It’s been almost 30 years since Cypress Hill went insane in the membrane, so naturally, they’re due for a documentary. Showtime has released the official trailer for the hip-hop group’s forthcoming film, Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain, and you can watch it below.
In addition to bringing a Latin voice to West Coast rap, Cypress Hill helped normalize two things: rapping over rock riffs, and rapping about weed. The talking heads in Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain make sure to give the group their flowers for that, with legends like Ice T and Chuck D remembering their contributions to the genre.
“Cypress Hill went deeper into it like few hip hoppers have ever gone before,” Chuck D recalls, while Ice T proclaims, “Cypress comes from our generation where you had to be different.” Other voices in the clip focus on the weed rappers’ early push for legalization, with B-Real himself likening the group to Cheech and Chong. Sure enough, the comedy duo themselves appear in the documentary, where they joke, “No extra charge, Cypress Hill!”
Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain was directed by photographer Estevan Oriol, who utilizes never-before-seen archival footage of the band he collected himself. Oriol produced the documentary with Peter J. Scalettar, while Tom Mackay, Richard Story, Sacha Jenkins, Peter Bittenbender, and Deb Klein serve as executive producers. The film arrives as part of Showtime’s Hip Hop 50 project, which is set to produce a run of unscripted series and features, podcasts, and digital shorts by and about hip-hop’s key innovators, culminating in the 50th anniversary of the genre in 2023.
Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain premieres on Showtime Wednesday, April 20th at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
In addition to a documentary, B- Real, Sen Dog, and Eric “Bobo” Correa just released their tenth studio album, Back in Black. Consequence recently caught up with the group to discuss making music today and to look back on their past collaborations with rockers like Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth.
Cypress Hill also have a run of tour dates with Slipknot and Ice Cube ahead of them — grab tickets to those shows via Ticketmaster.
