Last time Cypress Hill made an appearance on this site, they were rocking out some smooth, Latin-infused flavor with Marc Anthony and Pitbull. The reception was more than positive, with most people surprisingly accepting the radio-ready single, despite the obviously odd combination from the Black Sunday bong-tokers. Read the rest of this entry »

So get this. Michael “Shagg” Washington of Cypress Hill fame is suing Rockstar Games for $250 Million over wrongful use of his likeness. Apparently Rockstar met with Shagg in 2003 and adopted the tales of his youth involving gang life and bike riding as inspiration to create CJ, GTA San Andreas’s main character. It’s easy to laugh this off as a money grab on Shagg’s part but it basically breaks down like this: Read the rest of this entry »

Perhaps the best track of the L.A. brood’s Rise Up gets the video treatment. The streets of New York provide the backdrop, perhaps in homage to the Pete Rock beat. Heavy on the live action shots, “Light Up” proves Cypress still has quite the rambunctious energy, an accompanying following and a continuing love for cannabis, despite Prop 19’s failures. Read the rest of this entry »

– After all the posturing and jive talk, Jim Jones & Co. took home the Band Of Ballers Crown for the second straight year. Best part is nobody was tased like in Philly. So much for all Black functions ending in violence.

– Is this the cover of the most anticipated Rap album of the year?

– Back like it never left The Boondocks (& Uncle Ruckus) had the internet going nuts with their antics.

– This Just In: Kobe Bryant Is Not Gay. Wish we could say the same about the first round of the NBA playoffs. Read the rest of this entry »

Rise Up, the latest album from High Times cover boys Cypress Hill, is an exercise in meeting expectations,. Multiple odes to marijuana? Check. Token attempts at rap-rock crossover? Of course. Cheech and Chong in the interludes? What do you think? Read the rest of this entry »

Latins coming together to Rise Up in Hip-Hop is always a welcomed look. Still smokin’ after all these years, B-Real & The Gang bring the joyous salsa vibes to flavor the summer season with a video that only adds to the song’s increasing popularity. Read the rest of this entry »

Damn. Cypress Hill’s lead single from their upcoming eighth album, Rise Up, is not what I expected at all and I mean that in a very good way. Reiterating a classic Crosby, Stills, Nash refrain and maximizing output from Latin pop staples Pitbull and Marc Anthony, these three stoned raiders have emerged from the ashes once again to reinvent themselves for radio. Read the rest of this entry »

Ashleigh Hue. Hubba Hubba.

Top 10 New Hip-Hop Releases For September [About]

Cypress Hill Bring Back Smoke Out Festival [HHDX]

VH-1 Announces Bobby Brown “Behind the Music” Episode [WooHa]

The 50 Greatest Characters From The Wire [Fansided]

Freshman Hall Superlatives [College Humor]

Smarten Up, Rappers [TRU]

Top 10 Back To School iPhone Apps [Gizmodo]

Will Final Destination’s Gut-Sucking Scene Suck Life Out of Chuck Palahniuk Movie? [Vulture]

Can I Sue Gmail For Going Off-line? [Slate]

New Balance Spring 2010 Preview [Sneaker News]

Girl Spends Lottery Winnings On Coke, Implants & Booze [BoH]

Why Wasn’t Chris Paul’s Amazing Season More Recognized? [Dime]

Tupac’s Estate Seeks Millions From Production Company [HHDX]

Drug Giant Pfizer To Pay Record $2.3B Fine [CNN]

West coast Hip-Hop has seemed to pick up it’s pace again in the last year or so with the help of newcomers such Blu, Jay Rock, and Crooked I being extremely viral with their artist marketing. But it’s the legends from the Left Coast that seem to keep it’s heart beating through the ups and downs. E-40, Cube, and any rapper affiliated with the Dogg Pound have all been present on the Hip-Hop scene in the last few, but one of the crews that have been noticeably absent is the cannabis loving, Latin Hip-Hop group Cypress Hill, who were just honored last year by VH1 on Hip Hop Honors.

