On an episode of the historic animated series “The Simpsons” that aired in May 1996, Homer Simpson attends the music festival Hullabalooza, a play on Lollapalooza, which had started a few years prior. During the episode, an uncool Homer takes his kids Bart and Lisa to the music festival and discovers his new skill of taking a cannonball to the stomach. Along the way some familiar musicians and groups make their appearance at the music fest: Peter Frampton, Sonic Youth, The Smashing Pumpkins and Cypress Hill, who accidentally orders a symphony that plays “Insane in the Brain” with the group out of Los Angeles.
“The Simpsons” has been known to predict the future in the show’s episodes, and apparently this is even true for hip-hop legends Cypress Hill. Last year, the group celebrated the 30th Anniversary of their second album Black Sunday with a tour highlighting the album classics from “When the S*** Goes Down” and “Hits From the Bong” and going even deeper into their ten-album catalog. They’ve also done what “The Simpsons” predicted almost 30 years ago by playing with orchestras in Colorado and London.
This Saturday, June 22, at Ascend Amphitheater, Cypress Hill will hit the stage with the backing of the Nashville Symphony. Longtime drummer Eric Bobo spoke to us about the group’s success to this point, the impact of Black Sunday, and what fans can expect from the show with the Nashville Symphony.
