BY LEAH MAURER ON NOVEMBER 15, 2016 — In front of a packed house at the Bhang Bash in Las Vegas tonight, it was announced that award winning hip hop group Cypress Hill will be partnering with Bhang Chocolates! After decades of being celebrity icons in the cannabis legalization movement, Cypress Hill will be entering the cannabis industry in the U.S.

The party and announcement came at the kick off of the Marijuana Business Conference, where thousands of cannabis industry professionals have congregated for the 5th year in a row to network, learn, and discuss all things cannabis.

B-Real, lead rapper for Cypress Hill, was present at the event, and remarked, “It feels amazing that 25 years after we put our first album out, where we openly talked about legalizing marijuana, taboo at the time, that we finally as a people are living in time of legalization and now have opportunities to be a part of the blossoming industry.”

The crowd was overjoyed about the news of this collaboration, as cheers and whistles were heard throughout the VooDoo lounge at the party, and rightfully so. This is an industry that is screaming for legitimacy and normalization, and the more public figures that step into this, the closer and closer we get to that space.

Bhang is most well known for their cannabis infused chocolate line, although they make other products as well. When asked about what products they plan to collaborate on Cypress Hill’s DJ and producer, DJ Muggs, explained, “We will be offering a range of products. One of the big reasons we clicked with Bhang is that we both put QUALITY at the top of the list. It is important to the band that any products that we put on the market are so good that we would use them ourselves.”

Scott Van Rixel, CEO of Bhang, said, “I grew up listening to Cypress Hill and am a real fan of their music. If I could have gone back in time and was asked who I wanted to work with, I would have picked them because there is no band more rooted in Cannabis and what it stands for.”

This is huge for the movement and industry and I imagine that I speak for many when I say that we are thrilled to see this partnership forming and that we hope to see many more. Cypress Hill has played a huge role in my own personal story with cannabis as I have watched them advocate for this plant my whole life. They used their platform to give this plant a voice when other people couldn’t and, while sometimes done in a bit of a controversial manner, it definitely played a part in pushing the big wheel forward to where we are with cannabis law reform now.