’t A Crime is a textbook example of a lost art in hiphop, the story rap.
Both Lethal and Muggs share production credits on this one, with samples via Albert King and Lee Dorsey.
I’ve said this before in relation to Ice Cube, I’m a huge fan of rap tracks which tell a story though few rappers, in my opinion, have the lyrical chops to execute it properly.
Nowadays Everlast is famous for story-ballads, most famously the Grammy-nominated What It’s Like. The song surprised a lot of people at the time but looking back you can see the seeds of his future song-writing career beginning to germinate on It Ain’t A Crime.
It’s pure hiphop and a fantastic piece of storytelling, plus it’s got an important message too.
Remember kids:
“It ain’t a crime if you don’t get caught,
It ain’t a sale if it don’t get bought,
It ain’t a show if I don’t get paid,
She ain’t a hoe if you don’t get laid.”
Classic.
Where I’m From sees Lethal return with some jazzy beats while Everlast namedrops Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Rage Against The Machine. Again we’re getting hints at his rock/hiphop hybrid direction.
And, in the same way that It Ain’t A Crime is a textbook storytelling rap, Where I’m From is a textbook “back in the day” reminiscing rap, where Everlast talks about growing up and the people who he used to hang with…
“How you know where you goin’ if you don’t look back?
What’s the use of havin’ ends if you lose all your friends?”
I actually forgot all about this one, smiling now as I’m reacquainted. Again, it may not be among the best tracks on the album but it’s still of a much higher standard than a lot of hiphop from the last 20 years.
Still Got A Lotta Love is yet another textbook track. This time it’s the obligatory “shout out” rap.
For this reason, Lethal keeps the beats minimal while Everlast gives props to “the pioneers” as well as close peers like Funkdoobiest and Cypress Hill.
Who’s The Man is the album’s first single and was originally released as the theme tune to the 1993 movie of the same name.
The track was produced by Lethal but has a distinctly Muggsy vibe. The double bass sample comes via a Gene Russell record (Get Down) while the “Who’s The Man” vocal hook comes via 70s funksters the Kay-Gees.
The albums ends with On Point (Lethal Dose Remix), a remix of the earlier track albeit less kinetic.
Which is a shame really, it’s a perfectly serviceable remix but I love the original so much why bother? (Similar story with the Pete Rock remix of Jump Around, I love Pete Rock but with a banger like that, why bother?)
And it always had the effect of ending the album on a downer, but I’ll admit that’s such a petty nit-pick for an album that, 30 years on, is of such astonishing quality.
Who’s The Man?
Everyone knows Jump Around. It’s a choon for the ages. And if Everlast is truly everlasting, he’ll still be earning royalties from it centuries from now.
But there’s so much more to the House Of Pain than that hit single.
Same As It Ever Was is peak House of Pain, not only is it the group’s best record, I put it up there on the same level of the podium as Cypress Hill’s Black Sunday as one of the best hiphop albums of the 1990s.
House of Pain ended up making just three albums. Their third album, titled Truth Crushed To Earth Shall Rise Again, came out two years later in 1996.
But the fact that I had to Google the name of the album to be sure I had the name right (I didn’t) should tell you everything you need to know about it.
I know fans of the first two albums who weren’t even aware of its existence or, if they were, have since forgotten about it. That said it does have some choice moments, especially when Everlast teams up with Guru from Gang Starr.
The result is the Gang Star / House Of Pain hybrid you didn’t realise you needed in your life, as the rappers include lines from each other’s raps. (Always get a huge grin on my face whenever I hear Guru start off a verse with, “pack it up, pack it in.”)
All delivered on the same beat as just to get a rep, sampling Jean Jacque Perry’s EVA.
Overall, the third album was a decent effort but lacked the magic of earlier releases. Though at least we were spared all the corned beef and cabbage.
Everlast’s career only improved after going solo in 1998 as he demonstrated his songwriting chops were equal to his rapping.
DJ Lethal, meanwhile, went down the nu-metal route with Limp Bizkit. My thoughts on nu metal are on record so let’s skip the rant and talk about poor Danny Boy, whose musical career post-HOP career didn’t quite reach the same heights.
Instead, O’Connor struggled with substance abuse and related issues for around a decade but has since gotten sober and remains involved in multiple musical and artistic projects.
I should probably also mention La Coka Nostra, a House Of Pain spin-off group though, Everlast’s solo stuff aside, most the post-HOP output’s never been my thing.
Whereas 30 years on this album still slams, the beats, the bass, the rhymes – the full package. When you want to rock a funky joint, it’s on point.