TRANSCRIPT Heat Rocks Ep. 140: Felicia Angeja Viator on Cypress Hill’s “Cypress Hill” (1991)

music

“Crown Ones” off the album Stepfather by People Under the Stairs. [Music continues under the dialogue, then fades out.]

oliver wang

Hello! I’m Oliver Wang.

morgan rhodes

And I’m Morgan Rhodes. You’re listening to Heat Rocks.

oliver

Every episode, we invite a guest to join us to talk about a heat rock: an album that just burns eternally. And today, we have something for the blunted as we dive back to 1991, to talk about the debut, self-titled album by Cypress Hill.

music

“Break It Up” from the album Cypress Hill by the band Cypress Hill. Light, multilayered rap. Break it up, Cypress Hill, break it up Cypress, break it up, Cypress Hill Cypress Hill! Break it up Cypress Hill, break it up Cypress, break it up Cypress Hill Cypress Hill! Break it up Cypress Hill, break it up Cypress, break it up Cypress Hill Cypress Hill! [Music continues under the dialogue briefly, then fades out.]

oliver

The first time I ever saw Cypress Hill was at my very first hip-hop show, in San Francisco in ’91. Cypress, however, were not the headliners. That would have been the trio of 3rd Bass, then touring behind their radio single, “Pop Goes the Weasel”. Cypress Hill was the opening act, with only a slow-burn B-side, “How I Could Just Kill a Man”, to their name at the time. Of course, a few years later and this would all change. 3rd Bass would have broken up amidst internal acrimony. But Cypress Hill was now touring stadiums, their popularity fueled in no small part by their reputation as hip-hop’s most pro-cannabis advocates. Indeed, their debut album—released in the summer of ’91—felt as smoked out as a Cheech & Chong bong. Its sonic feel, courtesy of DJ Muggs—all woozy and hazy. Its mood, set by rappers Sen Dog and B-Real—alternately paranoid and playful. With all due respect to Dre and Snoop, the Cypress Hill debut remains hip-hop’s ultimate homage to the devil’s cabbage that Cali kids call the chronic. Nearly 30 years later and this remains one of my all-time favorite hip hop albums, as perfect a debut as one could hope for—as I wrote on the occasion of the album’s then 20th anniversary, back in 2011. Cypress Hill didn’t make music to drive by to. Their compositions were for those laying in wait, engine low, blunts lit, lights out. [Morgan chuckles.]

music

“Latin Lingo” from the album Cypress Hill by the band Cypress Hill. Mid-tempo hip hop with multilayered vocals. I'm down, another proud hispano One of the many of the Latin de este año And I got plenty for the Jennies trying to hound dog But wait, they're clowning on me cause of my language I have to tell em straight up, it’s called Spanglish Now who's on the pinga the gringo Trying to get paid, from the funky bilingual [Music fades out.]

morgan

Cypress Hill was the album pick of our guest, today: scholar and author Felicia Viator. Recently, I worked on a project where the main character, in an impassioned speech, used the word “learned” (learn-ed), and I thought, “Huh. I’m actually gonna bring that back. Because who’s out here saying learned, these days?” And since there’s no time like the present, you should know that Felicia Viator is learned. She’s an assistant professor of history at San Francisco State University, where she has previously spent time on the tables as DJ Neta, in the Bay. Get it! [Oliver agrees with an enthusiastic hum.] Her new book, To Live and Defy in LA: How Gangsta Rap Changed America, digs into the genesis of g-rap and Black LA in the ‘80s and into the heart of the city that birthed the movement. My city. Word on the streets is that, as a professor, her lectures are very organized, and she always seems well-prepared. She is passionate about history and authentic. I got that from RateMyProfessor.com. [Oliver laughs.] And might I—and might I add that she is learned. Welcome to Heat Rocks, Felicia Viator.

felicia viator

Oh man, thank you so much. What an introduction. I don’t think I’m worthy. I really appreciate it. [Laughs.]

morgan

No, not a problem. Thank you for picking this album! So, I guess we gotta get into—what was your introduction to Cypress Hill and this album, in particular?

felicia

Yeah, so—ah, man. 30 years ago, that is a trip. Um. I was barely 13. I just started high school and I came to this album from the single. I know, you know—I think if you listen to interviews with Muggs or B-Real, one of the things they talk about with this album is how folks didn’t find it until 1992. Most folks. And largely because of the B-side of that first single—“The Phuncky Feel One”, the B-side of course was “How I Could Just Kill a Man”. And I might be odd, ‘cause I came to this album through that single, that summer. I started high school—started in 9th grade. Made friends with a girl who was deep into hip-hop. Like deep. She was into Public Enemy and EPMD and she liked Too Short and Black Sheep. You know. A 13-year-old kid, [laughs] being—you know—from Oakland, being deep, deep, deep into—you know—those New York artists and some of the Bay stuff. And we bonded over that. And she was on top of that first Cypress single when it came out—“The Phuncky Feel One”. And I remember she had it—the casingle. [Morgan laughs.] I mean we were kids—[laughs] you know, we were kids! We were kids at that time! And so, we were still having sleep overs and we were just listening to hip-hop. And I remember that casingle and borrowing it. I don’t know that I ever returned it [laughing] to her. Um, I just—you know, I played that—played that shit out.

music

“The Phuncky Feel One” by Cypress Hill. Intense, passionate hip-hop. … but that's another story black 'Cause I'm the Real one, yes the phuncky Feel One I'm the Real one, yes the phuncky Feel One I'm the Real one, yes the phuncky Feel One You know I'm the Real one, yes the phuncky Feel One [Music fades out.]

