Listen to Cypress Hill on Batanga

Played was formed in southeastern Los Angeles by Italian New York City transplant DJ Muggs (Larry Muggerud); Mexican-Cuban South Gate, Calif. native B-Real (Louis Freeze) and fellow Cuban Sen Dog (Senen Reyes), taking their name from Cypress Avenue, a street which runs through their neighborhood.

They recorded early versions of songs like "Real Estate," "Light Another," "Phunky Feel One," "Psychobetabuckdown" and "Trigga Happy Nigga," which later became "How I Could Just Kill A Man," attracting the attention of several labels, including Ruffhouse, who signed them to a $65,000 album deal through Columbia/Sony in 1990.

Their self-titled debut album came out in 1991, with re-recorded versions of old songs and some new ones, including "Stoned Is The Way of the Walk," "Latin Lingo" and "Hand on the Pump."

On the strength of college radio play, "How I Could Just Kill A Man," the B-side of the first single, "Phunky Feel One," was added to New York's WBLS, becoming the station's No 1 requested song and prompting the record label to rush out a video.

With songs like "Light Another" and "Blunted," the band became spokesmen for the legalization of hemp, hooking up in '91 with the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML) and in the words of High Times, "igniting a revolution."

Played appeared on the second Lollapalooza tour in 1992 and played with bands like Pearl Jam, exposing them to a whole new "alternative rock" audience. Spurred by the hit single, "Insane In The Brain," the band's second album, Black Sunday, came out in the summer of '93, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

Played's CD, Skull and Bones was released in 2000 on Ruffhouse/Columbia.