to your younger self?

To my younger self?

Don't trust that one dude.

[Laughs]

♪ ♪

Today I'm talking to B-Real,

a pioneer and founding member of the group Cypress Hill.

They've sold over 20 million records

with songs like "Insane in the Brain"

and “(Rock) Superstar,"

and were the first Latino group to go platinum in rap.

Now at age 49,

not only is B-Real still touring and recording music,

he's also an entrepreneur, media host and an activist.

Do you remember what your first hip-hop memory was?

It was on 1580 KDOI …

it was an AM station, and they were the only ones

playing hip-hop music on the radio in Los Angeles,

maybe anywhere, at the time.

They played Run-DMC's "Here We Go."

♪ Here we come, here we come, ♪ ♪ here we kitty-come-come. ♪

♪ Come on, everybody, ♪ ♪ let's all get down. ♪

♪ What we have ♪ ♪ is a brand-new sound. ♪

I thought, “What the [expletive] is this?

This is dope.”

That was the first thing that, like, punched me in the face

and got my attention.

I've heard you say

that music has saved your life.

Can you just paint a picture

of what was going on when Sen Dog and Muggs

kind of pulled you into the group?

You know, I started hanging out

with gangsters and became a gangster,

and I was really running around wild

while they were still trying to pursue the passion

of getting a record deal.

They felt like, you know, it was their duty

to come get me out of the neighborhood

and get me back on the mic or writing.

That definitely saved my life

because the trajectory in a gang …

you know, you're either going to prison or in the grave.

Music and those guys pretty much saved my life.

♪ How I could just kill a man. ♪

Your lyrics portrayed the violence

that was going on around you,

but you never glorified that.

Why was that important to you?

I felt like, you know, we had to come with a message

that was making people aware of what was going on,

and then the choices you could make

to either go right or left.

I thought this is nothing to glorify.

I mean, I've lost friends, you know, that were close to me

due to the gang violence.

We already know that possibly

our day comes at the end of a barrel

with a bullet coming out of it,

whether it's a rival or a police officer.

There is a way out. I'm proof of that.

You guys kinda became celebrities pretty quickly.

The thing that pushed "Kill a Man"

over the top and gave it extra life and extra boost

was the fact that Chuck D. and the Bomb Squad

were putting together the music for the movie "Juice,"

which was Tupac's first role.

It was bubbling on the mix show play,

and then that movie blew that song up out of the water

and, hello, Cypress Hill, to everybody at that point.

What was the biggest challenge —

that now you couldn't go anywhere

without being recognized?

Well, you know, it was surreal because

we went from being able to go to the mall

and not be recognized and be incognito,

and no one gave a shit who we were,

to now, we went into the malls,

and we were like the Beatles.

I did not realize what that song would do,

what it would do for us and how it would change our lives.

♪ How I could just kill a man. ♪

♪ Here is something ♪ ♪ you can't understand. ♪

Your voice is one of the most distinctive in music.

How did you come to have that voice?

I was rapping in this voice to start,

and the guys did not like it at all.

They said, "You'd better come up with something,

or you're going to be writing raps for Sen Dog.”

We're all big fans of this rapper named Rammellzee.

You know, he had this crazy style where he'd be rapping like this,

Bah-bah-bah-bah-bah-bah. [imitates low pitch]

Then he'd come all the way up here. [imitates high pitch]

And I said, “OK, I'm going to try to pitch my voice like him."

♪ To da one on da flam. ♪ ♪ Boy, it's tough. ♪

♪ I just toss that ham ♪ ♪ in the frying pan like Spam. ♪

The guys liked it.

I didn't think they would like it.

I barely liked it.

That's how it came about, and it took me some years

to get used to actually doing it.

I went to an opera singer

for lessons on how to breathe and project

without straining my voice, and stuff like that.

But I got used to it, and I started embracing it,

and I learned to like it myself.

You talked about the Latin influence

and, obviously, both of you guys speaking Spanish on "Latin Lingo."

Why was that important for you guys?

Realistically, the lane for Latin rappers

was very small at the time,

so we just wanted to be known as a hip-hop group.

So we would just sprinkle our Latin flavor

here and there and not overdo it.

To not get put in that box, the Latin rapper box,

because if you got put in that box at that time,

you weren't going nowhere.

That fan base didn't exist.

Latins that were Spanish-speaking,

Latins in this country,

were only listening to Spanish-speaking music,

not bilingual stuff,

and especially not any rap s—t.

That took time.

Guys like Kid Frost and Mellow Man Ace

opened those doors.

We went through it and kicked the door open and,

you know, made a gaping [expletive] door for others to come behind.

But now labels are, like,

we definitely know where to market them now.

There is definitely a lane for them now.

We need to sign them up.

You've been pretty consistent,

not only with the music, but being an entrepreneur,

still finding time to tour,

to one of your other endeavors, B-RealTV.

Why was it important to you to be an interviewer

and have conversations with other people?

People know me from Cypress Hill

but, you know, some of these young folks

don't know what Cypress Hill is.

They'll know me from “The Smokebox.”

"Hey, you're the dude from 'The Smokebox.' ”

I have fun doing it,

and most of the time, you know,

when the guest is open,

it's a great conversation and it sometimes is educational.

As long as people still want to come and do it,

and I'm having fun doing it, we're going to continue to keep rolling.

Where does that hunger come from, to not slow down?

You're as old as you feel, right?

So, if one day I get like Danny Glover in "Lethal Weapon" —

"I'm getting too old for this s--t” —

then I'll just retire.

But for me, as long as I feel good

and healthy, I mean, I love doing it.

And I think if you love it and you take care of yourself,

you can go as long as you want.

Hip-hop is like any other music.

It's ageless.

You can do hip-hop no matter how [expletive] old you are.

It's about relating to people, you know what I mean?

And the older artists have something to teach,

and that's relatable.

Word.

Appreciate you so much for your time.

Cool.

Thank you very much.