“We always try to make a place where we can constantly be creative,” said B-Real by Cypress Hill. He talks about his downtown studio, where group comrades have made most of their recording in the past decade.
If anything, it is certainly comfortable. He is huddled on a black leather sofa alongside his longtime friends and members of the group during a zoom interview. Eric Bobo leans in the camera of his right, wearing a leather jacket and hiding his eyes under a bucket hat and a black sunglasses combo. Sen Dog is on his left, the air as calm as ever and smiling from time to time. Dj Lord hangs over the edge of the sofa, his hat leaning on the side.
The walls behind them are decorated with photos and platinum records collected during their quarries almost 40 years old. A lighter film resonates while B-Real triggers a joint and takes a puff.
The latest company in the group takes them into the world of concert films, but with a touch.
Perhaps you remember sinking into an tilting chair and getting your feet in 1995. You take the remote control, you turn to Fox and connect the last episode of “The Simpsons”. This episode brings viewers to the “Hullabalooza” summer music festival, where Marge and Co. falls on behind the scenes.
“Hello, groups”, shouts an impatient stage manager, “who plays with the London Symphony Orchestra?”
The camera is strolled at Cypress Hill, which whispers with each other: “Yes, have we ordered an orchestra?”
Eric Bobo, on the left, B-Real, DJ Lord and Sen Dog of Cypress Hill.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“Yeah, yes, we think we did,” explains a version of B-Real yellow cartoon. “Do you know” crazy in the brain “?”
“We know above all classic … but we could try,” replies a violinist. What follows is an emblematic clip dancing around a symphonic version of the song.
It is a hilarious moment in the history of television that could easily have been lost against time. But thanks to DJ Muggs, the idea has remained with the members for a long time. He floated for a while, but gained momentum after their peers from the East coast, Wu-Tang Clan, took an orchestral performance at the Red Rocks amphitheater in 2021.
“We were a bit like:” Well, if they did, let's do it, “joked B-Real. “We thank” The Simpsons “for writing this, because it has become a part of our history, and now even more.”
The group began to prepare for something special, running “Black Sunday” in full with Colorado Symphony in July 2023 for its 30th anniversary and to make four other symphonic shows. They also repeated with the LSO themselves, a “surreal” moment that “no rapper never thinks they are going to have”.
On July 10, 2024, their work led them to the Royal Albert Hall. In an unknown territory, the four stood dressed from head to toe in black suit, accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra, playing with a closed window of more than 5,000 fans.
“It was like one of these” what the F— “moments like:” Oh, my God, I cannot believe that it happens “,” said B-Real. “When we started over 30 years ago, there was no way you could tell me that we would never do something with a symphony, not to mention LSO.”
The show was a huge success, and they got out with a single “F – Up” that B -Real promises very well: “I will not let anyone know where it is!”
“We are just happy that it worked,” he said, laughing. “Above all, be in the costumes and do all these things and not be able to move with the energy with which we move normally.”
Translating it to the screen went well because the members have regularly received “daily newspapers” of production to make their opinions. But, as Bobo admits, “they really nailed him … we were stunned from the first cup.”
“When you work with a large team, it facilitates the task a lot,” says Lord, while Bobo takes a second to light up. “It was mutual respect.”
Coordination and transparent production can really be seen in the final product. As it was heard during a toilet conversation during a Prime Minister: “Saint S—, I should have canceled my trip to Tokyo and be there … But watching it feels like being there anyway!”
It is an amazing version of an album already acclaimed by criticism. B-Real and Sen Dog Jam at the front of the stage, while Dj Lord tears his plate and Bobo beats on the drums. The orchestra front is Troy Miller, who commands his musicians like an army. Notably, he cannot stop smiling while elegantly waving in his stick.
Fans are invited to get up and dance, which is just as admirable and hilarious. There is something undeniably funny to see people wiggle under the red velvet curtains of their seats, shouting back and forth with the group. In a 154 -year place that requires the label, it is a testimony of the constantly evolving sound of Cypress Hill.
DJ Lord, on the left, B-Real, Sen Dog and Eric Bobo by Cypress Hill.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Basic songs now seem completely different: funky classics like “Dr. Greenthumb ”becomes dark and mysterious with symphonic support. Cypress Hill even performs “Cuban Necktie”, an implacable song that becomes even more intense with violins carrying the cadence of B-Real between the bars.
The most astonishing aspect of performance, however, is that no member has lit a joint throughout the show. B-Real reduces it the “prestige and history” of the place and respecting its rules. Even during rehearsals, they would make sure to go out during smoking.
“During our first rehearsal together, when the people of LSO started to come, they immediately felt the grass and said:” Oh, they are there! “” Bobo remembers, distinguishing their words in his attempt at a chic British accent.
Of course, in London where the grass remains illegal, they were sometimes “chastised” by passers -by, but “we did not give an AF – because that's what we do!”
Fans of the group can attend the entire performance while “Black Sunday Live to the Royal Albert Hall” makes a theatrical race limited to the United States on March 30 and 31 and April 2. They will have to wait until June 6 to get their hands on its physical version of the CD, LP and the cassette.
One day, Angelenos could well be able to see him in person, while Cypress Hill actively conversed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic about the conduct of the show. The two had trouble locking anything, but giving fans of the who experience “is the play”.
In the meantime, an album in Spanish is apparently on the horizon. Perhaps even another album or EP of Cypress Hill, but “it will not necessarily be hip-hop”.
“We have the impression that we have done enough hip-hop for life AF-for life,” explains B-Real. “We love it, but as a group, as a group, we feel like we can settle down.