felicia

Love that song so much. Convinced my mom to drive me probably to the Southland Mall, in Hayward. And then picked up the whole tape! I remember still that big cardboard cutout promoting the album, in the entryway of probably what was a Camelot store inside the mall, or whatever. And it’s funny. I was thinking about this and I was thinking, you know, it’s nuts in way that I bought this album when it first came out, because not only was I very young—you know, I don’t think I had any business listening to guys rap about drive bys and smoking weed and pigs. And my dad was a cop. [Oliver laughs.] So, that was [laughing] the other thing. [Morgan expresses surprise.] Not a lot of people know that about me, especially—you know, I write about the stuff in LA and I write a lot about the LAPD and Daryl Gates and what a lot of folks don’t know is that my dad was OPD, Oakland Police Department. And not only that, but at that time—in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s—he was Narcotics, so he was undercover. [Chuckles.] [Music fades in.]

morgan

Wow. [Oliver laughs.]

music

“Pigs” from the album Cypress Hill by the band Cypress Hill. Slower, complexly-layered hip hop. Well this pig's steady eating donuts While some motherfuckers out robbing your home This pig, he's a big punk And I know that he can't stand the sight of me 'Cause pigs don't like it when ya act smart And when ya tell 'em that you’re a group from society [Music fades out.]

oliver

I gotta ask, did your father ever hear “Pigs”? Or you listening to “Pigs”? And did he have thoughts?

felicia

You know, it’s funny. I… I have this vivid memory of a patch that he had. It was a pig in a—in a cop uniform. And I remember this, and it was his patch, because they had a football league, and their mascot was a hog. And so, I grew up not knowing that pig was a derogatory term. So, I don’t think until probably late in high school did I realize that it was, you know, an epithet for cops. And you know, to my parents’ credit, they never—you know, they let us listen to whatever we wanted to listen to and as loud as we wanted to listen to it. There was no—you know, censoring of music in our household. And yeah, I give them a lot of credit for that—especially because I’m sure… I’m sure they heard this album. I played it so much. But there was never any, you know—any outrage over it. So—and a lot of the stuff that I listened to growing up, the stuff that my dad listened to—you know, the Temptations, Stylistics, James Brown, Otis Redding, you know, Gene Chandler. A lot of that old soul and funk, that early kind of—like, the lowrider oldies—a lot of that stuff my dad listened to it and it was kind of the music of my childhood. So, there was a connection there that made the sound of that album familiar.

crosstalk

Oliver: That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Felicia: So, ironically—you know? [Laughs.] Ironically, my dad, like, laid the groundwork for me to be into that album. [They chuckle.]

oliver

Morgan, what were your—what were your first impressions of this album. Were you listening to it back when it first dropped?

morgan

This was my brother’s album. And he had it, but I remembered looking at the packaging—I felt like it was like a hard rock album. I couldn’t—I didn’t know, off the cuff, that it was a rap album. I can’t remember a specific time, you know, a specific, dramatic moment where I was introduced to it. But I grew up in south central LA, as everybody knows. [Oliver confirms.] And this was the sound. This was my brother’s album. Black Sunday was my album. So, he had his thing, and I had my thing. But “How I Could Just Kill a Man” was everywhere.

oliver

I wanna come back to that in just a moment, but if I could just share—right off the bat—for me this album was not what I would ascribe as a slow-burn, because I think—you know, I definitely gave it pretty heavy run when it first came out. I still actually have my cassette copy of it someplace in the house. But it’s an album that, overtime, has only gotten better to my ears. And I don’t think it’s always a case that an artist’s first album is gonna be their best one. And that—we’ve actually talked a lot about this on the show, in the past. But I think, with Cypress Hill—and this is not to say that their subsequent albums are somehow wack, but I do feel like they did it best when they did it first. [Morgan hums in understanding.] That, you know, some other groups—especially in the same era—I think it took maybe a couple albums for those groups to hit their stride. So, you know, Gang Starr’s first album was not one of their best. A Tribe Called Quest and Public Enemy both had very good first albums, but it was really their sophomore albums that secured their legacy. And I think, with Cypress, they really just perfected a tone and a style from jump. And Felicia, if we can wrap back to you—what were your impressions of just listening to it? And especially, what else were you absorbing at the time? And how did Cypress Hill’s album either fit in or perhaps depart from the other music that you were bumping back then?

felicia

[Laughs.] Well, in terms of rap, the things I was listening to—I was listening to early MC Hammer. So, “Let’s Get It Started” era Hammer. [Laughs.]

oliver

I mean, you were in the Bay. So, fair enough.

felicia

I was in the Bay. Yeah! I mean, his early stuff was—you know, his early stuff was grimy. It was good. And I—yeah, I listened to a little Too Short. Also—

morgan

Whaaat? [Oliver laughs and agrees several times.]

felicia

Digital Underground. Sex Packets, that—I mean, speaking of, you know, debut albums being classics. But most—

oliver

I think I scooped that from—my copy from Leopold’s. You ever go to Leopold’s, in Berkley.

felicia

They didn’t count. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. [Laughs.]

oliver

There we go. Alright. Shout out. Shout out to the Bay Area record stores of yore.

felicia

Yeah. That’s right. That’s right. That’s right. I was—you know, I was listening to a lot of R&B and freestyle, still, in ’89 and ’90. You know, right sort of before this—rap changes, in many ways, in ’91 and ’92. So, like—god, I’m so embarrassed, but like Expose and Seduction and Sweet Sensation. You know, stuff like that. Like, I liked—I liked—

morgan

Jams! [Oliver agrees.] Those are all jams. [Felicia agrees.]

oliver

Yeah, in this crowd you’re in good company. [Felicia agrees with a laugh.]

morgan

Those are all jams.

