Showtime announced today that it will premiere Cypress Hill: Insane in The Brain, an upcoming documentary about the career and influence of the groundbreaking LA hip-hop group. Cypress Hill: Insane in The Brain comes to Showtime as part of the company's "Hip Hop 50" banner and joins other two documentaries to be released this April.
Founded in 1988, Cypress Hill was the first Latinx hip-hop group to have sold multi-platinum and platinum albums and the first hip-hop group ever to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Besides defining the hip-hop scene on the West Coast through the '90s, Cypress Hill is also known for advocating for the legalization of cannabis consumption in the United States, both for medicinal and recreational usage. Coming from director Estevan Oriol (LA Originals), Insane in The Brain will explore the history of Cypress Hill and how they remain influential more than 30 years later. The documentary will also discuss the group's relation to cannabis, as the members of Cypress Hill are known for planting their own weed, a fact reflected in their music.
Besides Cypress Hill: Insane in The Brain, Showtime is also premiering other two documentaries in April. First, on Friday, April 15, La Madrina: The Savage Life Of Lorine Padilla will explore the Savage Skulls gang's "First Lady" struggle against gentrification in the Bronx during the 1980s. Directed by filmmaker and author Raquel Cepeda (Some Girls, Bling: A Planet Rock), La Madrina uses never-before-seen archives that lead us on a surreal journey through five decades of Bronx history. Then, on Friday, April 29, director Gregy Roman's Bushwick Bill: Geto Boy will chronicle the life of the late Jamaican-American rapper Richard Shaw and his fight against censorship.
The three new documentaries are part of Showtime's Hip Hop 50, a banner that'll continue to run over the next two years and encompasses unscripted series and features, podcasts, and digital shorts about the hip-hop scene. The collection will culminate with the 50th anniversary of the genre in 2023. Previous Hip Hop 50 titles include You're Watching Video Music Box, Ricky Powell: The Individualist, and Rolling Like Thunder.
Cypress Hill: Insane in The Brain is produced by Sony Music Entertainment and Mass Appeal for Showtime. Executive producers include Tom Mackay and Richard Story of Sony Music Entertainment, Sacha Jenkins and Peter Bittenbender of Mass Appeal, and Deb Klein of Primary Wave. The film is produced by Oriol and Peter J. Scalettar.
Cypress Hill: Insane in The Brain premieres on Showtime Wednesday, April 20, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Here's the official synopsis for Cypress Hill: Insane in The Brain:
Told through the intimate lens of photographer and director Estevan Oriol (LA Originals), Cypress Hill: Insane in The Brain is a smoke-filled journey across the lives and careers of the groundbreaking, genre-defying Hip Hop group, Cypress Hill. Their unique sound, influenced by their Latin roots and West Coast upbringing, was built on a movement rooted in true authenticity: from cultivating the flower, to smoking it, to rapping about it, their influence is forever burned into the musical landscape of Hip Hop as they continue to stay relevant after 30 years.