Review by Rachel Jablonski
There are not many places that you can find mobs of people frantically and methodically stomping, jumping, pacing, and smoking from right to left and left to right. To see a masked individual slither and wind throughout the mob would be even less likely. And it would be very unlikely indeed to see, coincidentally, an oversized Buddha balloon exhibit with an unmistakable pot leaf plastered to its stomach. But it can happen, and it did, at the one place you might expect, “the all day mind opening music festival: Cypress Hill’s Smoke Out.”
The Smoke Out festival was captured on film in Los Angeles
in November 2002. Featured cuts from many of the festival performers compose
the Smoke Out DVD. Festival organizers, Cypress Hill, share the stage
with Kottonmouth Kings, Circle Jerks, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Everlast,
and Snopp Dogg to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the event. A mix of
rap-rock, punk, hip-hop, and blues, the second hand feeling of the live
show is vibrant. The all day event seems to be misrepresented in some
ways, however, as the artists featured on the disc are not seen performing
their entire sets. This seems to be adequate for some acts, but for acts
such as Cypress Hill this leaves much to be desired.
Almost every set on the DVD features an individual running around stage
in a mask either smoking it up or encouraging others to do so. This is
an amusing trend as is the vast number of people crowded on the stage
during each set. Sometimes it looks difficult for the performers to get
around and sometimes its difficult to even find the main performers! The
camera does an adequate job in finding decent shots, however, and the
visual quality is very good. Though the vibrancy of the major acts is
received to an extent, the complete Smoke Out experience would seem to
be impossible without the live encounter.