felicia

Yeah, and I liked a lot of R&B. Like, I was listening to Troop. Troop was, like, a thing I—you know. [They laugh.] Um.

morgan

You’re taking me back, Felicia.

felicia

Right? So, oh—so—I don’t—

oliver

So, Cypress does not seem to fit into, sonically, anything!

felicia

No. I know! I know. And I’m trying—I know. And I’ve been trying to figure out what happened. I can’t—I don’t—I can’t really put my finger on it except that a lot of my friends were listening to hip-hop, that first year in high school. And I think I just wanted to find something that felt familiar. And as I mentioned, like, there was a lot of music that I listened to as a kid that I didn’t realize—but that Muggs was using in his production. And so, there was a—there was an easy way for me to kind of… relax into it, for lack of a better phrase. I mean, I—and I also, you know… my extended family’s very mixed. My dad grew up in east Oakland, so a lot of the family gatherings that we—that we attended, you know, felt a little like lowrider gatherings where you’d hear a lot of soul and you’d hear a lot of stuff like Cypress. And so, I think that, like—without me realizing, I was exposed to these overlapping sounds, at that time. And it just—I think it was an easy transition for me from, you know, listening to things like hip-hop. I mean, excuse me—soul and R&B and then sort of transitioning to a kind of hip-hop that had that funk and soul underneath it. I mean, I think that’s why I always gravitated toward the west coast sound. And not just the LA sound, but also some of the Bay rap that was coming out. You know. Some of the mob rap that was coming out in the early ‘90s, because it had those flavors that were really familiar to me.

morgan

I wanted to ask you about B-Real, as a front man. Because one of the things that was so compelling about this group was B-Real and his charisma. It—for me—was the sell. He was tall. He had the ill voice. What was the draw about Cypress Hill and—not just their music, but as a band—what was the appeal for you?

felicia

I mean, he was fine! [Laughs.]

oliver

Oooh, alright!

felicia

I mean, yeah! Like, [laughs] um. This was—like, you’re reminding me, in a way, that this was kind of like the bad boy, boy group for kids like me. I mean, I—you know. [They laugh.] Um—but they’re—you’re right. I mean, there are so much—there was so much interesting about what he was doing. Especially layered over what Muggs does with his production. I mean, B-Real’s voice is basically just another instrument. It—there’s almost like a high-hat quality to his voice. There’s, you know, the melody, the alliteration, the staccato in a lot of his delivery. [Oliver agrees.] I’m think of on “Hand on the Pump”, when he says:

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“Hand on the Pump” from the album Cypress Hill by the band Cypress Hill. Fast, staccato hip-hop. Well I'm an alley cat, some say a dirty rat On my side is my gat, see I'm all of that Spittin' out buck shots, boy I'm gonna wet'cha Runnin' hot, but I'm still comin' to get'cha Thinkin' like a peace smoke… [Music fades out.]

felicia

Like, there’s this up and down, this staccato. And I think, like you know—we give Snoop a lot of credit for, you know, sort of originating that sing-song rap that we associate with guys like Young Thug and Roddy Rich, today. And it’s like—and listening back to this album and I think, “No, B-Real was—he was, you know, the originator!” There’s so much, you know, melody in his lyrical flow. It’s comedy but it’s dark. I mean, I’ve always been very much into horror films, and there’s a way in which, like, the way he turns a child—you know, like a children’s song or like a playground taunt into something that like a—like a horror movie villain might [laughs]—might sing. You know, the—like, on “A Hole in Your Head”. Like, [singing] “a hole in your in head, in your motherfucking head”. Like, it’s—it’s like a—it’s a strange playground taunt that you would—that you would hear in a horror film. And there’s something that is—that was, for me, really appealing to that, musically. It’s a—it’s a dark tone, but it’s… you know, I understand the appeal to something like Black Sabbath, listening to Cypress Hill. Like, I understand—you know, or even something like, you know, black metal. Like I kind of—I kind of get the appeal of something so dark and almost evil sounding. But, you know, he just… he made it… fun? [Laughs.] [Oliver and Morgan agree.]

oliver

You got me thinking, now—whatever Jordan Peele’s next film is, for the trailer it’s gonna use a slowed down, spooky version of “Hole in the Head”. And it’s gonna take that same line, but now it’s gonna make it all ghostly. You know. With, like, a child singing it ‘cause that’s just what people do for trailers now. [Morgan agrees with a laugh.] Morgan, you could hook that up, you know. Pitch that. [Felicia laughs.] Pitch that, right there.

morgan

Listen. Y-yeah. For sure. For sure.

crosstalk

Oliver: ‘Cause, you know. Morgan: Sure. Felicia: Well, “How I Could Just Kill a Man” was at the end of Juice, and that—you notice there’s a— Morgan: Sure was. Oliver: Yeah. Felicia: That drama and it’s dark and the house party is—you know, it looks—you know, looks a little sketch. Oliver: Yeah. Yeah.

felicia

[Laughing.] So, it’s like—and it works. It works in those kinds of soundtracks.

oliver

Morgan, what were your thoughts about B-Real and just the MCs of the crew?

morgan

I mean, I loved B-Real. And I like the back and forth, you know, between him and Sen. Like, it was—it’s a complete difference between, like, the comedy of Flava Flav coming back against Chuck D. This was like—Sen Dog was like that evil voice in your head that was shouting out stuff that was, like, really ill. He was the devil sitting on your shoulder. And I like the back and forth between them, because he was just echoing the stuff, you know, that was being said. In prep for the chat—and I know this album comes a little bit later—but so much of this album—so much of the, you know, the production on here reminds me of Wu-Tang. And it reminds me of some of the arrangements on there—like “How I Could Just Kill a Man” reminds me of “Tearz”, from Return to the 36 Chamber. And I know—and I know that it’s later. [Oliver agrees.] I know that it’s year’s later, but there’s just some—there’s just some similarity. And I don’t know—and I hadn’t thought about that before until I was, like, thinking. And I was—I happened to be listening to Wu-Tang. And I was like, “Ah! There’s something here.” I would love to know what Cypress Hill thought of Wu-Tang.

