The video for “Rise Up,” Cypress Hill’s new single, featuring Tom Morello, begins with a newsreader claiming, “Not since the Watts riot of 1965 has the city seemed so out of control. Los Angeles is still on edge.” And then Morello launches a neck slide that leads into a cowbell-laced drum riff and we’re off. “Rise Up” hits all the typical rap notes—hard neighborhood, holding one’s ground while “searching for a higher ground,” namechecking cars and guns, boasting about smoking “nothing less than the kush,” taunting rivals, weird pop culture references like “I go psycho/crazy/ Michael Myers/ I set the stage on fire.” What sets it apart is guitar monster, Tom Morello, formerly of Rage Against the Machine. Cypress Hill has always had a close relationship with rock, and the album features several collaborations. The pairing with Morello seems like something that should’ve happened a long time ago. With two songs on the new album, maybe there will be more of that in the future. Rise Up the album drops, appropriately enough for Cypress Hill, on 4/20.

[Cypress Hill Rise Up]

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