Later this month, hip-hop mainstays Cypress Hill [ tickets ] will join rockers Linkin Park, Adema and others on the inaugural Projekt Revolution tour.

The tour gets underway at the end of January, and will run for a month.

Cypress Hill's latest album, "Stoned Raiders," picks up where 2000's double-disc "Skull & Bones" left off, integrating rock tracks such as "Trouble" and "Amplified" alongside vintage Cypress hip-hop tracks like "Kronologik" and "Here Is Something You Can't Understand," a remake of 1991's "How I Could Just Kill a Man."

Guest stars who contributed to the album included Method Man [ tickets ], Redman [ tickets ], Kurupt and NWA's MC Ren.

Rapper B-Real and DJ Muggs, in separate interviews with LiveDaily, weighed in on the new release.

LiveDaily: You've got a lot of different guests on the album. Did you write specific tracks with them in mind?

DJ Muggs: No, I didn�t. Actually, on one of them I did, the one with MC Ren. The others [depended on] bumping into people and last-minute things, sporadic things, actually.

I talked to Ren, and we were like, "We should work together." So when I was making this track, I was like, "Ren would sound good on it." I wrote the track with him in mind. The beat is dark, and it�s mean and sinister, and it�s got a nice little funk-bounce to it. I think it really complements Ren�s voice, his flow, his style.

When you have guests like Method Man and Redman, do you give them carte blanche?

B-Real: With that particular song ["Red, Meth & B"], we just let them do whatever they wanted to do first, and then I got on it.

With other rappers, you never really want to tell them where you want it to go. You want to give them free rein, because no artists like you to tell them exactly what to do, unless it�s something for something specific, like a movie or some s--- like that. If it�s going on an album, you just want to let a guy do whatever the f--- the guy wants to do, so he�s comfortable and he feels good about being on the song.

A lot of guys don�t like being told what somebody else wants. Me, I don�t give a f---. I�ll go either way, you give me the idea and I�ll take it there the best I know how. I don�t get burned out like that. Other established artists like Red or Meth, I know they know what the f--- they want to do. It�s just about letting them hear the beat and they�ll get on it. They�re professionals.

Did you write your verses in response to what they came up with?

B-Real: Yeah, I went last on the track for a change. I�m usually the one going first all the f---ing time. I decided I was going to go last and see what they do, so I can see the gist of where they�re going with it. Rather than me dictate the pace, I wanted to let somebody else take it somewhere for a change.

How do you approach writing the rock tracks like "Trouble"?

DJ Muggs: I actually approach it just like I do rap music, which is kind of strange for some rockers. They�ll go in and rehearse the songs, they�ll work the songs out for f---in� months. I�ll come in and be like, "Here�s the format of the song." Boom, I�ll lay the drums down--I�ll have a beat already and have a drum-related beat down--and then I�ll start working piece by piece with the drums already on tape. Whereas a band will go and practice, work it all out, and then come and lay it all down. I just do it like a hip-hop track.

"Trouble" started because I wanted to do something that kind of encompasses everything I�m listening to right now, which is reggae, drum and bass, electronic, hip-hop and rock. It has all those elements of music into one. It started with that drum and bass type of beat, and then I put pieces to it.

What's it like for you playing the rock tracks live as a DJ ?

DJ Muggs: We bring the band on tour with us now. The show is basically traditional hip-hop for the first 20 minutes, half an hour. Then we go into the live set, the rock, for 30-40 minutes, and then back to a couple hip-hop songs. And then we finish off with the band. So it gives the show peaks and valleys. You don�t get bored.

Live, I got samples, I got a drum machine, I got turntables. I find holes in there. There�s places to fit in. A lot of things are more subtle, over the top. There�s a lot of little subtleties I'm playing, strings and kick-drum sounds and snares--little fillers. You might think it�s a guitar, but I have a lot of guitar samples I play live, too.

What do you do to keep things fresh?

DJ Muggs: I�m really a big fan of music. I listen to a lot of music. I never took myself away from being a fan. I think it keeps me wanting to make music and wanting to try new challenges ... things I haven�t tried before. I like to reach out. I could easily sit back and do hip-hop tracks all day and sell them to different rappers. I don�t do that all day because that�s kind of boring. I like making something from start to finish, the whole project. Being inventive and trying new things, experimenting.

I couldn�t have done "Trouble" before. I wasn�t even in the place to want to do that record: the drum-and-bass drums, a reggae bass line, electronic sounds, hip-hop scratches, rock guitars. Last year, I wasn�t in a place to do that kind of music, even if I wanted to do it. "It Ain�t Easy," I used a 30-piece orchestra, string section for that. I kind of got to do that, finally. The thing was for me to keep that Cypress feel, that Cypress flavor which doesn�t sound like other rock bands, which doesn�t sound like we�re trying to do somebody else�s s---. I�m trying to incorporate the live bands and the live things, but still when you listen to it, you go, "That�s Cypress Hill." I try to keep that signature thing to it.

How has Cypress Hill improved as a band over the years?

DJ Muggs: I think we�ve matured, man, immensely. Just from boys--coming into a business and a game--to men. Being able to see the world and do things, and being able to just put out records with everything we�ve been through internally and externally. And being able to still be successful after all these years and still be relevant, just as relevant as were back then. That�s a lot right there. [The group is at] that 10-year point. It�s full circle. It�s like a new beginning for us.

What B�s talking about now is who he is these days. A lot of the times people [ask him], "Why don�t you do a song like �How I Could Just Kill a Man� or �Hand on the Pump'?" Well, [he's] not that f---in� 17-year-old kid no more. Not riding around the streets with a .45 in [his] back pocket. So he does songs like �Superstar� and �Trouble� and �Kronologik,� which is like where he�s at.

Why did you decide to remake "How I Could Just Kill a Man"?

DJ Muggs: It wasn�t even really on purpose. I was making this beat, and Kurupt and B were in the studio, and we were like, �Let�s do a �How I Could Just Kill a Man� remake. People always liked that song. It�s bumpin�. It just kind of happened, kind of spontaneously, and we rolled with it and kinda switched it up. We thought, "Someone else is going to remake it, we might as well do it right." I thought DJs would enjoy playing it and mixing it with the old one.