"Insane in the Brain" is a hit single by the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 hip hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 group Cypress Hill

Cypress Hill

Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. Cypress Hill was the first Latino hip-hop group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums, selling over 18 million albums worldwide...

. It was released in 1993 and in addition to hitting number 1 on the US rap chart, the song also was a surprise crossover hit, reaching number 19 in the Hot 100 chart in 1994. It was highly successful in other countries. The song was released on the group's Black Sunday

Black Sunday (album)

Black Sunday is the second album by rap group Cypress Hill. It was released on July 20, 1993. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 selling 261,000 copies in its first week, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group at the time. The album went Triple platinum in the U.S...

album.

The popular lyric "Insane in the membrane" is sometimes confused for the title.

Origins and structure

According to B-Real

B-Real

Louis Freese, better known by his stage name B-Real, is an American rapper of Cuban and Mexican heritage, and a film and TV actor...

, the song was actually a diss song aimed at Chubb Rock

Chubb Rock

Chubb Rock is a New York-based rapper who released several commercially successful hip hop albums in the early 1990s...

. The group felt Chubb had ridiculed their style on his 1992 album I Gotta Get Mine Yo

I Gotta Get Mine Yo

I Gotta Get Mine Yo is Chubb Rock's fourth full-length album released in 1992. The album is entirely produced by Chubb Rock himself and future stars Trackmasters...

.

The song is built around many samples: a repeating sample of a horse from Mel and Tim

Mel and Tim

Mel and Tim were an American soul music duo active in the 1960s and early 1970s, and best known for the hit, "Backfield in Motion" . They are also well known for: "Hope, Life's Goal" and "Starting All Over Again" .-Career:...

's "Good Guys Only Win in the Movies;" a drum break from organist George Semper's cover version of Lee Dorsey

Lee Dorsey

Lee Dorsey was an African American pop/R&B singer during the 1960s. Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint with instrumental backing provided by the Meters.-Career:...

's "Get Out of My Life, Woman;" a sample of James Brown

James Brown

James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...

 grunting from the opening of his song "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud

Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud

"Say It Loud — I'm Black and I'm Proud" is a funk song written and recorded by James Brown in 1968. It is notable both as one of Brown's signature songs and as one of the most popular Black Power anthems of the 1960s. The song was released as a two-part single which held the number-one spot on the...

;" 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

Sly & the Family Stone

Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music...

's "Life" and a sample of the line "I think I'm going crazy" from The Youngbloods

The Youngbloods

The Youngbloods was an American folk rock band consisting of Jesse Colin Young , Jerry Corbitt , Lowell Levinger, nicknamed "Banana," , and Joe Bauer . Despite receiving critical acclaim, they never achieved widespread popularity. Their only U.S. Top 40 entry was "Get Together".-Background and...

's "All Over the World (La La)," which concludes the track. In 2008, it was ranked number 34 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.

A video for the track was filmed at San Francisco's DNA Lounge

DNA Lounge

DNA Lounge is a late-night, all ages nightclub in the SoMa district of San Francisco owned by Jamie Zawinski, a former Netscape programmer and open-source software hacker. The club features DJ dancing, live music, burlesque performances, and occasionally conferences, private parties, and film...

.

In 1999 Jason Nevins

Jason Nevins

Jason Nevins is an American DJ, producer and remixer, who is most widely known for his pop dance productions.-Career:In the early 1990s, Nevins began releasing singles under various monikers through various dance labels, but achieved global recognition in 1998 with his production of Run-DMC's...

 released several remixes of the track under the name "Jason Nevins vs. Cypress Hill." The song was featured in the 2005 film Fun with Dick and Jane

Fun with Dick and Jane (2005 film)

Fun with Dick and Jane is a 2005 remake of the 1977 American comedy film of the same name, directed by Dean Parisot and written by Judd Apatow and Nicholas Stoller. It stars Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni as Dick and Jane Harper, an upper-middle-class couple who resort to robbery after the company for...

.

Track listings

UK CD single

1. "Insane in the Brain" (Radio Edit) - 3:32
2. "Stoned is the Way of the Walk" - 2:46
3. "Something for the Blunted" - 1:15
4. "Insane in the Brain" (Extended Version) - 4:56

1999 remix CD1

1. "Insane in the Brain" (Jason Master Blaster Edit) - 4:06
2. "Insane in the Brain" (Jason Master Blaster Club Mix) - 5:02
3. "Insane in the Brain" (Da Funky Chunky Mix) - 6:36

1999 remix CD2

1. "Insane in the Brain" (Nevins' Asylum Edit) - 3:40
2. "Insane in the Brain" (Nevins' Asylum Club Mix) - 6:06
3. "Insane in the Brain" (The Funky French B-Boy Remix) - 5:40

Reception

• It reached #85 on VH1
  VH1
  VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
  
  's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s.
• It reached #34 on VH1's 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs.

Charts

End of year chart (1993)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	65

External links

• [ AllMusic entry]