Cypress Hill collaborated with Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello because they want to "stay vital".

The rap group - famed for their songs in favour of the drug marijuana - said they are always keen to tackle new types of music, rather than relying on their big hits from the early 90s, which lead to their collaboration with heavy metal guitarist Tom on their new song 'Rise Up'.

The group's Sen Dog told Clash music: "I suppose we could just fade away and tour forever doing 'Insane In The Brain' and 'Rockstar' and I suppose we would have an audience who would come out and watch.

"But it concerns us more to stay vital and come out with something which can survive in today's music game. We still want to be talked about with anticipation in people's voices."

Sen - who is joined in the group by B-Real, DJ Muggs and Eric Bobo - also said how the collaboration with Tom came about naturally.

She said: "He was having some downtime with his stuff and we were doing nothing, so he asked, 'What are you guys up to?' and we told him about the new album and straight away he said he had a couple of tracks for us.

"We thought it would be cool then got a hold of the tracks and were like, 'Word!' That's Tom Morello. He's got the magic!"

Cypress Hill's album 'Rise Up', featuring the single of the same name with Tom Morrello is released on April 20.