B-Real on Cypress Hill's Past Beef with Lighter Shade of Brown, RIP DTTX (Part 9) (2023)

Introduction

Part 10: youtu.be/NpkABhFGxQI
Part 8: youtu.be/Ku__snqdDjI
Part 1: youtu.be/BFfaNV5qmOo
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In this clip, B-Real spoke about how much Cypress Hill was influenced by legendary groups such as Public Enemy and Run DMC. B-Real also spoke at length about Cypress Hill deciding not to brand themselves as a Latino rap group when they launched their careers. He said that the market for Latin hip-hop wasn't there but they found ways to imbue their music with Latino cultural influences and eventually created an entire Spanish-speaking album.

Content

Well, this was such a incredible album.

I mean this was to me like a life-changing album, because it was so different than anything else that I had ever heard.

I had been a hip-hop head really since the beginning, yeah, you know from you know the message and the run: dmc's, first, album and so forth, and this thing like the production on it, mugs really just went all out.

It's really kind of interesting now, because I just interviewed uh chuck d from public enemy when I listened to like the bomb squad production.

When I listened to what you know, you guys did on this first album.

I I now see the similarities yeah, like the noises and the kind of the off pitch and the yeah the weird kind of sound effects that that kind of work.

When you put it all together, they were one of our biggest influences.

Like I mean I could say that about our group period, you know from mugs to senddog myself bobo.

We were all very much influenced by by public enemy that probably the most influential hip-hop group to us aside from run dmc.

You know um, and that was because they were out of the box in terms of their style, their content, their flow, their production, their production was was innovative and cutting edge and ahead of its time they, you know they they put brakes hooks bridges um.

All these ill ass sounds that was chaos and harmony mixed in one and we loved that [ __ ], and so you know, when muggs came into his own in producing, which you know a lot of people, don't give him enough credit.

The [, __ ] is a genius.

I agree um.

He was able to be influenced by that, but not copy it.

He developed his own form of that that harmonious chaos with bridges and breaks and [ __ ] that made the song come up and then drop and then come up like a roller coaster, yeah, and we were very much in tuned in that style, mugs, and I you know what I mean, because we like the same [ __ ] like from the darkest hip-hop to the grittiest, to you, know the most out of the box, [ __ ].

We were always on that same page, so we- I always looked at us like a flip side of public enemy, but with different things.

Obviously, that we talk about you're, the high-pitched guy and send dog is the low pace right, we're pretty much reverse of of yeah right, a reversal in in terms of our vocal tone and uh a dusted out trippy version of the production yeah.

If you will, you know what I'm saying and and uh yeah I mean we learned a lot from just listening and watching them and and uh yeah I mean I, I think if it wasn't for them, I don't know.

If there's us, because I mean we crafted our [ __ ] to be as different as as theirs like.

You know, we were like we thought of them as something so out of the box that we needed to be out of the box too.

We didn't want to be like, especially coming out of california.

If you came out of of of southern california, you were expected to sound like nwa.

You know a version of that frost, yes or or kid frost.

If you're [ __ ] latin exactly- and we did not want to be in that box yeah because you guys didn't come out, as quote unquote: latin rappers yeah, you know- and I remember even like I remember- I interviewed mr criminal and he was talking about latin hip-hop groups and he said well, you know he said, he's a big fan of cypress hill but he's like, but they came out more like on the black side, meaning kind of like more traditional hip right.

Well.

First of all, I don't consider cypress hilton gonna rap.

Realistically, I mean I know they brown skin, but you know they say like [ __ ] in their raps and they they represent themselves a little more hip hoppy and more a little bit more, like urban, like like, like like black side, so give me that you know the cornrows the whole nine like we don't rock like that, so uh.

I think that that helped play into their success as well, because they weren't in a box.

You know what I'm saying it's just like: chicano rapper, just like that solo image.

You know what I'm saying, whereas you know what he was doing was more like on the mexican side and that's true, it's true.

It's very truthful um.

We wanted to just be looked at as a hip-hop group and not a latino hip-hop group, because at the time we came out it was lighter shade of brown out during that time.

No, it came later.

