‘Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain’ Review: Estevan Oriol’s Documentary is an Entertaining Ode to the L.A. Hip-Hop Innovators
23.04.2022 - 20:47
/ variety.com
Andrew Barker Senior Features WriterCypress Hill has always been an easy group to pigeonhole. From the adenoidal whine of frontman B-Real’s voice to the group’s almost monomaniacal focus on weed-smoking, one can imagine younger listeners writing them off as a one-note act.
But history has been kind to them, and a deeper look through the smoke clouds on the surface reveals much more than meets the eye.They were hip-hop’s first Latino superstars, and key architects of its West Coast sound and style. They were among the most visible advocates for cannabis legalization at a time when that prospect seemed politically unrealistic.
And they were second only to the Beastie Boys in their ability to bridge the divide between rap and rock audiences, at a time when those two genres were often at odds. Estevan Oriol’s entertaining, energetic, better-than-it-had-to-be documentary “Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain” offers a more complete picture of this massively popular yet often underestimated group.
Oriol was an early associate of the crew, and variously served as Cypress Hill’s photographer, videographer, and tour manager for much of their three-decade run. As such, there isn’t a whole lot of editorial distance between filmmaker and subject – it’s easy to lose count of the number of interviewees who pause a story to say “you remember?” or “you were there” to the director off-camera – but that turns out to be an asset.
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