Consequently, the group’s most distinguishable voice, B-Real is poised to drop his first solo effort in his 15+ years in the game, Smoke N Mirrors. The album while a far cry from his Cypress days production-wise, still maintains that hazy feel of a room infiltrated with second-hand blunt ashes. Muggs doesn’t show up with a beat on the entire album but the capable hands of The Alchemist, Soopafly, J-Turner and even B-Real himself take upon themselves to usher in the P-Funk. Read the rest of this entry »

Uh-oh.

Oliver Stoned has entered the building.

After Juelz Santana challenged the world of hip-hop to the now famous Smoke-a-Thon, every substance-abusing rapper and their weed carrier has come out of the woodwork to claim the would-be throne. Many eager challengers have already submitted their entry, but none have done it with quite the gusto of Dr. Greenthumb himself, B-Real. Read the rest of this entry »

Words by Khalid Strickland

At the crack of noon the other day, I rose out of bed, lit a pre-rolled spliff and set things off with a wake-and-bake session. Once that marinated, I was ready to interview B-Real of Cypress Hill. Our chat was via phone so we couldn’t have a smoking session in the physical. But I refused to chop it up with the dude who penned songs like “Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk” and “Hits From The Bong” without getting toasted first.

The word legend gets kicked around a lot, but in B-Real’s case the title is deserving. From the time since they dropped their self-titled debut album in 1991, Cypress Hill has sold 18 million albums worldwide; 11 mil in the U.S. alone. They’re the first Latino rap group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums. Rapping about marijuana is customary now, but it was Cypress who got the ball (and blunts) rolling with their THC-laced lyrics. VH1 acknowledged Cypress Hill’s place in history by presenting the group with a Hip-Hop Honors award in October 2008. After all of those accomplishments, B-Real is adding another notch to his belt by releasing his first solo album, Smoke N Mirrors. Spark up a fatty and peep the conversation between the Crew’s Khalid Strickland and the Stoned Raider, B-Real.

TSS: What is Smoke N Mirrors going to add to an already stellar catalog?

B-Real: That’s hard to say. It remains to be seen, you know? I’ve done a lot of work with Cypress. Significant work at that, with some decent amount of success. It’s hard to follow that up. The best I can do is make the best album possible and just put it out there and see what the people think about it. Hopefully what they get from it is that they find something they can connect to, whether it’s a thought that was provoked or anything, man. ‘Cause people find different things to cling to in songs, whether it’s taking them away from whatever stressful situation they got for that moment; or whether it’s something they’re going through and maybe you say something in the song. And they get the feeling like, “Damn, somebody thinks the way I think or feels the way I feel.”

Another thing is that they see what the capabilities are of me as a producer and stuff like that; just my versatility as an artist, writer and producer and what not. And just the overall feeling of the album because I don’t think it’s like anything else out there. It’s not groundbreaking or anything like that, but it’s traditional Hip-Hop with a lot of substance behind it.

TSS: Why is the time right for a B-Real solo jump-off?

B-Real: Well, for me everything is about timing, man. In the course of our career, I never really had that much time to focus on something solo because I’ve been so dedicated to Cypress and I didn’t want to fuck that up. At our last record with Sony, which was Til Death Do Us Part, we had a significant amount of time that we could pull off all of our solo projects because there was really no deadline for another Cypress Hill album since we had fulfilled our deal. So it was perfect timing for us to go off and do whatever little solo ventures we wanted to do. Muggs had wanted to do the Muggs Vs. GZA, Muggs Vs. Sick Jacken, Planet Asia & all that stuff. Sen Dog had a couple of records he was working on; doing his Diary Of A Mad Dog and his Reyes Brothers record with his brother, Mellow Man Ace. BoBo has his Meeting of the Minds album.

