An Interview with Cypress Hill's B-Real and DJ Muggs
This interview was originally published in the December 1995 issue of Street Beat magazine.
“I’ve got a message for you all,” announced B-Real at the Los Angeles Lowrider Supershow. “Ice Cube melts in the tray, but you can B-Real forever.” Oh yeah? Then “just throw your set in the air, and wave it around like you just don’t care,” because the one and only Cypress Hill sat down with Street Beat to explain the situation.
The scene with Ice Cube is plenty messed up, but that wasn’t the only thing on the minds of B-Real and DJ Muggs when Street Beat got the goods. On the eve of Cypress Hill III: Temple of Boom’s release, there were plenty of things weighing on the minds of this trio, interviewed here without Sen Dog. Aside from Cube, the two also talked about the presidential elections and their effect on the rap world, Muggs’ solo career, B’s lowriders and “selling out.”
So what’s wrong with making it big, anyway? If you listen to the lyrics, you ought to know what’s up, but critics – from less successful hip-hoppers to writers from The Source – have had some loose lips and some sharp teeth. Cypress Hill’s triple platinum album Black Sunday, their crossover into the mainstream, their acceptance by the “alternative” audience and subsequent tour with Lollapalooza have all been the source of some serious disrespect.
It’s a gold-plated cross to bear, but it seemed to Street Beat that Cypress just wasn’t comfortable with their step “up” into the cappuccino and croissant crowd. You can take the homeboy out of the ‘hood, but you just can’t take the ‘hood out of the homeboy.
Street Beat: Keep it real? B-Real? What is real?
B-Real: For me, the definition of being real is just being yourself, you know? A lot of these people who are saying “keep it real” are actually putting up an act. I don’t portray myself as Mr. Invincible – whatever comes out of me is what I feel. As for the name, I used to clown around so much that my homeboys would say, “C’mon, be real!” One time we were tagging and they were like, “What do you want to put up?” The name just stuck with me after that.
SB: Why are rappers who make it considered “sellouts” instead of being celebrated for their accomplishments?
DJ Muggs: There’s a lot of envy, a lot of finger pointing. I’ve said this for a long time, how do you regulate your own record? Are you going to go to a record store and see who is buying your album? Are you gonna say, “No, you can’t buy that’ if they aren’t the right kind of person? We’ve made our music the same. We never changed our style. If pop accepts it for what it is, maybe it’s because they can relate to it.
BR: A sellout is somebody that does things a certain way and if they find out that it’s not working for them, they’ll change up their whole shit just so the public will like them. They change up what they’re really about. We’ve never changed a thing.
SB: Your first album sounded more “street” than Black Sunday. The new stuff seems closer to the first album’s sound.
BR: The second album, if you listen to it, is harder than the first album.
DJM: The thing with the second album is that it was widely accepted. There was nothing we could do about it. And why would we want to? The point is getting your album out to anyone who feels they can relate to it without changing your style, attitude or motivation for making the music. If we’re making the music to make a bunch of loot to buy a bunch of things, then yeah, we’d be sellouts. We do this so our music stands out to be respected, first of all, aside from the weed stuff, aside from anything.
BR: People think when you make so much money, it takes all your problems away. It doesn’t – it amplifies them if anything. Now you’ve got all these types trying to rob you, record company vultures, management, all kinds of people. And then there are the enemies you made before you got big – they’re even worse ‘cause now they’re jealous that you went somewhere with your life and they didn’t.
DJM: Everything within Cypress Hill is self-contained. We produce our own records, we write our own material. Other rappers, you get ten different producers to do a song each or whatever. They change their style, change their sound – “Oh yeah, let’s get an R&B singer,” because that’s the new style now. I’ve produced Ice Cube records, if you know what I mean. They’re still trying not to pay me. He owes me $60,000. It’s in a bank, locked down – nobody can touch it. I didn’t even get a production credit on “Check Yourself.”
SB: That’s the beef with Cube?
BR: We were good friends. We were fans of Ice Cube’s. We love Ice Cube. We did music with him, we went on tour with him, hell, we got him high on his birthday! Then he took one of our songs, and put it out before we could.
DJM: We played him “Throw Your Set In The Air” and he was like, “Oh yeah, man, that’s bad! Can I use it for my movie?” And we’re like, “No, man, we’re using it for our record.” A month later he comes out with it. He’s done it before, with King Sun’s “Wicked.”
BR: Not only that, The Torture Chamber, which produced “Wicked,” are suing Cube because they haven’t been paid, either. Ice Cube’s own people are calling us. We were all, “Oh man, they’re gonna get on us for dissin’ Cube.” But they’re saying, “We’re glad you did it!” Everybody. Studios that haven’t been paid – I mean, Cube makes bank. Why can’t he pay his own people?
DJM: But there are bigger enemies right now.
SB: Like?
BR: Like [Republican presidential candidate] Bob Dole and people like that. Those are the ones you’ve got to concern yourself with.
DJM: Cube, we have to deal with that because he lacked respect. But Bob Dole is the biggest enemy, not just to us, but to any rapper. We’ve got to be conscious of what’s going on, ‘cause he’ll put us through a big change if he becomes president.
BR: If he wins, a lot of things are going to get messed up for the music industry, period.
SB: In what way?
BR: Labeling records, putting pressure on record stores and retailers [not to carry certain records] – MTV is petrified to play certain videos, to make some mistake and have somebody come down on them. Radio stations are afraid to lose their advertisers. Once you’ve got a little bit of controversy, big sponsors will pull out and damn! The radio stations are stuck.
DJM: Rap being added to the radio format is new. Before, they didn’t do it because the age group that listens to rap is relatively young and doesn’t buy a lot of consumer products that commercials advertise. Now rap is being played everywhere on the mainstream because of [the audience’s growing] buying power.
SB: Does your album deal with any of these issues?
BR: No, we aren’t political rappers. We leave that to KRS-1.
SB: What about the legalization of marijuana? That’s political.
DJM: We don’t really get into the politics of marijuana. We’re pro-marijuana; we’re down with the movement. But we’re like soldiers, raising money for an organization called NORML ***Tim, pls. link: www.norml.org*** , which goes into Congress with lawyers and fights.
SB: So, B-Real, I understand that you are a member of Lifestyle Car Club. How did your car do at the LA Supershow?
BR: My ’57 Bel Air, Nice Dreams, won Second Place Mild Custom at the show. My other car, a ’65 ragtop Impala, Still Smokin’, is going to be a turntable car, chrome undercarriage, chrome engine, everything. Lifestyle took home Lowrider of the Year with Las Vegas. Loco ’64 is a great car, but it will never mess with Vegas. The thing about Vegas is the creativity, the imagination put into it, the theme. Anyone can do chrome.
SB: What about you, Muggs, do you have any new projects going on?
DJM: Oh, yeah, I’m working on a lot of projects right now. Do you know what trip-hop is? I just came back from London, where I’ve been working with a new artist, Inde Schroeder. I’ve got a new rap group from Harlem called “Call of the Wild.” They’re going to Europe with us and will be out on Columbia records in ’96. I’ve also got a solo record I’ll be doing for Columbia, too, with a bunch of guest rappers – Wu-Tang Clan, Redman, B-Real…
SB: How often do you get on the tables?
DJM: I’ve got two setups, one for production, one for practice. I used to practice all the time, but now I hit the turntables once a week. We’ve been so busy recording…we have our own 24-track studio right here. We did our whole album in the house. They charge too much for studio time.
SB: What do you think of the final product?
DJM: We’ve reinvented ourselves.
BR: The new album is bangin’!