‘Insane in the brain’: Marco Rubio quotes Cypress Hill hip-hop classic to describe Iran leaders
‘Insane in the brain’: Marco Rubio quotes Cypress Hill hip-hop classic to describe Iran leaders
Andrew FeinbergTue, May 5, 2026 at 7:51 PM UTC
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(Getty)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday quoted '90s hip-hop party pioneers Cypress Hill to describe the Trump administration's view of Iran's remaining leadership amid a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking to reporters in the White House briefing room as the first in what is understood to be a series of stand-ins for Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt while she is on maternity leave, Rubio said the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports would continue until Iran ceases efforts to prevent free maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz through what he described as “piracy.”
“There is no scenario here in which, if they decide to join a ladder of escalation, they wind up getting the last say, but our preference is for these straits to be opened to the way they're supposed to be open, back to the way it was. Anyone can use it. No mines in the water, nobody paying tolls. That's what we have to get back to, and that's the goal here,” he said.
“The time has come for Iran to make a sensible choice, and it's not easy for them to do that, obviously, because they have a fracture in their own leadership system ... and apart from that, I mean, the top people in that government are, to say the least ... they're insane in the brain, and so we need to address that.”
Rubio’s quip about the mental condition of leadership in Tehran was lifted straight from the chorus of “Insane in the Brain,” the first single off Cypress Hill’s 1993 album “Black Sunday.”
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Originally a diss track aimed at rival rappers Chubb Rock and Kid Frost, the hit song was described by The Independent’s then-music critic, Ben Thompson, as "potent dose of marijuana-inflected nasal squeak-rap” and “the party record of the aeon.”
The Secretary of State, who also serves as President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, has long had a habit of inserting rap and hip-hop lyrics into his public remarks.
During a cabinet meeting in March, Rubio cribbed a line from Public Enemy’s 1990 single “Welcome to the Terrordome” when he said the Pentagon “lets the drummer get wicked over every portion of Iran that has military capabilities,” echoing Chuck D’s lyrics: “I got so much trouble on my mind/Refuse to lose/Here's your ticket/Hear the drummer get wicked.”
Earlier in the year, he cited Notorious BIG’s “Juicy” when discussing the U.S. operation to remove ex-Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, telling reporters: “If you don’t know, now you know.”
Rubio is known to be a massive fan of Public Enemy, having told GQ in 2012 that the pioneering group was “transformative” and having a huge influence on the East Coast and West Coast rap groups he listened to as a young man.
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Source: “AOL Breaking”
