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B-REAL (March 2009) | Interview By: Jose Ho-Guanipa
Dubcnn caught up with B-Real backstage at Paid Dues for an exclusive
interview, we discuss his long awaited solo album Smoke & Mirrors, what
prompted finally taking the time to release on his own, get the lowdown on
his production methods and influences as well as asking about the status of
Cypress Hill.
We have the transcript below however we urge you to check out the video.
As ever, you can read this exclusive interview below and we urge you to leave
feedback on our forums or email them to
jose@dubcnn.com. ..........................................................................................
Interview was conducted in March 2009
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B-Real // Exclusive Video Interview // Dubcnn
Download The Video:
Windows Media
Download The Drop:
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Press Play to stream footage (Fast Connections Recommended)
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What’s good this is B-Real the Buddha master backstage at Paid Dues with
Dubcnn. You might see me again just check later. Blazin’ it right now.
B Real: Salaam, tell Xzibit Slaughterhouse is on. Slaughterhouse is on.
Tell Xzbit.
Dubcnn: What’s up y’all this is Jose with Dubcnn we’re here with
B-Real from Cypress Hill.
B-Real: What’s happening bro?
Dubcnn: Chillin’ at the paid Dues festival in San Bernandino.
Thanks for coming out, appreciate it. So yeah you just dropped your solo
album recently. What was your motivation for that?
B-Real: Well you know, for a long time with Cypress our work
schedule was just so crazy that it never gave me time to actually do
that. With our last Cypress record with Sony after the deal was done we
didn’t’ really have any deadline for another one. I just took my time
when everyone else was doing their side projects and I just did mine. So
I put it out this year with Duck Down Records and I’ve just been pushing
it.
Dubcnn: So you’ve been doing some promotion for it obviously.
When’s the video for “Fire” coming out? I saw the making of video for
it.
B-Real: That should be soon man. We’re waiting on the final
edits of it. Right now we have “Psycho Realm Revolution” out there on
Worldstarhiphop, Youtube, and the other outlets there are but yeah the
“Fire” one is coming next. It should be hot.
Dubcnn: You produced some of the beats on “Smoke and Mirrors”.
How has your production style been evolving as you’ve gained more
experience behind the boards?
B-Real: I just pretty much learned a lot by watching Muggs and
stuff like that. Whenever I had time off I went and started making beats
and learning things from other producers. Watching what they do and
listening to how they put together their sh-t. Then, eventually, I
started getting on a roll and developing my sound, how I put together
tracks. Just as you do it more, you start learning more and you start
doing different things than what you did when you started because you’re
constantly evolving and progressing and stuff like that. From that album
to the Cypress record people will hear a totally different thing because
I tried not to do the same thing that I did for my record as what we’re
doing for Cypress. I think people will be surprised and I think people
will be pumped up from it.
Dubcnn: What kind of equipment do you use to make beats? What’s
your set up?
B-Real: I use a combination of things. Mostly for me, I chop
the beats up on the MPC 2000 XL, sample off that, chop the beat up and
then I’ll add stuff with different keyboards; either a Moog or a Triton
or something like that. Then the other instruments, whether it’s guitar
or bass I’ll have them come play live and then chop that up, you know,
manipulate it however I want to do it over the track. You know it all
goes from there.
Dubcnn: Can you tell us about the new Cypress Hill album? What’s
it gonna sound like in terms of the sound?
B-Real: It’s gonna be raw hip-hop at it’s core, definitely.
We’re definitely gonna be doing some heavy stuff on it as well. At it’s
core it’s gonna be rough, raw, rugged, in your face hip-hop; the only
way we can do it. That’s the only way we like to do it. We ain’t gonna
do everything like everybody else is doing you know what I mean. A lot
of records sound the same right now, because people ain’t thinkin’ out
of the box. They just following what everybody else is doing. We’ve
always been against the grain so that’s what people will hear on our
shit. Hopefully they like it.
Dubcnn: Are you gonna be producing any track on the album?
B-Real: Yeah I’ll be producing a few tracks, Muggs is
producing, obviously, we got a couple joints from Pete Rock, we’re
working with some shit that Alchemist and Evidence gave us. It’s gonna
be a good record man, we got a lot of good music on it.
