Sen Dog Says Cypress Hill is the Cheech and Chong of Hip-Hop |

Sen Dog, the co-lead rapper of the legendary multi-platinum group Cypress Hill, talks about the beginnings of rap and the success of its connection with cannabis.

It’s been 30 years since Cypress Hill’s debut album of the same name, and co-frontman Senen Reyes – aka Sen Dog – still feels blessed. “It’s kind of surreal that we even made it for 30 years because we didn’t expect our careers to last that long. Our original concept was to exist for five or six years, put out two albums and tour a little. Nobody thought about the longevity of hip-hop back then, so it’s hard to believe we’ve reached this point in our careers where we’ve been doing our thing for 30 years. “

To commemorate this milestone, Cypress Hill will perform with Atmosphere at Shrine LA Outdoors on August 13th, 30 years after the day their debut album was released. In addition, Legacy Recordings – the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment – is celebrating Cypress Hill’s 30th anniversary with the release of an expanded digital edition of the 30th anniversary album that includes three bonus tracks.

When we connected by phone, Sen was excited about both the anniversary album and the anniversary show, eagerly telling of Cypress Hill’s early days, the impact of cannabis on the group, and indulging in her newfound position as “triple OGs” of hip hop .

Let’s get one thing straight first: they say you gave B-Real his first joint as a kid. Is that true, and if so, how important was cannabis in founding Cypress Hill?

Cannabis has always been an important aspect of our lives and has always been part of the “cypress way” we do our thing. I started smoking weed when I was 12 – although it wasn’t common until 17 or 18 – and by that time B-Real wanted to try it one day. I guess he’d tried weed before, but it was boo-boo weed, and that day I had a heavy burden on myself: Chocolate Thai Weed.

“I was on my way to work and had a joint to smoke afterwards, but B-Real convinced me to smoke it with him first. So I got him high and when I go to work I just see him standing on my mother’s porch. I ask myself, “is he okay?” I come back about nine hours later and he’s still on my mother’s porch. I said, “Hey man, are you okay?” He said, “Yeah, man. I was just waiting for you. “I go:” Where, all day, right here? ” He says, “Yes.” But I got it. He was really stoned from smoking his first really good piece of weed.

When did he finally leave? Or is he still there?

I drove him home that night, which was one of our regular things. He came and hung up, and then I took my father’s car and drove him back to his mother’s in Val Gardena. The next morning he would take the bus straight to my home.

It was a good system.

Yes, it worked for us.

As for the systems – growing up, making music, smoking weed – was the vision to always start Cypress Hill, or did you have other ambitions in the beginning?

I was a huge fan of baseball and football – even though I liked football more than baseball – and for a minute I thought I could play in the NFL. But I got into trouble in high school and had to go to the youth welfare office and talk to all these people. They said, “What do you want to do with your life?” I said, “I want to play in the NFL,” and they said, “You know, you’re probably too small. You’ll never get to your height. ”As a little kid, you watch out for older people who tell you shit, and that’s what made me this rebellious little kid who thought people wouldn’t believe who I am wanted to.

I said the hell with soccer, started dropping out of school and going to parties. The only reason I’m telling you this is because later in life I’d see players like Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith – little guys – whose line I would have fit if someone believed in me. That’s why I gave up football because everyone kept telling me, “You will never make it; you’ll never make it. “As a 16, 17-year-old, you believe them. When a child decides to do something, you have to support them.

So you channeled the energy not to be supported into music and in the end it worked.

Yeah, I was at a party in 11th grade and there was this boy named Porky who was known to be one of the worst pop lockers you’ve ever seen in your life. He was from Compton or something and he didn’t want to show up that day; he wanted to rap. Back then, the only rap I’d ever heard was from the east coast. That was before Ice-T and all that shit, so I thought, “Wow, anyone can do that? I thought you had to be from New York. ”It wasn’t long before I persuaded my brother to rap Run DMC songs together when they came out on the radio. So we started our first little rap group and one day we thought, “Fuck it, let’s write our own shit.”

