Cypress Hill is a rap music gorup. It was formed in 1989. It was composed of members B Real (Louis Freese, Mexican/Cuban), Sen Dog (Senén Reyes, Cuban), DJ Muggs (Lawrence Muggerud, Italian-American) and, since 1994, percussionist Eric Bobo. Muggs, when asked about the new member, said: "As Latinos we thought it would be a good idea to build in some of this Latin Jazz Flavor."
Cypress Hill hail from South Gate, California. They were the first rappers fighting for the legalization of marijuana. They also crossed over into the rock market. Sen Dog founded a rapcore outfit named SX10, and B Real also founded Psycho Realm. In the beginning, Cypress basically made straight up hardcore hip hop, rather atypical of the west coast, described by Rolling Stone as a synthesis out of the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy. On "III" their sound got more typical of the west coast, i.e. more like Gangsta rap, but "Skull and Bones" was again more east coast on the A side and crossovers into the rock market on the B side (i.e. second CD).
Most songs are sung in English, with a few Spanish (especially Chicano) words scattered around. The first album featured a bilingual ode to bilingualism, "Latin Lingo" and the all-Spanish X-rated track "Tres equis". They returned to Spanish with their Greatest Hits collection "Los grandes éxitos en español", co-written (translated) by Mellow Man Ace.
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