''Same as It Ever Was'' is the second album by American hip hop group

House of Pain House of Pain was an American hip-hop trio that released three albums in the 1990s. The group consisted of DJ Lethal, Danny Boy, and Everlast. The group's name is a reference to the H. G. Wells novel ''The Island of Dr. Moreau'', a refere ...

. It was released in 1994 and peaked at number 12 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine that ranks contemporary R&B, R&B and hip hop music, hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. Th ...

and ''Billboard'' 200. To record the album, the group had to work around

Everlast Erik Francis Schrody (born August 18, 1969), known by his stage name Everlast, is an American musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter, who was the frontman for hip hop group House of Pain. He was also part of the hip hop supergroup La Coka ...

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if ...

for a gun charge. The clean version of the second song from the album, "I'm a Swing It", was featured in the 2001 skateboarding video game ''

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3'' is a 2001 skateboarding video game and the third installment in the ''Tony Hawk's (series), Tony Hawk's'' series. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision under the Activision O2 label in 2001 for th ...

''.

Reception

''Same as It Ever Was'' did not sell as well as their previous album had and reached gold status by

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

. ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

'' gave it four out five stars. Matt Carlson of ''

The Michigan Daily ''The Michigan Daily'' is the weekly student newspaper of the University of Michigan. Its first edition was published on September 29, 1890. The newspaper is financially and editorially independent of the University's administration and other st ...

'' found the album quite good and noted "the music is laid back with some heavy driving forces underlying and strengthening it". Andrew Love of ''

The Ocala Star-Banner The ''Ocala StarBanner'' is the daily newspaper in Ocala, Florida, United States, and serves Marion County and the surrounding communities. The ''Ocala StarBanner'' has a daily circulation of about 43,000, and is the 19th-largest newspaper in t ...

'' gave it four stars saying "this is a band that has definitely progressed over the course of one album". J.D. Constantine of ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

'' did not like album and found it monotonous and unimaginative. Roger Catlin of the ''

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New H ...

'' said that while finding the continuity monotonous it's "hard and compelling" as well as a "strong outing". Music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave the album an A- and described it as "the hardest hip hop of the year."

Track listing

Personnel

* Eric Francis Schrody – vocals (tracks 1–2, 4–8, 10–15), mixing (tracks 12, 14) * Daniel O’Connor – vocals (tracks 2, 4, 10, 14–15), art direction * Leor Dimant – vocals (tracks 4, 15), production (tracks 2–4, 9, 11–15), mixing (tracks 3, 9, 12, 14, 15) * Lawrence Muggerud – executive production, production (tracks 1, 5–6, 8, 10-11), mixing (tracks 1–2, 4–6, 8, 10-11, 13, 15) * Joseph Kirkland – vocals, production and mixing (track 7) *Nick Vidal – production (track 1) *Eric Vidal – production (track 1) *Tom Coyne – mastering *Jason Roberts – engineering *Erwin Gorostiza – art direction *Butch Belair – photography *Ron Jaramillo – design *Kenton Parker – logo design

Charts

Certifications

References

1994 albums House of Pain albums Tommy Boy Records albums Albums produced by DJ Muggs Albums produced by DJ Lethal Albums produced by Diamond D {{1990s-hiphop-album-stub Singles: On Point, Who's The Man