Exclusive – B-Real has built a reputable career on a foundation of blunts, bong rips and bubblers. As the frontman of the first Latin Hip Hop group Cypress Hill, the Los Angeles native is behind multiple platinum-selling albums such as 1993’s Black Sunday and 1995’s Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom and the culture-defining singles “Hits From The Bong,” “Insane in the Brain” and “I Wanna Get High.”
In 2016, B-Real linked up with Public Enemy’s Chuck D and DJ Lord and Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk to form Prophets Of Rage, which made waves with its explosive socio-political content and further proved B-Real’s talent on the mic transcends songs about weed.
Serial Killers, B-Real’s other supergroup with Xzibit and Demrick, puts the exclamation point on B-Real rhyming skills. The trio’s most recent album Summer Of Sam arrived earlier this month and once again showcased B-Real’s succinct delivery and lyrical precision, firmly reminding listeners what makes him part of Hip Hop’s elite.
In a recent interview with HipHopDX, B-Real was asked if he still feels underrated as an MC, something he expressed in an interview with DX seven years ago.
“I don’t really look for it like that, you know?” he told DX’s Kyle Eustice. “However people see me, they see me. I do know when you’re in the context of a group, you’re an artist that’s in a group. They don’t look at you the same way as a solo artist, like a solo MC. It’s a whole different category.
“So, yeah, I might’ve been slept on here and there, but it never really bothered me either way because I know with whatever record I get on with whoever I get on that record with, I’m going to raise my game to that level, and people are going to hear that. So I just keep doing what I do, no matter what, where you place me in the pantheon of MCs.”
Xzibit, who was also on the call, was quick to jump in with, “B-Real is a beast! Fuck all that!”
Despite B-Real’s stint with Prophets of Rage, which came to an end last year when Rage Against The Machine reunited, Cypress Hill reconvened and Chuck turned his focus back to Public Enemy, the Dr. Greenthumb’s dispensary founder really isn’t that interested in politics.
While discussing the 2020 presidential election, which had yet to get underway when the interview took place, the staunch marijuana advocate spoke about what he thought went wrong in the 2016 election when Hillary Clinton was up against Donald Trump.
“People got it so good, they can change things,” he explained. “They can’t expect motherfuckers to change them for them. I think that’s what happened last time. People got tired of politicians and some people thought it was going to be more of the same shit that Hillary was just going to do. And because people did nothing, you know, shit happened. So I think more people are active, more people are definitely engaging in what’s going on because they see the effects of the division that’s happening.
“You could brag about that this is happening with the economy, this, that and the other, but the way shit was handled with COVID-19 and the division, more importantly … the division happening in America right now is more than ever before. If we don’t want any more division, we got to get rid of that guy. Look, like Xzibit, I don’t really dig politics because to me, they’re all liars. It’s just who’s lying the best and who’s actually going to do a little something for us for all the lies they told us.”
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On Saturday (November 7), B-Real and millions of other Americans got their wish when Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 race. According to the New York Times, Biden won the popular vote by nearly three percentage points and broke the Barack Obama’s vote record with more than 74 million votes.
But at the very least, B-Real is presumably relieved people got out and voted. Even as Trump continues his perceived temper tantrum and refuses to concede, the people have spoken.
“People should definitely vote in their areas on the municipal stuff that affects them and their communities, shit like that,” he said. “They can’t be blind to shit no more. They got to get involved — and that’s the one thing I would say to fucking people. You know, I don’t care what side you’re on. You want your voice to count. If you want anyone to really give a shit about what you say, go make your vote count because realistically, if you’re doing a lot of complaining but not voting on any of the shit you’re complaining about, does it really count what you say?”
Check back next week for Part II of HipHopDX’s interview with B-Real and Xzibit where they’ll discuss the Serial Killers’ album Summer of Sam, their Top 3 favorite MCs and more.