oliver

What really strikes me about this album—and I didn’t really even think about this until, you know, prepping for today—is you think about pre-Chronic albums out of Los Angeles that are not connected to N.W.A., because obviously that family is pretty deep—between Ice Cube going solo and you’ve got the D.O.C., blah, blah, blah. But Cypress Hill wasn’t really connected to that—those existing crews. They were, in a large way—they felt like they were out on their own, even though you can draw a lot of linkages between the stuff thematically and musically, with other groups. But they didn’t sound really like Low Profile. They didn’t sound like Compton’s Most Wanted. They didn’t sound like DJ Quik. [Morgan agrees.] Muggs’ production, I think, was really ahead of its time, especially in terms of—and we’ll in—maybe we’ll get into this either in the first half or second half, but if you listen to the layers of complexity he’s working with, it reminds me a lot of The Bomb Squad. Just not nearly as a noisy, but there’s a lot going on there that he’s putting into every song on this album.

music

“Real Estate” from the album Cypress Hill by the band Cypress Hill. Fast, complex hip-hop. …adjust we choker Oh, now you can't see I'm real great? Check out the story to the glory of the real estate Another fly verse Straight from the deficit Another scripture of B-Real (I’m the real estate!) Yeah, get funky, Real [Music fades out.]

morgan

But isn’t Muggs from Queens?

felicia

Yeah, he did. Yeah, he came to LA in ’84. [Morgan confirms.] I think he was like 15 or 16. Yeah. Yeah.

morgan

And I always wondered if that—if that explained a little bit of the difference: why he wasn’t wedded to some of the funk, you know. [Felicia and Oliver agree.] That you heard on later west coast. Was that just the New York thing? The New York train coming in with him?

felicia

I’ve heard him, in interviews, talk about how when he first came to LA and he started—I mean, he was like a DMC champ or like—or competed in DMC. I mean, he was—you know, sort of… thinking about DJing in different ways before he started producing. And then when he started producing, he said that he wanted to be Marley Marl. Like, he was—like—interested in a New York sound. And I also heard him talk about, you know—so, he was with that group, 7A3. Right? Before—which had a—it had—they had a song on the Colors soundtrack. They had an album—

crosstalk

Oliver: Coolin’ in Cali. Felicia: I think with Sen maybe? Oliver: That was one of their singles, yeah. Felicia: Yeeeah. Right.

felicia

And I think—I could be wrong, but I think he worked with some of the guys from The Bomb Squad, on that album. Or maybe there was some production that they did for that album. So, he had some connection to them. And I’ve heard him talk about being influenced by that organized noise process. [Oliver and Morgan affirm.] And I hear it! I mean, there are ways in which, like, some of these tracks on this album—you know, listening back to it, some of them sound a little like Bomb Squad production.

oliver

Very. Yeah.

felicia

I think about that, now. Especially after having written the book. Like, you know, thinking about him—Muggs and his influence on Cypress Hill. And I think what you—what you just said, Oliver, in terms of Cypress Hill sort of being on their own—I think is—has something to do with the fact that, you know, Muggs is involved. He’s got that New York influence. I think B-Real is influenced by guys like KRS-One and Chuck D. He’s talked about that. And you can hear it a little bit in songs like “Phuncky Feel One”. I mean, it’s basically like braggadocio rhyme. You know. Where your skills and your prowess are, you know, weapons. And it sort of reminds me of, like, “My Uzi Weighs a Ton”. So, there were those New York connections there. But also, they’re not trying to be Kid Frost. And they’re not trying to Mellow Man Ace. Like, they’ve—they really did not want that label. And you can kind of hear it in the album. Like, it—you know, all the way through to the end when “Latin Lingo” is kind of this afterthought. There’s not—they’re—you know… I don’t—I think they were trying to avoid being pigeonholed that way. And so, yeah, I think it creates for an album that just feels very… very different. [Music fades in.] Very unique.

music

“The Phuncky Feel One” from the album Cypress Hill by the band Cypress Hill. We're the real ones, yes, the phuncky feel ones We're the real ones, yes, the phuncky feel ones You know we're the real ones, yes, the phuncky feel ones (Phuncky! Come on! Come on! Phuncky!) [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue.]

oliver

We will be back with more of our conversation with author and scholar, Felicia Viator, about Cypress Hill’s debut, eponymous album after a brief word from some of our sibling Max Fun podcasts. [Music fades out.] Keep it locked!

promo

Janet Varney: Hey. I’m Janet Varney, host of The JV Club podcast. [School bell rings. The muffled sounds of talking in the hallway.] Janet: Ah, high school. Was it a time of adventure, romance, and discovery? Speaker 1: [Cheering.] Class of ’95! We did iiiit! Janet: Or— [Rain sound effect.] Janet: A time of angst, disappointment, and confusion? Speaker 2: We’re all tied together by four years of trauma, at this place, but enjoy adulthood, I guess! [A chorus of boos.] Janet: The truth is? It was both! Music: Bouncy music fades in. Janet: So, join me on The JV Club podcast, where I invite some great friends, like Kristen Bell, Angela Kinsey, Oscar Nunez, Neil Patrick Harris, Keegan-Michael Key, to talk about high school: the good, the bad, and everything in between. Speaker 3: My teenage mood swings are [voice dropping into something gruff and aggressive] gettin’ harder to manage! Janet: The JV Club. Find it on Maximum Fun. [Music fades out.]

