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Talib Kweli & Cypress Hill On ‘Back In Black,’ Soul Assassins, Berner, OG Kush

By Hardcore Flava | June 27, 2022

In this episode of “People’s Party With Talib Kweli,” Kweli and Jasmin Leigh sit down with one of the most iconic and revolutionary hip hop groups of all-time:

CYPRESS HILL

Here’s what we got into:

• The progression of Cuban hip hop and emcees voicing their anger.
• Eric Bobo’s father Willie Bobo’s place in music history as a pioneer of Latin Jazz.
• B Real and Sen Dog’s gang ties coming up in South Gate, California.
• Convincing B Real to get off streets around the time he was shot.
• Sen Dog auditioning for the part of Santo Rivera on Sons Of Anarchy.
• Sen’s younger brother Mellow Man Ace being one of the forefathers of Latin hip hop
• Taking less money from the label that wasn’t going to suppress their creative freedom.
• Bobo joining Cypress Hill after getting off his tour with The Beastie Boys.
• Why New York heads at first thought Cypress Hill was from NY.
• B Real having to look over his shoulder during his early days of success.
• Cypress Hill becoming one of the music world’s biggest cannabis activists.
• B Real coming up with the lyrics for ‘Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk’.
• The importance of communication between the producer and emcee.
• Cypress Hill, Funkdoobiest, House Of Pain and The Whooliganz going on tour.
• Why B Real passed on the beat for House Of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’.
• Drawing inspiration from the Beastie Boys while opening for them on tour.
• ‘Insane In The Brain’ becoming ingrained in pop culture and taking a jab at Chubb Rock.
• Working with Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello.
• The chill and inclusive vibe of the Cypress Hill tour bus.
• The chain of events that led to Cypress Hill being banned from SNL.
• The origins of their rock influences and Sen Dog working with SX-10 and Powerflo.
• Contributions from Chace Infinite and B Smooth on their ‘IV’ album.
• The genius of the song ‘Looking Through The Eye Of A Pig’.
• Leaning heavy into Rock and Metal on the ‘Skull & Bones’ album.
• B Real getting competitive after forming the Stoned Assassins paintball team.
• B Real’s venturing into solo work with Berner and Scott Storch.
• Styles P challenging Cypress Hill to a “Smoker’s Olympics’.
• Cypress Hill being credited for the naming of the OG Kush cannabis strain.
• Their most recent album ‘Back In Black’ being five years in the making.
• The album ‘Elephants On Acid’ and the concepts on that record.
• Giving Sen Dog his chance to shine as an emcee on ‘Back To Black’.