Cypress Hill’s B-Real Talks Celebrating Cultural Pride and Spirituality on New ‘Dios Bendiga’ Album

08-06-2026

Cypress Hill

via Vibe.com

Though he’s known for his laconic aura, B-Real sounds visibly excited. It’s a July afternoon in the dog days of summer, and despite the humid weather, the Cypress Hill member is riding high. However, the veteran lyricist’s lifted vibes can’t be attributed only to cannabis fumes. Last week, the 56-year-old and his groupmates released their eleventh studio album, Dios Bendiga, a body of work that doubles as a creative achievement and homage to their cultural roots. It marks Cypress Hill’s first full-length Spanish-language album since their 1999 compilation Los Grandes Exitos En Español, which saw B-Real, Sen Dog, DJ Muggs, and Eric Bobo recording their greatest hits and fan favorites in their ethnic tongue.

Released amid a growing wave of Latino artists dominating the music charts, Los Grandes Exitos En Español was B-Real and crew bridging the gap between their audience of English and Spanish-speaking fans. The trend was one Cypress Hill themselves helped set with their double-platinum certified debut album in 1991. Yet, Dios Bendiga is also a show of civic pride and solidarity with fellow Latinos in light of sociopolitical efforts to criminalize, marginalize, and deport illegal immigrants, many of whom hail from Latin countries and have built a life for themselves in America.

“This was our stance,” B-Real tells VIBE when asked of the revolutionary overtone of Spanish hip-hop in recent times. “Taking up the stance at this time when you have ICE fucking with people all over the place, and immigration is all over the place. We’re doing a Spanish album, letting you know that we stand with these folks, ‘cause we are these folks. I think any community that’s come out of struggle can relate to one another.”

He continued, adding, “It sort of helps band us together in certain ways because we can relate to each other’s struggles one way or another. I think that’s what ties it all together. This is us standing on ours and speaking our minds and educating people and lighting them up and entertaining them as well.” Recorded in late 2025, what initially was slated as a quick-strike project was extended past that deadline, a pivot B-Real is adamant was key to the curation and musicality of Dios Bendiga.

“We work fast,” the Los Angeles native said of he and his groupmates, who kicked off the Dios Bendiga sessions with the album’s opening track “Wacha Trucha.” “We’re not dudes who drag ass in the studio. We get in there, and we work, but we’re also realistic with ourselves. If the shit ain’t got the goods, then we put it to the side and go to the next. You can’t put an album together in two weeks. We’re going to need a month to two months. That’s what we took and just fine-tuned it throughout.”

That intention and dedication to the art has served Cypress Hill well throughout their decades-long career, as the group has built a legacy as pioneers and trailblazers while continuing to break barriers, creatively, professionally, and personally.

Read the interview at Vibe.com