"Shoot 'em up! Bang! Bang! Another body drops, you can't stop the gunshots."

At a time when so many communities are reeling from gun violence, the chorus of Another Body Drops, the single that kicks off Cypress Hill's seventh studio album, Till Death Do Us Part, is hard to digest.

So are the sentiments expressed in Street Wars and Money.

Surely, I tell lead rapper B-Real, there's much more to life than shooting people and death.

"Yeah, definitely," he says from his label's office in Atlanta. The group is at The Docks Wednesday. "But, you have to tell these kids that death is at the end of the path they're on so they can do something positive. When I talk about the f---ed up things I did and the repercussions I faced, I also talk about making a change and doing what I am doing now. I believe that message is clear in the record and there's a lot of intelligent kids out there who'll get it. But there's gonna be those who misinterpret it.

"That's why you take time in interviews to explain that, and if they read 'em, they read 'em and if they don't, they end up learning the hard way."

B-Real, who sounded tired when we caught up with him, gets animated when I tell him about some of the incidents of fatal gunplay that have rocked our city and the thinking among some young people that it's cool to be packing a gun.

"These kids gotta understand why things go down the way they do in America," he says. "In America, there's a flood of those f---ing guns in some neighbourhoods. And sometimes the schools the kids go to or the homes they come from are (messed) up and they have no other choice than to hang with kids who are going through same situations and who find the need to protect themselves from other kids just like them.

"All those who talk about this stuff in their songs, but have never been through it ... they just make it worse 'cause they're glorifying this stuff," B-Real adds.

"It's not a good way to live. There's no reason to have a gun on you. Maybe in your home to protect your family, but for a kid to be packing a gun on the street ... there's no reason for that.

"There are a lot of ignorant kids out there who like to get a reputation," he says, sounding unstoppable. "(My message to them is) don't f--- with innocent people. That's not gangsta, that's pussy if you ask me."

B-Real's anti-gun message clashes with the album's cartoonish violence -- and pro-pot stance -- that's been a hallmark of Cypress Hill's sound since it released its eponymous debut -- which is considered a hip-hop classic.

Does a group that's been in the game for nearly 15 years ever question its relevancy?

"It depends on the chemistry between the members, the love for doing the music, and if you're having fun rocking the shows," B-Real says. "Hey, to me, if the music ain't working, I'll go play some paintball."