Cypress Hill Join Snoop Dogg's Priority Records, Team with Tom Morello

Snoop Dogg has made his first signing as Creative Chairman of Priority Records, adding West Coast rappers Cypress Hill to the revived label’s roster. Snoop and Cypress Hill made the announcement on yesterday’s Lopez Tonight show, where the Black Sunday band performed their hit “Insane in the Brain.” Cypress Hill will release Rise Up, their first album since 2004’s Til Death Do Us Part, on April 6th.

The album’s first single, “Rise Up,” features the guitar work of Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. “It was great to work with my longtime friends and comrades Cypress Hill on these two monster rock tracks,” Morello said of his new collaborators. “Cypress are back with a vengeance!” Morello will also appear on another Rise Up track called “Shut ‘Em Down.” This isn’t the first time Cypress and Rage have teamed up: Drummer Brad Wilk also performed on Cypress Hill’s 2000 rap-rock album Skull & Bones.

Cypress Hill spent the last three years in the studio working on Rise Up. “Making this record was so much fun,” Hill’s Sen Dog said in a statement. “It felt like the first record we ever made together. We recorded whatever we wanted to with no musical boundaries. And having the chance to work with one of my favorite guitar players of all time, Tom Morello, was amazing. I always knew we would make some kickass music together.”

Snoop was handed the reins to Priority Records last year in the hopes that he could help bring the famed West Coast label — which featured artists like N.W.A, Ice Cube and Eazy-E — back to prominence. Snoop didn’t have to look far for his first signing, since Cypress Hill have been rap staples from Los Angeles’ South Gate for over 20 years. Other rockers rumored to be featured on Rise Up include Slash and Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda.

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