Producer DJ Muggs, widely known as a member of Cypress Hill, is indicative of many individuals whose work graced our eardrums in the era commonly referred to as Hip-Hop’s Golden Era. He continued to tack on considerable editions to his sonic résumé with Soul Assassins as well. DJ Muggs was recently at Manhattan’s SoHo House with director Jason Goldwatch for a screening for his new film, Death Valley, a video companion to the new Soul Assassins 3 album of the same name.
DJ Muggs isn’t someone who’s always out and about, so we seized the opportunity to speak with the iconic producer about his upcoming works. But first, we asked him a legacy question.
AllHipHop.com: Cypress Hill have always been pioneers.
DJ Muggs: We didn’t come out waving that flag. We just came out as a dope ass band. Our label was Columbia Records and if you listened you might think, ‘Oh, yeah! Those are latinos,’ but we didn’t want to wave that flag like that. We didn’t even want to show our faces. Columbia Records made us show our faces. You know what I mean? That was just because our music was dope as f**k.
And we were going head-to-head with all the m############. You were there in ’91? (Of course!) Then you know we went head-to-head with everybody. That’s what it was all about! But, you know what the f##k it is? Everybody’s shortsighted. You know what I mean?
AllHipHop.com: I am not trying to start anything but yes, Big Pun and Fat Joe had the streets on fire, but as far as artistry is concerned, it was Cypress Hill for me.
DJ Muggs: Yeah, I love Joe! I love Pun, too. But I love Cypress Hill, too. We’re still here doing our thing. I like to go away from the norm, myself. If nobody’s doing that, then I’m doing that. I don’t like following trends. I like setting them.
AllHipHop.com: What are some other things Cypress Hill pioneered that people aren’t aware of?
DJ Muggs: Back then, everybody was smoking weed, but nobody was talking about in their lyrics. We were the first ones who starting mentioning weed in our lyrics, now everybody does it. Even if you want to go back to the first Source Awards, we were rocking tattoos before anybody. I like to go away from the norm, myself. If nobody’s doing that, then I’m doing that. If everybody’s doing it, then I’m doing something else.
As previously mentioned, “Soul Assassins 3: Death Valley” is currently available on all DSPs. Fans can also catch DJ Muggs’ appearance in the 2022 documentary Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain.