True to form, the members of hip-hop's foremost pot proselytizers, Cypress Hill, roll into their interview thirty minutes late, jonesing for a joint. Somehow, within minutes, the band's found a supplier, rolled a fat one, and settled in for a round of Q&As. But it doesn't take long for them to get serious about the new CD (IV), their place in hip-hop history, and how much their fans mean to them.

Singer-songwriter B-Real, heavily tattooed and wearing a baseball cap with a "B" insignia, is bounding with energy, spewing concerns about the record company's promotional tactics. "We have to struggle to get certain things done that should be done automatically. It's not that they don't want to do it, it's just taking them an unusual amount of time. That's the war I'm going to battle on ...."

In their ten years together, Cypress Hill have never battled for anything besides a moment's rest. Their self-titled 1991 debut sold more than two million copies, their follow-up (1993's Black Sunday) sold almost four millioncopies, and their third CD (1995's Temple of Boom) sold a million and a half copies. But it's that minor downswing that worries them. "Unfortunately, their game plan didn't work last time," says B-Real, referring to certainfolks at Columbia/Ruffhouse. "How do you go from double-platinum back to platinum?" Hardly bad numbers, but it's all relative. They've been on top and they're scared of losing ground.

"Let's face it: What would [DJ] Muggs do as a producer if the [new] album is a failure?" asks B-Real. "What could I do as a writer or MC or entertainer? One album that fails is fine; you can go back to the drawing board. But with two, people look at it like, 'Aw, forget about it.'"

As a result, they've melded the best elements from their three prior records to create the new jams. "From the comedy to the dark side to the experimental side," notes the newest member of the Hill, rapper Bobo, "with a heavier, more aggressive sound." The CD also boasts live instruments and the return of founding member Sen Dog, who left in '96 to pursue his own projects. Why'd he return? Not for the money, nor for the fame.

"The main thing was my mom," he says. "We talked once or twice a day, and through our conversations she mentioned that she wanted to see me performing with B-Real and Muggs again. And I want my little daughter to know that Iwas part of this big-time group at one point."

Sen Dog's return has breathed new life into the band. But DJ Muggs and B-Real were equally revitalized after working on the Muggs-produced 1997 side-project CD, Soul Assassins. Working with Cypress again, B-Real started playing with his trademark nasal vocal styles: "I changed my delivery, my flow. On the uptempo songs, I'm more fluid, rather than choppy. With this, it's attack attack attack. I found different pockets to rhyme in."

Ultimately, it was Muggs who shaped the album's overall sound. "He was giving us everything he was feeling over music," says B-Real, "and it just happened to match the things we were feeling inside. I had that song ["Eye of the Pig"], in my head for a long time, but I gotta credit Muggs for that, since he came up with the title. When he gave me the beat, I knew exactly what to do."

Of course, every veteran act hopes to continue to know what to do. And that, ultimately, means connecting with fans, something the cyber-savvy members of Cypress Hill do via their website, Cypress Online (www.cypressonline.com), on a regular basis. Taking the star-fan relationship one step further, B-Real doesn't hesitate to offer up his personal e-mail address to fans: breal001@aol.com. When asked if he's afraid of an e-mail deluge, he doesn't blink: "I can always change it if it gets too crazy." It probably will get crazy, but for B-Real, "it's just one more way to give people more of our love for them. Because without the fans, you truly ain't shit."

JAMES OLIVER CURY