Cypress Hill on working with the London Symphony Orchestra: 'It's definitely something in the works'

Cypress Hill are working on a secret project with the London Symphony Orchestra, The Independent can reveal.

In an exclusive interview, the hip-hop legends spoke about their plans, their British influences, and Donald Trump.

Cypress Hill, who released their self-titled double platinum debut album 26 years ago, are currently on a tour of Europe.

The Independent spoke with founding members Sen Dog and B-Real prior to their packed-out show at Boomtown Festival last month.

Rumours have abounded on social media about the potential collaboration between Cypress Hill and the London Symphony Orchestra, who are among the finest classical musicians on earth.

The two outfits were once parodied in an episode of The Simpsons, which Cypress Hill tweeted a reference to in March this year.

Unexpectedly, the Orchestra's Twitter responded: “We mostly play classical … but we'll give it a shot.”

Cypress Hill then replied: “Let[s] make something happen for real … It would be amazing to work on something with you.”

The exchange sparked a flurry of anticipation among music fans, but there was no official confirmation of a collaboration.

But speaking to The Independent on the topic, B-Real says: “Well, we’re kinda working on putting something together, just figuring out when and where and what. But y’know it’s definitely something in the works. Wouldn’t wanna give too much away.”

The project will be released “next year sometime,” Sen Dog explains, and B-Real adds that the band would be exploring the collaboration during their brief time in the UK.

Long-time fans will not be overly surprised — a range of styles is key to the Cypress Hill experience. Their rolling beats were the soundtrack to a generation of stoners worldwide, but the music soaks up influences from all over, and this is particularly reflected in their live performances.

“We like to mix things up,” Sen Dog says. “We don’t wanna do anything that’s gonna be considered stereotypical. You never know who we’re gonna invite to be in front of us or to be part of the bill. But I think when you have diversity like that in a concert; a lot of people dig that s***, y’know?”

Growing up in south east Los Angeles, the members of Cypress Hill listened to “everything really,” B-Real says. “Old school R&B type music, considerable soul, funk, rock and roll from classic rock to present. A little bit of everything and eventually hip hop."

The mix of styles and attitudes led to the band in their current form: “We didn’t just hang out with hip hoppers and b-boys and stuff y’know,” Sen Dog says. “I mean we got friends all across the board, so we were the type of kids that went to any type of event as long as it was cool.

“And listening to all this music and stuff and all these different perspectives when we got started and we decided that we were gonna open things up and involve more elements of the things we enjoyed into Cypress.

"I think we’re still like that, we’re not scared to take chances or risks with musical styles or anything, we believe in ourselves first of all and what we grew up on shaped us as musicians to this day.”

Some younger fans may be surprised by the British bands played which played their part in Cypress Hill’s development. While Sen Dog and B-Real have heard of Stormzy and Skepta, they still don’t know what grime is.

Instead, their main British influences go further back: “The stuff we were listening to as kids was like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Cream,” B-Real says.

“The Yardbirds” Sen Dog added.

But the biggest British musician, according to Cypress, is another one of London’s own.

“I think the biggest artist in the last 10 years has been Adele,” B-Real decides. “She’s been f***ing huge and she’s impacted people around the world.”

Cypress Hill are known for being the first Latino hip hop groups to break into mainstream culture, with members’ families hailing from Cuba, Mexico and beyond. So how do they feel about their current President, who used the scape-goating of immigrants to fuel his campaign?

“It has created some division in our country, that’s for certain," B-Real responds. "But there’s more people opposed to the message he was spewing out than for it.

“There’s a still underlying racism in America unfortunately. It doesn’t really affect us musically, we just keep doing what we’re doing and it’s not something that we see any negative reaction from in terms of going on tour.

“But in the political realm is definitely fucked up and well see what happens in the next three years.”

Sen-Dog admits he was surprised to find Trump elected. “His behaviour during the elections, he certainly didn’t act like a presidential candidate should... I thought other people would take exception to that,” he said.

And has their hometown, LA, kept up with the other cultural metamorphoses which have swept the rest of the country?

“A lot of people are still moving in, a lot of culture and diversity,” Sen Dog says. “I’d like to think things have changed but we’ve still got a lot of gangbanging, stuff like that. Cops are still as corrupt as ever. A lot of things have changed but a lot remains the same.”

Cypress Hill continue their tour in the US until 1 November

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