Armada Latina by Cypress Hill

Album: Rise Up (2010)

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Songfacts®:

This summer anthem is a single from Latino rap group Cypress Hill's eighth studio album, Rise Up. The song features Cuban-American rapper Pitbull and Latin singer-songwriter Marc Anthony on the hook. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Marc Anthony is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time.
The song's music video was filmed at the famous Mariachi Plaza in the heart of Boyle Heights, California on March 19, 2010. On director duties was Matt Alonzo, who is best known for his work with Soulja Boy, New Boyz, The Game, B Real amongst others.
This salsa-flavored tune was produced by Jim Jonsin (T.I.'s "Whatever You Like," Lil Wayne's "Lollipop"), and samples Crosby, Stills and Nash's "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes." "That was all Jim," Cypress Hill member Sen-Dog said to Rolling Stone of borrowing from the classic late '60s number. "But we definitely had to put our own mentality on it. It had to be something about the whole Latino culture."
Cypress Hill's lead rapper B-Real told the Canadian QMI newspaper Agency that it was Jonsin who suggested Pitbull and Marc Anthony also appear on the track. However, Anthony's involvement seemed unlikely. "I didn't believe that Marc Anthony would get on the track with us; that's a little to the left," said B-Real. "But he ended up being a fan and he ended up coming to the studio and taking the track over the top. It far exceeded what my expectations of it were and now there's a big buzz on it so you can't complain about that. It's something you can't anticipate and sometimes those are the best things. Our sound is usually really dark and gritty and underground. This particular track is not that. We take chances and sometimes we win."
Crosby Stills & Nash's Stephen Stills, whom Cypress Hill originally met at the 1994 Woodstock festival, played guitar on the song's music video. B-Real explained to the QMI Agency: "He was talking to Sen Dog and myself and telling us how he was influenced in writing that original song (about his then longtime girlfriend Judy Collins). And that he loved the song so much and he was glad that somebody finally actually came and used it in the way that we used it. When you grow up listening to all these different types of genres of music, and you meet one of the people you hold in high regard, and he likes your s--t, that's the craziest thing ever."

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