High & Outside with Cypress Hill, Bone Thugs, & Tech N9ne

There are nights of hip hop. Then there are nights of hip hop legends. Stacking three industry-changing names on a bill together is unprecedented — and a show you simply can’t miss. I knew this when I saw that Cypress Hill was bringing the High & Outside – Above the Zone Tour to San Diego’s Petco Park with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Tech N9ne. Being the home of the San Diego Padres, I thought this was an after ballgame kind of deal, but nope — no game ticket necessary! Three hip hop heavyweights, with music and careers so vastly different, all coming together to perform on one stage just outside the outfield fence, in an area within the ballpark known as Gallagher Square.

Well, four names.

First up was Coyote, aka Coyote for Hire, a Mexican-American duo consisting of brothers LadiesLoveGuapo and Ricky Blanco. Their flows were fresh and fierce… some true in-your-face shit with a 90s aesthetic. I can imagine Cypress Hill fans bumping these jams if they ever ran out of weed. It was a good setup for the master of flow up next, that the psycho we all know and love, Tech N9ne.

Coming out all smiles with energy up to 11, Tech N9ne immediately took control of the entire arena. Within the first three songs, he dropped “Riot Maker” and “Einstein” on us all, followed up with “The Beast” for old-school fans, while new-school got “Straight Out the Gate”, “Sriracha” (a fun one about condiments, hooray!), among so many others. The man’s got like 100 studio albums at this point. Personally, I’ve been a fan since his Anghellic days (yes, I was listening to Tech at age 12, sue me), so I was stoked when “Tormented” came up and his signature sign-off of “Stamina” at the end. I did enjoy being part of the “white girls go crazy” part of “Hood Go Crazy”, though! New theme music, holla.

A song noticeably missing from the night was Tech’s multi-platinum banger “Caribou Lou”… although I hear that his full setlist might contain it, now that he’s on his official tour run with E-40 (another pairing of rap legends too good to miss). Regardless of my treasured college party song being absent from the evening, any Tech show is a good show.

And there were still two more insane acts to go!

Not changing a bit since 1991 (besides, you know, age), Bone Thugs came out to uproarious cheers. Everyone knew their legacy; everyone was ready for the nostalgia. Harkening back to high school, college, or (for me) early childhood, you can see the flashbacks on everyone face’s… and by this time, the cloud of weed smoke over the grounds was immense. I felt a secondhand high like a MF; time for a water break. And maybe a Hodad’s burger.

Enjoying the rest of the set on top of the grassy hill adjacent to the stage, Bone Thugs wrapped up with their iconic hit “Thuggish Ruggish Bone”, prompting the entire crowd to raise their phone flashlights high in the sky in praise. Up last, but certainly not least, was B-Real, Sen Dog, DJ Muggs on the turntable, and Eric Bobo on drums — collectively known as Cypress Hill.

If the weed wasn’t burning before… lol.

Cypress Hill went from hit to hit to “Hits From The Bong” to hit to hitting a blunt to hit again. It was a nonstop barrage of bong-loading tracks that defined my college and high school days (high being the key word here). Songs like “I Wanna Get High” — SO HIGH — and “Insane In The Brain” took me right back to smoking in alleyways between classes, and you have to respect tracks like “Rock Superstar” and “How I Could Just Kill A Man”. It’s truly impressive the breadth of Cypress Hill bangers over the years.

This concert was one for the record books. Leaving the stadium, I was sleepy from all the weed smoke I’d ingested, but utterly satisfied at the same time. I’ve seen all three acts individually, but watching them stacked is a whole other level. Mad respect to all the groups on the bill — you’ve all changed hip hop history!

Photography by Kristy Rose

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