promo

[Three gavel bangs.] Music: Laid back music plays under the dialogue. Speaker 1: _Judge John Hodgma_n won a Webby, in the Comedy Podcast category. After 10 years of production, Judge John Hodgman has finally won: the Susan Lucci of the Webbys. What is Judge John Hodgman? Speaker 2: Comedy writer and television personality, John Hodgman, settles disputes between friends, family, coworkers, partners, and more. Speaker 1: Is a machine gun a robot? Speaker 2: Should a grown adult tell his parents about his tattoos? Speaker 1: Should a family be compelled to wear matching outfits, on vacation? Speaker 2: Listen to Judge John Hodgman to find out the answers to these age-old disputes and more! Speaker 1: If you haven’t listened to _Judge John Hodgma_n, now is a great time to start. Speaker 2: Judge John Hodgman is available on MaximumFun.org and wherever you get your podcasts.   [Music fades out.] [Three gavel bangs.]

music

“Crown Ones” off the album Stepfather by People Under the Stairs.

morgan

Yo. We’re back on Heat Rocks with scholar and author, Felicia Viator, talking Cypress Hill’s Cypress Hill.

oliver

So, Felicia—and I should have said this in the first half, but I just wanna give, of the many shoutouts that we’ve had so far, just a quick shoutout to Soul Strut, the website that you and I first met though. [Felicia laughs.] Back when message boards were a thing, pre-social media. Or it was the proto-social media. So, any Soul Strut folks out there listening, it’s your boy Manny Ballon, AK O-Dub, AK I had several names I went by. And then DJ Neta. And shoutout to your husband, Ross Hogg who I think I also met through Soul Strut, as well. It—good times. Good times. I had a question for you about your book, To Live and Defy in LA, because at this point in time, there have many books that have been written about the rise of gangster rap music on the west coast. So, what do you do in your book that you think departs from what the existing pantheon of west coast hip-hop histories have done?

felicia

Hm. Yeah, I mean, as you can tell from the title—I mean, this is a—this is—you know, on the one hand it’s an origin story about LA rap. But it’s also a book about how hip-hop artists ultimately cross over and get access to the popular mainstream. And I felt like, with the exception of maybe Dan Charnas’s book, The Big Payback, which came out—

oliver

Great book. Yeah.

felicia

Yeah. Many years ago. Great book, yeah. With the exception of his book, I felt like the history of how rap crosses over hadn’t been told very well. And specifically, I felt like it hadn’t been explained in terms of LA’s role in that process. You know. LA rap, for all intents and purposes, from my perspective and, you know, the research told me that it’s LA rap that ultimately saves hip-hop from fading into oblivion. I mean, it—from my perspective as a historian, it saves hip-hop from whitening up the way that other black genres did when they crossed over. You know. LA rap resists what many figured was rap’s inevitable fate. Especially by, you know, like ’91? Folks—even, you know, guys like… you know, Village Voice was saying this and you know, there were folks high up in hip-hop that just assumed that the fate of hip-hop was that it would become this soft, neutered, unrecognizable thing. You know, defined by the groups that were on the top of the charts at the time. Like, people like P.M. Dawn and Vanilla Ice, in ’90 and ’91. Right? So, I wanted to show, in this book, how LA rappers and producers and promoters and especially fans, in LA—really the entire LA scene, how that lays the groundwork for hip-hop to cross over without losing its edge, without becoming white and becoming, you know, sort of… benign. So, the late 1980s for me was an important moment to study, because it seemed like this sort of watershed moment in the history of hip-hop. Because it’s when artists are figuring out how to get around old industry standards and old expectations of how to cross over. So, you know. I wanted to write a book that explained how these guys were working within a racist industry. They were living within a bigoted society, but then they navigate in these sort of sophisticated ways around that and ultimately succeed with their music in pervading in American culture. You know. For better or for worse and—you know, some—many, many, many people thought it was for worse. But, you know, the story is how these guys figure out how to make their own rules for crossing over. And that’s an LA story which hadn’t been told. So, that was the mission, with the book.

oliver

And so, where do you think Cypress Hill actually fits into there? Because I think one of the things that’s so striking about the group is that they were not just some kind of cult, niche, you know, favorites. These were a group—they were a group that were, as I mentioned in my intro—they’re doing arenas. They’re doing stadiums. [Felicia and Morgan affirm.] And of course, part of it is just driven by the fact that they became—they become adopted by the weed set, basically. And so, they’re playing shows that other hip-hop groups may not necessarily have entrée into. But because they’re seen as being pro-legalization and pro-cannabis, this certainly is a huge part of their brand. So, where does Cypress fit into that story and that narrative that you’re telling, Felicia?

felicia

Yeah, you’re making think how interesting it is that, you know, they played Lollapalooza, back in ’92. But so did Ice Cube. [Morgan confirms.] Ice Cube was playing those same festivals. But it’s Cypress Hill that ends up dominating the sort of, you know… the kind of White rock market. Like, they go that direction, and it works for them. I mean, they basically—you know, they’re touring with House of Pain and The Beastie Boys by ’93. Right? So, they’re—they’ve definitely found their niche. And it’s interesting to me that, you know, I know Ice Cube was doing those same—those same concert circuits and it just—it didn’t work out the same way for him. And I—you know. I don’t know what to make of that. Um.

