LOS ANGELES — Though Estevan Oriol has never been a member, for most of Cypress Hill's 30-plus years as a group the photographer and filmmaker traveled with them. If co-founder B-Real did an onstage hit from their bong Excalibur, Oriol absorbed the cloud of secondhand smoke as his video camera documented the exhalation.
"He was there with us since the late '80s," says Cypress Hill's Sen Dog, 56, sitting opposite Oriol and flanked on either side by fellow members DJ Muggs, B-Real and Eric "Bobo" Correa, in their studio compound just south of downtown. Oriol, continues Sen Dog (born Senen Reyes), has worn "many different hats for us, not just tour manager. He was a DJ. He was the therapist — the guy to go to when your head was messed up."
During a late-morning interview that produced wafts of top-shelf weed smoke, members of the essential L.A. hip-hop group were discussing the new Showtime documentary "Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain."
