B-REAL (December 2008) | Interview By: Chad Kiser & Jonathan Hay

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Interview was done in November 2008

Questions Asked By: Chad Kiser & Jonathan Hay

B-Real Gave Dubcnn A Shoutout: Listen Here
 

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Dubcnn Exclusive – B-Real
By Chad Kiser & Jonathan Hay
 www.myspace.com/chadmkiser


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Dubcnn: B-Real what’s up man, how you doing?

I’m good fellas I can’t complain yet.


Dubcnn: Seeing you guys at the VH-1 Hip-Hop Honors show was dope! What does it feel like to finally be honored in the hip-hop community?

It was great man. When you start off doing music you don’t really think about things like that. You just think about making the music and just going and playing it. You learn all the rest of that as you go along. It was definitely something I didn’t expect but it was great. Especially going in with all the cats that we went in with Slick Rick, Too $hort, Naughty By Nature, De La Soul it was a great lift right there.


Dubcnn: How are you guys respected from all your peers for being so different? Like Cypress is so different Slick Rick and everyone you just named? Did everyone embrace you in the hip-hop community as far as your peers go?

Definitely! We started off opening for a lot of those cats. They saw us coming up from ground zero, and they were always down wit us and supported us. So definitely we got a lot of love from then and respect from them. We went against the grain a little bit musically with what we were doing but it was always a lot of love. We never looked back and said we shouldn’t have done that. We went against the grain and it worked for us.


Dubcnn: With the hip-hop honors we know you can’t honor everyone all at once. Who would you like to see though honored from someone you listened to growing up?

I would definitely like to see EPMD honored and I would like to see tribute shows to guys like notorious, and 2 Pac, and I think they definitely have to do NWA. There are a lot of important hip-hop groups but EPMD was really influential on us. But NWA and those guys along with Ice-T were who really made La Soul relevant in hip-hop at that time.


Dubcnn: To be honored like that is extraordinary. Your Cypress Hill career and your solo career and everything that you came from, it’s an accomplishment in itself.

I give many thanks and appreciate all that


Dubcnn: What’s going on right now with your career and everything? I know you have the Smoke N Mirrors going on tell us a little bit about that.

Well you know Smoke N Mirrors is a solo album I’ve been working on for awhile; just trying to get it right. Do it the way we do it with Cypress and take our time and get it right, and then put it out there. You have to have patience; you can’t just throw stuff out there it has to be right. It’s just me making another extension of the Cypress tree; Just branching off doing my solo stuff as a producer and a solo artist. But at the same time coming back to Cypress because that’s where it all started with me. I would never not do Cypress. so right now that I’ve finished my recording and I’m putting out my solo album I’m in the studio working on the next Cypress record with Sen Dog and Muggs and we are like 28 songs deep right now so we are going to have a Cypress record to follow up my record.


Dubcnn: Who is handling the production on Smoke N Mirrors?
I reached out to a few cats. I reached out to my boy Scoop Deville the son of Kid Frost. He basically grew up in this game and he understands the old school ways of hip-hop as well as the musical ways of hip-hop. So I reached out to get a few beats from him. And I reached out to Supafly from Dogg Pound with Snoop and them a good friend of mine and a great producer, I made a few tracks, my boy j turner made a few tracks, and we had one other thing from Salim Wreck Fredwreck's brother. I kept it a small circle because I didn’t want to have too many producers you know. And when I did pick the tracks I made sure everything was pretty consistent with what I had going on. I didn’t want everything to be extremely different because I didn’t want it to sound like that. I think an album has to have continuity to stand up.


Dubcnn: Is the project mainly you behind the mic? Are there any guest appearances?

I got a couple guest appearances. I got Snoop, Kurupt, & Too $hort. And then the other cats are up and coming MC’s, like my boy Young De that I’ve been working with for awhile. He is on the single “Don’t You Dare Laugh”. He is actually on a few songs, and he is going to be on the next Cypress album with us on a couple joints. I got this other cat named trace minus but I didn’t try to go after too many of them because I’m not used to having a lot of cameos on my stuff so I tried to carry most of it on my back. Really you have to carry the record on your back and not rely on a bunch of cameos. The only other cameos besides those is Damien Marley and I’ve worked with him a few times and it’s like family with him so I had to get with him.