No kid frost and mellow were probably the only latinos out at at the time that were slightly before us, yeah right um, maybe two a year or two before us, yeah yeah, yeah mello, I think, came out in 88 or 87, or something like that.

Yeah um yeah, I mean so like there.

There wasn't too many other latinos um around, maybe fat, joe, maybe fat joe, but like his [ __ ] was hip-hop right and and no one no one talked about the fact that he was you know it was latin hip-hop.

It was just hip-hop yeah.

Well, I actually looked it up lighter shade of brown, their first time brown and proud came out in 1990., oh okay, so [ __ ] they were before us.

That's crazy! Just slightly! I don't know if that yeah yeah and this yeah this album this album charted yeah uh yeah.

I wasn't really paying attention to them, unfortunately, and rest in peace to the homie.

You know, um we had little beefs with them at times, but um yeah, I mean for us.

We didn't want to be foothold in this latino hip-hop yeah thing that hadn't existed yet right.

So in other words there were those of us like lighter shade brown, like kid frost like mellow man and ourselves, and eventually joe and pond and the rest at the time we were doing it.

There was not a latin um, a latin audience.

For hip-hop there was kids in the hood.

There were latino that [ __ ] with hip-hop, but in terms of like a latin bass like if you were labeled as latin hip-hop people that just [ __ ] with hip hop they weren't buying that yeah.

It was only to the mexican crowds yeah and the mexican crowds the low rider shows, and they weren't buying that yet yeah they were buying like that oldies yeah.

They were buying oldies and funk, and [ __ ], like that.

You know that hip-hop wasn't a thing to them yet, and you know like it was growing in that community because of frost and because of of mellow, but it wasn't there yet and we knew that so it was like we didn't want to allow ourselves to be boxed in by a label.

As a latino hip-hop group, we were like, we know, we're latin.

We know what we are and we're proud of what we are, but we're not going to exploit that to create this new new [ __ ] box.

We want to just be a hip-hop group, you know what I mean and we'll show people what we are, what we are and who we are through our music and if you listen to every [, __ ], cypress hill, album there's always a latin flavor joined out there.

Yeah first time had latin lingo, yeah and and yeah there was latin lingo and there was thresekis right, one which is spanglish and one which is which is total spanish and we continued that theme later on, and then we eventually make an an ep or a yeah ep or album remake in exitos grandes, where it's all spanish speaking and you know, but we wanted to build that.

We didn't want to that that to be the main focus on us, because we wouldn't have sold any records.

You know what I mean right and and uh it worked too hard to.

You know yeah it I I don't know.

If sony saw what what we were trying to say in that, but they, but they rode with us and they realized okay, yeah, let's, let's, let's go this route.

These guys are talking about, let's, let's let it happen organically and as the latino community opened up to hip hop.

You know it became a bigger thing and you saw many groups come out and then blow the [ __ ] up after that and and uh the talent that would come out.

You know, and and and the the like, the the actual hip-hop or the the the companies that were investing in the hip-hop artist.

They now saw that there are some latinos out there that can [ __ ] get down with this with this genre and be something and [ __ ] make a huge run and uh.

You know it took a minute for them to see that I mean even so they let us they let us in little by little.

You know you there's more latin artists now, but at that time it was like little by little, because you know they didn't know how to sell us, and and for you know, fortunately, for us we stood.

We stuck with our guns and said you're gonna market us as a hip-hop group, not a latin hip-hop group, and you know that helped get us out there.

Now these days, there's there's a base for latin hip-hop and and and and the the reggaeton lane and and all that stuff and all the new [ __ ] that spawned from that now there is definitely a lane.

So you can get a latino rap group or an artist and market him towards that [, __, ] and he's gonna do great, but back then that didn't exist yeah.

It was just hip-hop and we didn't want to be in the void right and such a such a brilliant, album man, a hole in the head is my favorite song yeah, that's one of my favorites too.

That's the beat on that and the way you spit on.

That is just something something else and, for example, uh.

You know hand on the pump the way you guys uh sampled, duke of earl, which was like the yeah, the most poppy like fun song.

Ever you guys turn into a gangster song.

Yeah about hey mugs is a genius.

I gotta tell you he knows how to create that ominous dark.

You know: um anxiety, driven music.