For me, my whole thing was…I got some advice from Busta Rhymes a long time ago, probably like in ’97. We were on the Smoking Grooves Tour and he said to me, “Man, you need to one day just break out and do a solo record. Not break away from the group, but just to show your versatility and show motherfuckers that you got heat outside of that.” And I always thought about it but like I said, I never really had the time. So when this time came up, there was two things I wanted to do specifically: Work on my production to develop my sound and to make this record. So it took me the better part of three years to really get the sound down for the record and for me to develop my sound as a producer and stuff.

TSS: What did you see in Duck Down Records that made you want to collaborate with them?

B-Real: Well, I saw something that reminded me of Ruff House Records. It was an East Coast-based independent label. Ruff House was fairly new when Cypress Hill signed to it but the difference between Duck Down and Ruff House was that Duck Down was one of the first independent labels doing straight Hip-Hop and that has survived all this time because they know what the fuck they’re doing. They see what they’re supposed to do with this Hip-Hop shit. A lot of record labels have gotten it twisted and some of those labels ain’t around no more. Or maybe their artists ain’t making that much noise and shit like that. Duck Down, they get it. They saw my vision. They didn’t want me to do what Cypress Hill does. A lot of labels that I tried to shop my shit to wanted me to do what Cypress does. They wanted me to do the Rock/Rap shit; they wanted me to talk about the herb all over the fuckin’ place.

If I was leaving Cypress Hill and there was no more Cypress Hill, maybe I would consider that. But Cypress Hill hasn’t broken-up. Cypress Hill isn’t going away; we very much still have a lot of momentum going our way. So I couldn’t piggyback off the sound or the image or style, you know what I mean? So I wanted to make something distinct and Duck Down got that. The other labels, they were trying to bank off of the success of Cypress Hill. Duck Down, they wanted to pull some of that momentum but they were totally willing to let me gamble and make my own brand. You know, extend to a different thing and branch out and shit instead of pretty much recycling what I’ve done before.

TSS: How did it feel to win a Hip-Hop Honors award?

B-Real: It was great, man. I know what we’ve accomplished in the game. I know the trends that we’ve set in the game and the influences we’ve had, but all that comes and goes in the eyes of many. I just never expected it, so when it came it was a great surprise and a great honor to go in with the class that we went in with. We started off with Naughty By Nature so it was good going in with them. De La Soul, we’ve been really good friends with them forever. We’ve done many shows, tours and what not with them and we’ve developed a bond with them. And for another West Coast legend like Too Short to be going in, it was just great. Then Slick Rick, the greatest storyteller of all-time, man. It was a fun night, a great time and when people ask me what’s the thing that you can be most proud of in the game aside from our obvious successes with our records and stuff like that, I would say (the Hip-Hop Honor) because it’s something that we never thought would come about.

TSS: Unlike other forms of music, like Rock for instance, new rappers and some fans are quick to usher out the O.G.’s. Some people say that the veterans need to retire when they’ve got plenty left in the tank. Do you have any thoughts on that? Read the rest of this entry »

While slangin’ bean pies and St. Ides in the same sentences ultimately just leads to bruised egos, the premium malt liquor’s commercial impact on hardcore Hip-Hop is nothing to chastise. Albums like Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, Reasonable Doubt, and We Can’t Be Stopped may be considered classics in most rap circles, but those artists weren’t necessarily making huge waves in the mainstream circuit. Read the rest of this entry »

Smoke And Mirrors drops February 24th, 2009.

Previously Posted – Smokin’ Solo | “Stoned Raiders…” | “Tequilla Sunrise, Bloodshot Eyes…”

Words By K1NG

Although I am extremely happy to see Hip-Hop welcome in a plethora of rookies as of late, it’s still nice to see the elder statesman of the culture still put out quality music amidst the fickle industry that has forced us to forget about the majority of our legends. Read the rest of this entry »

The calm before the storm. Read the rest of this entry »