Cypress Hill’s Bobo on The Simpsons, Texas Rap and the Healing Power of Cycling

As a 33-years-active West Coast rap institution, Cypress Hill transcends multiple realms of pop culture. They played Woodstock ‘94, they guest-starred in arguably one of the best episodes of The Simpsons ever made, they’re cannabis industry entrepreneurs and they were the first ever hip-hop group to claim a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Standing on the strength of a timeless singular sound with the support of a global fan base, the LA-based trio continues to take its music to new heights.

The highly influential group is currently on the road for the We Legalized It 2024 Tour, a strong lineup including fellow '90s hip-hop pioneers The Pharcyde and Souls of Mischief who are billed as special guests. They’re stopping at Dallas' House of Blues this week, but before they hit the road last month Cypress Hill’s Eric "Bobo" Correa took a moment to chat with us about fans, grief and the view from his bike seat.
Cypress Hill toured last year for the 30th anniversary of the Black Sunday album. Are you going to be revisiting more of your classics on this tour?
Well, we always play classics. But I think this year it’s definitely going to be the classics along with some songs that we haven’t done in a long time. Maybe a couple that we've never performed before that we want to add into the mix. We're looking forward to giving the fans a much different show than they've seen before with Cypress Hill.

Your fan base is still very large, alive and well. What a blessing that must be.
It's crazy to think that we're going into like a third generation of fans. At a meet-and-greet on this last tour we met a granddad with his son and his grandson. That was pretty heavy for me because it shows how important the music was for them. The kids are able to relate to the fandom of their parents and they become fans themselves. So it's a blessing, it's great and we love it.

So what is Cypress Hill’s secret to maintaining such a long lifespan as an active group?
I really believe it’s because we still really enjoy making music together, and the fun is still there. And it’s reflected in the music we make as long as we still enjoy making music together and being on tour with one another. I mean, we're genuine brothers. Not to say we're perfect, not to say that we don't have disagreements or anything like that. All of that is normal. But at the end of the day, you know, we all are trying to get to the same spot.

There's a lot of talk about how The Simpsons actually predicted Cypress Hill’s recent symphony orchestra performances back in 1996, when you guest-starred in the "Homerpalooza" episode. Looking back, does appearing on The Simpsons feel like a career milestone?

Being on an iconic show that people of multiple generations know and love is an incredible thing. The story of how these concerts came to be actually happened years later because of fans on Twitter in so much conversation about the Simpsons episode. And it was like, ‘Yo, something is growing’. So The Simpsons kind of prepared us for this moment. I think this next one [with the London Symphony Orchestra] is going to be a very pivotal point in the Cypress Hill legacy, like how Woodstock '94 and Saturday Night Live [in 1993] was for us, even though we got banned.

That’s an accomplishment in itself. Some of the greatest artists of all time have been banned from SNL.
I hope that bands don't strive to get banned from SNL. Don't make that a goal.

What’s your impression of Dallas after all these years spent stopping through on tour?
Dallas has always been a great stop for us. The fans have always been great energy, energetic and into it. And in the past few years newer artists like That Mexican OT and BigXthePlug from Dallas are coming up from Texas to the top of the food chain. So you know, I think [Texas rap] has been able to forge its own way.

What’s your tour-prep routine in gearing up to hit the road?
We had a little time off. I mean, a lot happened. We lost my mom in December and I had to kind of go through that grieving process, and I'm glad that I was home in LA for that. I've been practicing a little bit just to get familiar with everything again. It's a mental prep, and you got to get your body right.

So sorry for your loss. Has music as a creative practice been helping you express that grief?
Yeah, thanks. Music has definitely been a big help. But I recently found another love in bike riding. Toward the end, my mom was happy that I was getting into it. Now I ride with a club called LA Riders. It’s a small-neck crew and, you know, we ride all over Los Angeles in different parts of the city. It's great to be able to connect with your city on a bike because you miss a lot of things when you're driving in the car. So that's kind of helped me a lot.

LA has a really strong street-biking club culture. How does it feel to tap into that aspect of your city for the first time?
It's been really inspiring. It's made me kind of connect a little bit more with my roots here. B-Real [of Cypress Hill] started riding as well with us. And just riding in the middle of the street with your crew down in downtown LA, with all the lights on Broadway — it's something else. It's really been great. I'm bringing my bike on the road too. So you might see me rolling around in Dallas, actually.

Cypress Hill plays House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St., with The Pharcyde and Souls of Mischief on Tuesday, May 7.