morgan

Right. But I think this is—this goes to, you know, the point that we’re both making is they didn’t read, necessarily—read as gangster rap and became a little bit more palatable. [Felicia agrees.] I mean, they did play ’92, but ’91 Ice-T’s there. Ice-T and Body Count even plays the same—plays the same festival. And I think if—I think whether by accident or on purpose, they didn’t shoutout their neighborhood—was pretty good too, because gang culture in LA, certainly in 1991. You know, you got—by the end of the year, you got 700 gang killings, but gang culture is about neighborhood. [Oliver agrees.] And I think had they shouted out their particular neighborhood, the result might have been different. But they stayed very—not to say that they didn’t have neighborhood pride, because everybody does in LA, but they didn’t put that stamp on—they—all they said was Cypress Hill. But they didn’t shoutout their neighborhood. And I think that was smart.

oliver

I mean, wasn’t it by either their third or fourth album, one of their songs was “Throw Up Your Set”? So, it’s like—eventually they make their way there.

morgan

They get there. Right.

oliver

But they didn’t start there. And I think, Morgan, you make I think a really, really great point about thinking about how this plays out, locally. Which is that if you’re trying to avoid getting yourself into some real potential trouble, yeah, you’re not gonna go out of your way to basically shoutout your blocks, because that creates potential dissention. So, yeah, I think that’s a great observation. Yeah. So, bringing this back—not that we haven’t already been talking about Cypress Hill, but bringing it back to this album, let’s get—let’s get into some difficult conversations around what is—what’s the fire track off of this album? What is the song that just really, really gets you hype?

felicia

Me? [Laughs.] I mean, so… I have to say—this is not a popular answer, but—“The Phuncky Feel One” is still my favorite track. [Morgan hums in understanding.] And I—you know, and part of it is because there’s this four-bar bassline in this track that is my favorite moment on the entire album. You know, it’s—the whole song is like perfect Muggs production, you know. It’s that’s organized sound process. Like, there are layers and layers and layers of samples here. He uses drums and horns and vocals and basslines and this—from, like, a whole range of funk and soul records. I—you know, he’s got Kool & the Gang, James Brown, um—I think the Isleys are in there. The Bar-Kays. The—I mean, it’s just on and on and on. And what I love about the track is that it’s got that organized noise sort of… that symphonic sound. And right in the midst of all of that, there’s this point when Muggs strips everything down to just this four-bar bassline. It’s the four bars that introduce Sen Dog’s first verse and there’s this—just this intensity of the layers of the sample and the drums and the chorus and then it just drops out and all that’s left is that low, bouncy bassline that he takes from just this one bar of a biggest riff in a song by Fred Wesley and the J.B.’s called “More Peas”. And it’s just that perfect, four bar bassline that just sets—makes that track the best on the whole album. Yeah.

music

“The Phuncky Feel One” from the album Cypress Hill by the band Cypress Hill. Night in a stiff lock, hangin' up the pimp's jock Used to call me Pimp Poppa, 'cause I likes to hip-hop 'Cause I'm down with Cypress, illin’ well I might… [Music fades out.]

felicia

It’s the one track on the album that is, like, classic, braggadocio. Which is interesting too, listening back, ‘cause it’s—you know… there’s this—there’s always this threat, in B-Real’s delivery. You know, it’s so—[laughs] it’s so dark and menacing. [Morgan agrees.] You know, you can literally get beat down with his verses.

music

“The Phuncky Feel One” from the album Cypress Hill by the band Cypress Hill. Ladies and gentlemen Well I'm the Real one, yes the phuncky feel one Cypress Hill has come, any questions ask them 'Cause we are answerin', any brothers that've been On the dick swingin', and straight gatherin' Enter da info, 'cause yo what you're in fo' Is a crazy day, strapped in a pimp mode Trapped like a prophet, but I still profit Even when you're off it… [Music fades out.]

oliver

Morgan, how about you? What’s your fire track?

morgan

Well, I have to go back to “The Phuncky Feel One”, because that’s my favorite. The moment that she talked about is my favorite moment on that album. [Oliver and Felicia both hum in agreement.] That changeup is so smooth and so nice. It’s like, woah, we are head nodding. They just slipped that groove in on us, that funk in on us, and that changeup is just so—I mean, it’s just so on point. So, that’s my favorite moment. And I love “The Phuncky Feel One”. My favorite track—I mean, as you—Oliver, you like to say, “Low hanging fruit.” But “How I Could Just Kill a Man” is fiiire.

oliver

It’s gotta be! Gotta be. [Felicia agrees.]

music

“How I Could Just Kill a Man” from the album Cypress Hill by the band Cypress Hill. Fast, passionate hip-hop. Here is something you can't understand I'm ignoring all the dumb shit Yo, because nothing is coming from it I'm not gonna waste no time Fucking around my gat straight humming Humming coming at cha And you know I had to gat ya Time for some action, just a fraction of friction I got the clearance to run the interference Into your satellite… [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue then fades out.]

oliver

This is definitely my fire track, as well. And I mean, I’m so in awe of what Muggs in particular does with this song—especially for the time in which he’s making this. I mean, again, ’91 is still relatively early in a lot of ways, in terms if you’re thinking about production technique in hip-hop. And I went to the extent where I used a—I’m gonna get a little nerded out here, but there’s a program—an annotation program—that works with audio and video that was produced out of USC, called Scalar. And I learned how to use this a few years back. And basically, annotated every bar in this song to analyze what samples Muggs was using, when he’s using it, how long he’s using it for. Just so that you could get an understanding of everything that’s going on there, because there’s so many different snippets that works its way in. And my friend, Loren Kajikawa, who is a musicologist and was on our proto-Heat Rocks episode talking about The Chronic, chimes in and basically offers some musicological analysis. I’ll include a link to this whole kind of annotated breakdown on the song in the show notes, but this song is just—it’s perfect. I mean, this is—it’s completely flawless. And again, if you just really sit and listen—maybe enjoy little—a little bit of the product that the group is known for before you sit down—and just pick out bar by bar everything that Muggs is doing in here, it’s—it’s a minor miracle.

