It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from Cypress Hill. So long in fact, then when news recently surfaced that the Los Angeles hip-hop group is currently at work on a brand new album, the first thought that came to my mind was, “Cypress Hill? Oh yeah…the rap group that played Homerpalooza!”
Of course, I’m exaggerating a bit, but it has been almost five years since Cypress Hill made an appearance in the “new music section” with the release of 2004’s Till Death Do Us Part. Since then, the hip-hoppers have been splitting their time between touring (they most recently appeared on the Rock the Bells tour in 2007) and a slew of side-engagements – just last week, B-Real released his debut solo album, Smoke N Mirrors. But all this will soon change when Cypress Hill releases its much-awaited ninth studio album later this year.
According to B-Real in interview with Billboard, the group is currently mixing the “gritty” and “aggressive” followup to Till Death Do Us Part. He went on to describe the yet-to-be-titled record as “straight hip-hop” saying, “We just felt like we needed to go back to that raw, gritty hip-hop sound but try to find a way to bridge it with what’s going on now.” As of now, the album has a tentative fall release date on Surburban Noize Records – the group recently departed longtime label Columbia Records.
Cypress Hill will tour in support of the release, howerver, B-Real and company currently only have one upcoming date on the docket: their annual April 20th show at The Fillmore in San Francisco, California.
