Cypress Hill - I Wanna Get High (Straight Edge Hardcore Punk Version)

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What if... Cypress Hill were straight-edge hardcore punks? Imagine, if you will, an alternative universe, not unlike our own except that, in this timeline, the members of Cypress Hill are all born six years earlier, and come together as a group in 1982, just as the Straight Edge hardcore punk movement started by DC's Minor Threat has started to arrive on the west coast. Inspired by both the DC scene and local heroes, Uniform Choice, the band plays speedy, aggressive punk with a strong anti-drugs and alcohol stance, with a particularly vehement stance against marijuana, the drug of choice among their teen peer group. Lead vocalist, Louis 'B-Real' Freese is especially influenced by Government Issue's John Stabb, whose archly sarcastic lyrics and sneering delivery have a major impact on his own approach. They persuade Dischord Records to co-release their debut record, an 8-song "7 EP of brief, furious anti-drug invectives. Unfortunately, local stoners hear the opening track, 'I Wanna Get High', and adopt it as their anthem, completely missing the song's sarcastic intent. Soon, the band's show are overrun by armies of potheads, their fiercely straight-edge message lost in a cloud of skunk smoke.

Frustrated at being so utterly misunderstood, the band breaks up. However, their EP is retrospectively reevaluated as one of the founding documents of straight-edge, even as generations of stoners continue to clsim 'I Wanna Get High'as their nthem!

Written by Muggerud/Freese/Reyes

I do not own the rights to the song, B-Real's vocal, or any of the clips/images used. Backing track arranged, performed and produced by me, using GarageBand, and whatever instruments I had to hand. NO generative AI used, ever.

For a companion video with related discussion and recording/arranging insights, please click here: https://youtu.be/0iWkJoM7Y6M?si=bWqtfcOfjn8kxY7y

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#cypresshill #hardcorepunk #punk #straightedge #reinterpretation #remix #hiphop