music

[“How I Could Just Kill a Man” plays again] It's gonna be a long time before I finish One of the many missions that I have to establish To light my spliff, ignite ya with insights And if you ain't down, bullshit! Say some punk try to… [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue then fades out.]

oliver

Now, that said, as time has gone by I think one of the songs that I’ve re-gravitated to—it’s not gonna be better than “How I Could Just Kill a Man”, but a song that I—that I love—just love, love, love off of this album is “The Funky Cypress Hill Shit”.

music

“The Funky Cypress Hill Shit” from the album Cypress Hill by the band Cypress Hill. Fast, intense, impassioned hip-hop. Like my buddha plant boy, I'm gonna keep plucking ya Picking ya, then I'm gonna roll you up and light ya Despite your booty in sight to take my joint To get to my point, I'm talking about that ill trip The Funky Cypress Hill Shit (The Funky Cypress Hill Shit!) [Music fades out.]

oliver

And one of the reasons is: is for a group, as we’ve been discussing, that doesn’t necessarily have very obvious, explicit shouts out to Los Angeles, this song is sampling from The Village Caller’s “Hector”. Which is a—as LA of a record as you can get. It was recorded life, in Los Angeles. The label was a local, LA label. The manager of the—of The Village Callers was the same person who discovered El Chicano and put out Viva Tirado. So—and maybe it’s just a coincidence. Maybe it was just like—I mean, so, the original “Hector” track is a really, really great LA funk track. It might have just been that Muggs or someone put Muggs up on it. He wasn’t thinking of using it just because it was an LA record. Nonetheless, when I hear it now and I hear “Hector”, like—I just make those ties that this is an LA group using an LA song to make this song.

music

“Hector” by the band The Village Callers. Funky hip-hop with layered vocals. The Funky Cypress Hill Shit! The Funky Cypress Hill Shit! [Music fades out.]

oliver

Morgan, you mentioned earlier what your favorite moment off of the album is—that the change in the beat on “Phuncky Feel One”. For me, my favorite moment—and I don’t think this would have been my answer back in ’91, but probably at—maybe 10 or 12 years ago, I was in a club and the DJ began to loop up the beginning of “Hand on the Pump”—which is [rhythmically] “Du-du-du-duke of—" Except he purposefully lengthened it so that when you expect the beat to drop, it doesn’t drop yet. So, by the time—and I don’t know how long he let—he let this go on for, but it built up so much anticipation, because you knew what was supposed to come, that by the time he dropped it, that moment felt amazing.

music

“Hand on the Pump” from the album Cypress Hill by the band Cypress Hill. Slow, rhythmic hip-hop. Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of— Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of— Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of— Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of— Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of— Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of— Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of— Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of— [Music fades out.]

felicia

That guitar. [Oliver agrees.] Who said, aw man.

oliver

But also, you know, Muggs is sitting there listening to—was it Gene Chandler’s “Duke of Earl” and thinking, “Yo! I could loop that.” Like, what?! [They laugh.] Why would you ever come up with that idea of turning “Duke, Duke, Duke,” into a loop? But it just works so well!

music

“Duke of Earl” from the album Duke of Earl by Gene Chandler. Soft, staccato doo-wop. Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl [Music fades out.]

crosstalk

Morgan: That’s fire. Oliver: Felicia, do you have—do you have a favorite moment?

felicia

Yeah. I mean, I—it’s that four bar bassline in “Phuncky One”. [Morgan and Oliver both hum in understanding.] That—that is. Morgan and I are on the same page, there. Definitely. Yeah.

morgan

Fire.

felicia

Yeah. No, you’re—Oliver, you mentioned that the “Duke of Earl”, that intro and it’s funny ‘cause I was thinking, like, that track tells me that Muggs was definitely influenced during those years, since ’84 when he came to LA, by lowrider car culture. [Oliver hums in agreement.] He had to have been. I mean, talk about a classic. And so, yeah. That track is really interesting. That intro is great. The other moment I’ll mention is on “Born to Get Busy”, off—that track that gets forgotten, there’s that Aretha vocal? At the beginning that I looove. [Morgan agrees.] I love that.

music

“Born to Get Busy” from the album Cypress Hill by the band Cypress Hill. Passionate vocalizations over a hip-hop beat. Music plays for a moment, then fades out.

felicia

It’s just those little touches that Muggs puts in, here and there. It’s just so surprising, but so memorable. You just keep coming to those little—those little moments.

morgan

Felicia, if you had to describe this album in three words, what would they be?

felicia

[Laughs.] Ah. Um. Horror, comedy… infectious. [Oliver hums with intrigue.]

music

“Hand on the Pump” from the album Cypress Hill by the band Cypress Hill. Melodic, light hip-hop. Cypress Hill, fa-la-la-la-lalalala Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill (Come on!) Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill Fa-la-la-la-lalalala Cypress Hill [Music fades out.]

oliver

If our audience liked this week’s album, we have some recommendations for what you should listen to next. For me—and this goes back to what I was discussing about earlier, about pre-Chronic albums out of LA, I would recommend people check out Above the Law’s Living Like Hustlers, from 1989. And this was also a debut album, by a quartet of people out of Pomona, California—comprised of Cold 187um, KMG the Illustrator, Go Mack, and DJ Total K-Oss. All excellent, excellent early ‘90s hip-hop names, I may say. Unlike Cypress Hill, this was somewhat NWA affiliated, because Dr. Dre did help produce parts of the album. And I believe Cold 187um actually helped to work on parts of The Chronic—if I get some of that timeline right. I think along with the Cypress Hill album, these two—Living Like Hustlers and the Cypress Hill album—were two of the most potent pre-Chronic gangster rap albums that I think came out of LA that wasn’t directly out of NWA or Ice Cube. And so, if you’ve never heard the Living Like Hustlers LP, definitely check it out. I think you’ll be very, very pleased by it.