From then on the ball kept moving and we were all around [hip-hop] all day every day. If we weren’t shooting, we’d see some of our favorite boys perform. If we didn’t, we’d stand in front of my mother’s house and try to put together our own little show. [Hip-hop] was something that consumed us. We just did everything we had to do to be on the scene.

Was there a first experience or a first win that gave you the confidence that hip hop could actually be a career?

We’d gone to that rap battle we’d done over and over in the past and every time we showed up some other guys won by Dr. Dre or something like that – although I thought we were the best. But we are performing in this battle; Muggs goes up there, puts in his SP-12, and plays the beat. When my verse came up, I thought it would be cool to do all my rap by jumping on the judge’s table. When I came down the table cracked and all of the jury’s drinks spilled on it. Whoever was there just loved that shit. We didn’t win in the end, but I left the gig with a thought [important] was done. I couldn’t say exactly what it was at the time, but I knew we’d done something good that people liked.

Many years later, I found that what we had mentioned that night was the element of surprise, all of the “not knowing what was going to happen next.” We had inadvertently learned that if we hit people when they weren’t expecting it, it would kill every time.

On the way home from that gig, my mom called me to ask how the gig had gone. I told her, “You know, I don’t know. I did some funky shit, but everyone loved it. ”That was when I felt like, whenever the time comes and we’re going to be put on that stage, we’re going to be ready. We’ll be overly ready. The element of danger from Cypress Hill had manifested itself naturally, and it was one of those things that made people lay on us.

If you got to Cypress Hill, you could land me or B-Real on your ass in the middle of a song. People said, “Whoa. We’ve never seen that before in hip-hop. ”The slight element of danger that we didn’t tap into that day happened to be with us for the rest of the time.

Has the hazard element been influenced by cannabis and has cannabis influenced you creatively?

When I started getting stoned, it was just that: getting stoned and feeling trippy. Then I got into Cheech and Chong films – and their band – and subliminally I was struck by how creative these guys were. People always said that if you become a stoner you become a couch potato, but I’ve seen Cheech and Chong and they were overly creative. So i thought [this whole “couch potato” thing] must be rubbish.

When I started rapping I wasn’t stoned or anything, but at some point weed became a common practice in my hangout and creative process. It became more important than just: “Let’s burn a doob and act stupid.” Smoking weed became – I wouldn’t say it is a source of creativity – but a stimulator of creativity. If we’re in the studio and go up in flames, we’re there man. We are Cypress Hill. Cannabis has always been an important part of us, to the point that one day Muggs told me he wanted me and B-Real to be the Cheech and Chong of hip-hop.

Back then we didn’t have a gimmick. Run DMC was black and black with the hats – they had their own look; Public Enemy was like the Black Panthers; Beastie Boys were those wild guys and LL was the baddest – “I’m bad!” We were just good rappers; We didn’t have a gimmick or anything. When Muggs told me this it took me a while to get used to the idea, but the more we got into it I thought, “I think Muggs is right; let’s run with it. ”To that end, Cypress Hill will always be a cannabis activist. We were these guys before we even knew we were these guys. That is how important cannabis is to Cypress Hill’s history.

You could say figuring out your “gimmick” was really figuring out your brand.

If you didn’t have a gimmick back then, you wouldn’t hit that hard. Those were the days when hip hop started to explode wide and you had to have something to identify with. We were the stoners.

As the 30th anniversary of your debut album approaches, how does it feel to still be the stoner 30 years later?

In retrospect, I can only say that it was an incredible run and that we would never have made it without the support of our fans and dedicated followers. We always have to give them props and I just feel incredibly blessed. I can’t put that into words. I am blessed to be able to support my family through hip hop.

We know we are lucky and with the support of people behind us, we are here 30 years later and it has been an amazing ride. I can only hope that all of the musicians who read this interview or hear about Cypress Hill will go on the same journey we did and experience all the ups and downs and everything else that came with it.

To get where we are now, we’re like the older statesmen in hip-hop. People call us shit like “Triple OG”. But if I had to do it all over again, I would do it right away. You never know what will happen until you stay on course.

Follow @sendog and @cypresshill and visit cypresshill.com for tickets and tour dates

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