Dubcnn: Do you have any guest appearances on the record?
B-Real: Right now we just got our stuff on it, you know, mine
and Sen. Whoever we go out after we’ll probably do that at the very end.
We ain’t really reached out to nobody yet but soon enough we gonna be
reaching out to the folks that we been wanting to do music with.
Dubcnn: So you talked about the Sony deal being up. What’s going
to be the situation with that when you put out the next album (the
record label)?
B-Real: For us we’re more focused on, you know, finishing the
album and making that piece done already, so by the time we decide who
we’re gonna go with the album’s done and all we have to do is master the
sequence, you know what I mean. Until we do that we’re not gonna decide
where we’re gonna go. I mean there’s people that we’re talking to, but
you know it’s all tentative until we feel the album’s done.
Dubcnn: So what’s the timeframe; when do you think you’ll be
able to put it out?
B-Real: I think we’re gonna try to knock it out in October.
That’s our target date. We’re gonna try to make it coincide with the
smokeout we’re doing in October as well. That’s what we’re lookin’ at,
we’re looking at trying to get a Cypress Hill Halloween jumpin’ off big.
Dubcnn: What’s new with your paintball team (Stoned Assassins)?
How did you get into paintballing?
B-Real: We started playing at a birthday party for Muggs. There
was like twenty of us, thirty of us, maybe more. Ten of us really got
hooked on it, made a team, started competing in this league called MPPL,
now there’s a new league called the USPL and we’re gonna be competing in
there. We’re still playing. We took a little time off, but we’re still
ballin’ it up.
Dubcnn: What do you think about Obama’s stance on Marijuana?
He’s thinking about stopping the federal raids on the grow houses.
B-Real: That’d be great if he does that. There’s a lot of money
in legalizing and taxing it and regulation and stuff like that and the
government needs it. I know he tried to flick the answer off the other
night and said he doesn’t think that that’s what it’s gonna take, but
that’s gonna help. So we’ll see what happens.
Dubcnn: Do you think we’ll ever live to see a day where it’s
legal here in the US?
B-Real: Possibly, it’s a possibility, anything’s possible.
Right now it’s decriminalized in a lot of states actually, I think maybe
15 or 16 have it decriminalized or they have the medical marijuana law
in place. It’s a step up, so we’re closer than anybody ever thought we’d
be, that’s for sure.
Dubcnn: So you guys (Cypress Hill) haven’t dropped an album in a
while and the music industry and the way things worked have kind of
changed. What do you think about the way things are right now?
B-Real: I mean it is what it is man, you just gotta roll with
the punches and figure out where you can fit in and take advantage of an
opportunity and either go with the momentum you have or rebuild. That’s
all you can do because the structure of what selling records now is way
different than what it was ten years ago, fifteen years ago because of
the digital downloads and all that stuff, free downloads. That makes it
hard for an artist to sell records, create revenue. The only revenue you
can create is through your merchandise and your live show and other
opportunities that might come your way depending on the level of success
that you have. So you have to create some different types of
opportunities for yourself because the way it is, the way that it’s set
up, right now it’s set up for everybody losing and the record companies
ain’t investing the way they use to in the artist. They don’t invest in
artist development for nothing. If it ain’t a hit that they can put on
the radio instantly they’re not f-cking with it. You gotta take that to
an independent because they’re just looking out for radio success
because they think that’s gonna translate to record sales. These days
it’s proven that that doesn’t always translate to records sales; not for
every artist. So you gotta think of different ways of getting your music
out there and selling your music in spite of what you might have with or
without radio.
Dubcnn: Are there any new acts hip-hop wise that you kind feel
and think are hot lately?
B-Real: This Slaughterhouse thing. A lot of people have been
saying a lot of good shit about it and they got a lot of hype. And all
of the rappers in that group are just off the f-ckin’ chain. Definitely
Slaughterhouse for sure.
Dubcnn: Well thanks for your time, appreciate it.
B-Real: Right on man, thanks for having me.
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B-Real // Exclusive Video Drop // Dubcnn
Download The Video:
Windows Media
Download The Drop:
Windows Media
Press Play to stream footage (Fast Connections Recommended)
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