music

“Living Like Hustlers” from the album Living Like Hustlers by the band Above the Law. Spoken word that leads into rap over a funky beat. Yeah, this Radio station KM.G And whenever you wanna hear some funky shit, put your dial on 187 Now, some new music by some homeboys out of South Central Here's A.T.L., and they called this one livin' like hustlers Let me start it off, cause I'm a player Fade into part two, I'm the number one whore layer A mack, a player and a pimp Something much stronger than your average drink Now, quote me if I'm wrong… [Music fades out.]

oliver

Morgan, how about you?

morgan

I would say skip ahead five years but keep it in LA and go to the Psycho Realm’s 1997 self-titled debut. You get the left coast lingo and the best coast scenarios. B-Real is involved, so if you want that—that menacing, that ominous, that nasal, you’ve got all that and there’s some heaters on there. And I’d say “La Conecta” is one of them, but “The Big Payback” is the big payoff.

music

“The Big Payback” from the album The Psycho Realm by the band Psycho Realm. Mid-tempo hip-hop. In memory of lost souls, in honor of their homeboys Dying here in south Los Now don't even decide you want to hide If they find who they’re looking for, they shoot whoever's inside Your little street family They drive by your block and shot randomly You thinks it's best to test [Music fades out.]

oliver

I just wanna shoutout my colleague in my—in the soc department in my college, Steven Osuna, who wrote about Psycho Realm as part of his dissertation, so shoutout to all the academics out there writing about hip-hop.

morgan

Salute.

oliver

Yeah. Our crew runs deep. Felicia, how about— [Morgan laughs.] How about you? What’d be your recommendation for our audience members to check out, after they have finished with Cypress Hill?

felicia

I’d recommend Ice Cube’s third album, The Predator. [Oliver agrees emphatically. Morgan hums in interest.] Uh, yeah. I mean, there are direct connections there, between Cube and Cypress, ‘cause Muggs produces three of the tracks, including—you know, the album version of “Check Yo Self” that nobody knows about. [Laughs.] With Das EFX.

oliver

Which is dope! Which is dope! [Felicia agrees.] The album version’s great! Yeah!

felicia

I know! Yeah. And he also produces “We Had to Tear this Mothafucka Up”, which is—you know, it’s also classic Muggs. You know, he’s using—he’s using, you know, even samples from like an Eyes on the Prize documentary, at the beginning of that. So, it’s very—you know, interesting. Muggs’ organized noise production.

music

“We Had to Tear This Mothafucka Up” from the album The Predator by Ice Cube. Hip-hop with layered vocals. (We’re all not guilty, not guilty, not guilty, not guilty) Make it rough (A lot of activity continues here in this command post) Make it rough (We have sporadic fires throughout the city of Los Angeles) Not guilty, the filthy devils tried to kill me When the news get to the hood then n-ggas will be Hotter than [Volume decreases and continues under the dialogue and then fades out.]

oliver

Well, that will do it for this episode of Heat Rocks with our special guest, SF State Professor—my fellow SCU colleague, Felicia Viator.

music

oliver

Her new book is To Live and Defy in LA, which is all about the rise of gangster rap in the west coast. Felicia, what else are you working on, now?

felicia

Right now, I’m promoting the book primarily. And hopefully beginning a textbook on California history that is gonna be focused on pop culture. [Oliver makes an excited “oooh!” noise.] So, I’m trying to do something for the kids. [Chuckles.] And then I’ll probably return to some research on the ‘80s. But I’m interested in fear and paranoia and parenting, in the ‘80s.

oliver

[Laughs.] Oh man. [Morgan hums in understanding.]

felicia

So, that’s [laughing] where I’m going next. It’s a little left, but.

oliver

Where can people find you, online?

felicia

They can find me @Mama_Neta. That’s my handle on Twitter. And then my website is just my name: FeliciaViator.com

oliver

Felicia, thank you so much for joining us. This was such a fun album to talk about with you.

felicia

Aw, thank you guys so much for having me. I really appreciate it. This was great.

oliver

You’ve been listening to Heat Rocks with me, Oliver Wang, and Morgan Rhodes.

morgan

Our theme music is “Crown Ones” by Thes One of People Under the Stairs. Shoutout to Thes for the hookup.

oliver

Heat Rocks is produced by myself and Morgan, alongside Christian Dueñas—who also edits, engineers, and does the booking for our shows.

morgan

Our senior producer is Laura Swisher, and our executive producer is Jesse Thorn.

oliver

We are part of the Max Fun family, headquartered in Los Angeles, where stoned is the way of the walk! Well, at least for some. It’s been a while and we wanna thank all of our 5-star iTunes reviewers. The most recent being MTH—or, I guess, MTHarris78—who wrote that, quote, “If you’re a music nerd or a casual observer who wants to learn more, this is the place.” Thank you, MTHarris78! If you have not had a chance yet, please, please consider leaving us a review. It is a big way in which new audience members can find their way to us. One last thing: here is a teaser for next week’s episode, which features author Adam Mansbach talking with me about the debut album by Black Sheep, A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. [Music fades out.]

adam mansbach

It resonated with me because—for one thing—it was very relatable. Not that I was rolling around town Big Willie Style, the way that Dres was talking about, but there was a mundanity and an everydayness, even to the braggadocio that he was engaged in. And there was—there was an aspiration to be slick and smooth and to kind of move with a certain kind of ease and a certain arrogance and cockiness that’s seemed both larger than life and well within reach, if that makes sense.