No. 47: B-Real

If you don't recognize the voice of Louis "B-Real" Freese by the end of the first syllable, there's something wrong with your ears — or there's something wrong with you.

As the dominant voice in Cypress Hill, B-Real made an immediate splash in 1991 with the group's lead single, "How I Could Just Kill A Man." His trademark nasal vocals set him apart, but his flow and rhymes proved from the jump that he was more than just another gimmick rapper in an era full of them. After establishing street cred with their self-titled debut, Cypress Hill delivered a massive crossover smash with its sophomore LP, Black Sunday. THC-fueled jams like "Insane In The Brain" and "Hits From The Bong" were huge hits with the college crowd, even those who hadn't given hip hop much of a chance before.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

The group saw its commercial success slow considerably from there despite a third album (Temples Of Boom) that might have been its best all-around effort, and with the exception of the 2000 hit single "Rap/Rock Superstar," Cypress Hill has toiled quietly in the shadows since, releasing six more albums together.

B-Real, meanwhile, has kept busy on the side by making guest appearances with...well, just about everybody. He rocked with RBX, KRS-One and Nas on Dr. Dre's lead Aftermath single, "East Coast West Coast Killas," in 1996 and has also blessed tracks for the likes of Outkast, De La Soul, Proof and Dilated Peoples.

Plenty of emcees have had unique voices or deliveries, but few of them used those vocal gifts to their full advantage like B-Real did. Though not necessarily worthy of inclusion based on lyrical content alone — at least 86.7 percent of his rhymes were about smoking weed or shooting people — he still merits a spot in the countdown because he managed to make major contributions during the Golden Age. Hip hop wouldn't be the same without him.