The hip-hop veterans spoke to Billboard Canada about the record backstage at Festival d'été de Québec in July, explaining the significance of the record and the importance of connecting with their Latin fanbase across the world.
Hip-hop legends Cypress Hill are back with their first Spanish-language album.
Released today, Dios Bendiga ("God Bless" in English) is the first LP in four years from the pioneering hip-hop group, whose impact spans over three decades. The new album honours the group's roots, as they are one of the first-ever Latin American hip-hop groups to achieve mainstream success, including the No. 1 album Black Sunday in 1993.
The group recently gave fans in Canada a taste of the new album, performing the single "Wacha Trucha" at the Festival d'été de Québec just two weeks ago. Playing one of the country's biggest festivals, their set and inclusion of the new album highlighted the rappers' longstanding influence on their genre, and the current Latin music boom in general.
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"We've always had a great impact here in Quebec and in Montreal just in general, so we thought let's hit it off some place where we know there will be big impact and we'll just get the crowd going, along with being able to feed them information about our new album," B-Real of Cypress Hill told Billboard Canada in July backstage at FEQ.
Cypress Hill's classic boom-bap flair became a textbook inspiration for a whole new generation of aspiring rappers worldwide, including Latin American artists like Argentinian rapper Trueno and Mexican rapper Alemán, an impact that Cypress Hill is bringing full circle 40 years later by connecting with these artists on their groundbreaking new album.
The rap veterans conquered the four corners of the world with their English music and were previously inspired to deepen their connection with their Latin fanbase by translating their greatest hits into Spanish on 1999's Los Grandes Éxitos en Español. Now, almost 30 years removed from that project, Dios Bendiga honours a promise they made with their Latin American fans to deliver more Spanish music, and the MCs successfully kept their word with their first Spanish-language album featuring only new material.
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"[Our Spanish-speaking fans] always wanted more," B-Real explains. "We've done little things here and there like features on other people's songs and other projects, but we never went full-blown on doing another Spanish-speaking album. Finally, an opportunity came up to record that album and we took the time off and decided, 'hey, a lot of our Spanish-speaking fans have been waiting for this for a long time, we should deliver it right now.' The mindset was 'Let's get it done.'"
Dios Bendiga kicks off an exciting new chapter for the group, who take immense pride in the project both culturally and artistically. It's an opportunity to deepen the connection they have with an existing dedicated fanbase who fell in love with them through their English music, while also making new fans along the way.
"For these Spanish-speaking fans, they feel like it's something special because we're actually doing it in their language and we are of the background. It's us going back to those folks that held us up even when they didn't understand what the music was. This is for them," B-Real adds.
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After kicking off its current summer touring run in Quebec City at FEQ, Cypress Hill is set to play Rock the Runway 2026 in London, Ontario on Sept. 17, alongside a slew of American dates before hitting the road in Latin America in November.