Dubcnn: What’s a B-Real, Too $hort track going to sound like?

It’s good man! I didn’t expect to do that song, it came up at the end after we were done recording. My boy J Turner came up with the beat and he had a concept and normally I don’t do some stuff like that but I decided to take a chance and I thought you know what this song would be perfect with Too $hort on it. So I got it out to him, I saw him somewhere and I was like hey man I got a joint I want you to do with me. He obliged he said just send it to me. So I sent it over to him. While we were waiting on him to get us the verse, Kurupt was in the studio because we are tight like that and I was like hey man listen to this beat, this is the concept. He liked it a lot so I said hey why don’t you get on it with me I’m going to get Too $hort on it. So he did and I and he got on it and then when Too $hort's verse came in it was right on the money, so I think everyone is going to want to check that one out.


Dubcnn: I was reading an article and since you’ve been in the game for so long and worked with everyone like Dr. Dre, DJ Muggs, Fredwreck, Ice Cube and everybody. I read that you were doing something with Slash from Guns N Roses.

Yeah, yeah he is a good friend of ours. We have done a few things with him as far as live shows he will stand in with his band called Camp Freddy which is Dave Navarro, Matt Sorum, basically an all star band there’s a lot of cats in it. They always have different dudes whenever they are doing different songs and one time they called us up when they were doing our rock superstar song and they brought Slash up there and we started playing with them and it became a thing that they call us every time they do that. Sen Dog had met him before when he was working on his rock record he met Slash then. But we developed a cool relationship with him. He is a legend; to be able to get on stage with his is like one of these rock dudes getting on stage with jimmy Hendrix.


Dubcnn: When you think of Slash one of the biggest rock legends of all time with Guns N Roses and all of his solo stuff with the Michael Jackson stuff. Slash is crazy!

He is definitely a legend man. The thing is what we do with that Camp Freddy thing is that we will play one of our songs which are obviously rock superstar. He kills it he does all these solos all over it that aren’t in there its wild to hear Slash playing our song. Then the next song we do one of his songs that he wrote “Paradise City”. We do it kind of like Run-DMC did walk this way. We isn’t trying to sing it we are actually rapping it. But he dug what we were doing over his stuff and he has been a friend of ours for awhile.


Dubcnn: When you guys came out it wasn’t just hip-hop but you were an influence on rock as well. Right after you guys Rage Against The Machine came out. Would you say you had an influence on the rap rock thing?

Yeah, I think we were one of the first. I think that Run-DMC was definitely the first to do that. But nobody really figured out what they were doing at that doing. Other people saw it, we saw it. All of us liked rock and roll; I was into heavy metal before I knew what hip-hop was. So it felt natural to do it. So when we took a shot at it some people weren’t really digging the fact that we were doing that. But since we always were going against the grain so didn’t care what anyone thought anyway. It worked for us to a certain degree so I don’t have any regrets. It was a cool experience.


Dubcnn: It’s crazy watching like MTV and see a Cypress Hill concert and people are mosh-pitting.

Aside from the Beasties because they were punk rockers, we were probably the first people to bring the crowd surfers and mosh pitting to hip-hop. We just had those aggressive fans that were so dark that liked punk and metal and would just start moshing and going nuts.


Dubcnn: What’s it like I know you’ve done it forever to just be out there and have so many people going crazy to your music.

It’s a trip man. It’s better than any marijuana high that I’ve ever had. But it’s a good feeling it’s really cool to see your music effect people that way.


Dubcnn: It’s got to be a trip to go places like Germany or Japan where they don’t speak English but they are reciting your lyrics to you.

Yeah man, they don’t speak hardly any English but they are singing along the whole song. They could spit your song if you forgot your lyrics. Its nuts to see that in places like Portugal and France and Germany, Brazil it’s not their first language but they know those words like nothing.


Dubcnn: You mentioned marijuana earlier and that’s something that’s been so closely tied into the Cypress brand is that still something that is a big part of your life?

Nah, it’s still there. I don’t think that will ever change. Even if I were to stop smoking I would still be for it and pushing for its legalization. We believe in the cause obviously. We wouldn’t have talked about for all these years and not be down.


Dubcnn: With you being in New York have you ever smoked that Sour Diesel?

Yeah, yeah several times. Very good strand.


Dubcnn: That’s what I love about that sour diesel.

That’s a great strain here on the east coast.


Dubcnn: A lot of people don’t know about that sour diesel.

I do


Dubcnn: What’s the best strain you’ve ever had?

Kush. OG Kush grown out in southern Cali, the best strain in the world.


Dubcnn: Really?

I’ve smoked everywhere and everything and that’s the best. The Sour Diesel is close, but that’s the best.


Dubcnn: The Sour Diesel is no joke but I smoked some weed in Seattle it was some blueberry stuff.

Yeah, they have some good stuff.


Dubcnn: I have a question it’s about Dr. Dre. This is the last question. He has had Chronic and Chronic 2001, how many is he going to have before Cypress Hill is on one.

I don’t know man for real. He is very particular, you could be his favorite rapper but if you don’t sounds right for the song that he is doing with you then he won’t put it out. I actually had recorded something for his last record, aftermath or whatever I thought it was cool but I wasn’t sure about it. And I’m sure if I was unsure I’m sure he wasn’t feeling it either. It just was one of those songs that were ok but not exceptional. I can put my ego aside and say that. Sometimes you got to be real with yourself and be like this shit isn’t banging. So if he doesn’t put it out I won’t be offended. So if he calls me to do another one you better believe that ill make sure that shit is banging. I don’t know if ill ever work with him again because it’s pretty much up to him but if he calls me ill be ready. He is the best producer out there he is great to work with. It’s an honor for anyone to work with him.


Dubcnn: Have you ever done any work with Jay-Z?

Nah, but I definitely would. He is one of my favorite emcee's out there.


Dubcnn: That kind of puts me to my next question. You have worked with all these heavyweights Snoop, Dre, Cube, Nas, and all these cats. Who is someone out there in any genre that you haven’t worked with that you would want to work with?

I have always wanted to do something with Busta Rhymes. He is one of my favorites. Eminem I have always wanted to do something with him. He is one of my favorites also. Other than that we don’t really do those types of songs we are traditionally we do the songs we put them on our back it’s our responsibility. It’s rare that we go out and do collabos. Those are probably the guys I would go try to do stuff with. I also like Raekwon and Ghostface, Redman and Method Man. There’s a few man when you start thinking about cats that are out there that are really dope. There’s a few I would definitely work wit.


Dubcnn: That Eminem thing would be cool to see what happened he has referenced you guys in a lot of his songs.

He definitely shows us love and we give it right back. That’s our boy right there and he is one of the baddest mc’s to ever touch h a mic. Always big ups to him, but there are a lot of haters out there but its just hate because that dude is a badass on the mic, and as a writer.


Dubcnn: What’s on the horizon for Cypress Hill as a group? Are you all working on all that with DJ Muggs and all that?

We are working on the next album now. After I finished my solo record and I was done recording all the songs. We got with Muggs and started the process; we got like 28 or 29 songs so we hope to get it out by May.


Dubcnn: The last thing I want to get is your thoughts on this presidential election?

I think we are going to see Obama in there. He has some good ideas and a lot of momentum; my whole thing is that he has good ideas, but it’s all about what he does when gets in there. He can get there and everyone celebrates, but it’s about what he does once he is president. He has to prove himself. [Editors Note: this was conducted just prior to the election]


Dubcnn: What did you think about the stuff out in Colorado with the fanatics just saying anything and everything?

There are just people who can’t handle how our country has become and they don’t have that hold on it like they used to. It’s like they say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.


Dubcnn: Plus, anyone who wants to be famous can upload there own stuff.

Yeah, man so they just upload the most outlandish crazy stuff.


Dubcnn: Well, B, man I think that’s all the questions we have. Thanks for your tiime!

Alright, you got it!