Bone Thugs Interview from XXL....

[caTASHtrophe]

Got this from the Bone Board, Curtesy of Buddy Christ


TOGETHER FOREVER

The club grows dark and the four young men take the state. Rowdy cheers greet their presence. Positioning themselves behind for tall microphone stands, they are silhouetted by separate rays of light. Three of them slim, one stocky, all long-hairdo, all khaki-downed and rocking sports team jerseys. They stand perfectly still. Then the DJ drops the needle on the record.

As the eerie, high-pitched strains of "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" jack the smoky air, the quartet springs to life, soulfully swaying to the music. Their uniform stance and choreographed movements invoke nothing so much as vintage Temptations—bringing to mind an earlier era, even as the ceaseless, driving beat belongs to these troubled times.

Krayzie, Layzie, Bizzy and Wish Bone—together known as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony-are at Philadelphia's Theatre of Living Arts, as part of the NBA All-Star Game celebration. What better place than the City of Brotherly Love for the famed, oft-turmoiled rap group to perform together for the first time in a year?

After blazing through the monster hits "1st Of Tha Month" and "Tha Crossroads," as well as the brand-new anthem "Cleveland Rocks," they stop the music and quiet the crowd. Krayzie has something important to say.

"We ain't ever fuckin' break up," he growls into his microphone, pacing the stage. "Fuck what you heard."


Bone broke up.
For the longest, this has been the dominant rumor hounding Cleveland's favorite thugs. But it sure hasn't been the only one. Without a doubt, Bone is the most whispered-about group in the history of hip-hop. In the eight years they have been in the national eye, the innovative, multiplatinum posse have had to shake off one outlandish unfounded story after the next. Bone Thugs are devil worshippers... They copped their style from Memphis' Three 6 Mafia... Layzie's hooked on heroin... Bizzy's hooked on heroin... Bizzy's in jail. Lies, all lies.

But the most persistent gossip, again, was of the purported breakup. And while the tales were never true, it must be said they did have a basis in reality.

By February 2000, when Bone released the solid-as-a-rock BTNHResurrection, the group had entered into a contractual disagreement with its label, Ruthless Records. As a result, they hardly promoted the album. And while it still went platinum, the lack of the usual media blitz started public's tongues wagging.

[Things reach the lawsuit level last year when Bone stepped off, citing a California labor code that basically gives employees the right to "decline to render services" seven years after an agreement was made. Ruthless reacted by suing for breach of contract, and well, hell, you don't need XXL to tell you that shit wasn't good for a minute.]


Compounding matters was the fact that Bone members had been spending less and less time together. "The further we got into the game, the less muthafuckas kept in contact with each other," Krayzie said early last year. "It's too much time in between for muthufuckas to gain new friends—or muthafuckas who tell you they your friends, and talk bad about your peoples, and have you thinking all kinds of shit."

While the problems festered, Bone members pursued solo projects. Krayzie followed his double LP, Thug Mentality 1999, with last year's Thug On Da Line—released on his own Thug Line Records. This ended his affiliation with the Mo Thugs label, a venture taken over last year by Layzie Bone, who in turn put out the long-awaited Thug By Nature under the name L-Burna. Meanwhile, in exchange for dropping several lawsuits against Ruthless, Bizzy had been allowed to record his second solo album, The Gift, on the independent AMC Records.

Bizzy had, by this time, become the focal point of the gossip due to his absence from several shows and videos. Krayzie addressed the situation on his song, "I Don't Know What": "...Close to 30 million sold/And still thuggin', still struggin'/'Wussup with Bone?'/Got to keep it real/So I tell ‘em, ‘I don't know'/Can't think of no more excuses when niggas don't show." Wish, too, had some harsh words for Bizzy in an interview with another rap publication.

Group unity was delivered a further blow when, on September 22, 2000, Layzie's brother and fifth thug, Flesh-N-Bone, was sentenced to 11 years behind bars at the LA Men's County Jail for assault charges involving an AK-47. Bone had definitely seen better days.


Anthony Henderson wasn't always Krayzie, brothers Steve and Stanley Howse weren't always Layzie and Flesh, their cousin Charles Scruggs wasn't always Wish and Bryon McCane wasn't always Bizzy. Long before the fame, they were just kids living in Ohio trying to survive some rough times.

Take, for instance, the young Bizzy bouncing between various foster homes after a kidnapping ordeal involving family members. "You ever seen a muthafucka missin' on milk cartons and shit?" said Bizzy during an interview last year. "Yeah, dog, that's real. That ain't no muthafuckin' joke. That shit really happened."

Unfortunately, the other Bone members had their share of drama, too. "I come from a crack-infested family," said Layzie during a press day at the Epic Records offices a year ago. "I'm the nigga that beat the odds. Me growing up [the rule was] you sell crack, you don't smoke it. ‘Cause all my peoples was doin' the shit. Them muthafuckas showed me what not to do. Them muthafuckas was stealin' my clothes and shit like that. Talkin' bout ‘Could you pay the rent?' Yeah, I could, but I was gonna do it."

What he and his crew were gonna do was rap. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony came together in junior high school. They first called themselves the Band-Aid Boys after Krayzie crashed his moped one day and came to school bandaged up. In a show of solidarity, the rest of the click adopted the look, too.

They soon changed their name to Bone Enterprise and began entering local talent contests. In 1993, they pooled their resources and recorded an album, Faces Of Death

By this time, though the guys were in full street mode. Krayzie, for example, had left home as soon as he turned 17, and sometimes crack sales didn't make ends meet. "Some nights a muthafucka didn't sleep anywhere," he said during a sit-down conversation in Palm Springs last February. "We stayed up all night, just sat on somebody's porch and just chilled. We even got kicked out people's houses in blizzards."

Bone's story of salvation is a legendary tale. For those who don't know by now, it goes something like this: Flesh goes out to Los Angeles to play college basketball. Impressed by frequent celebrity sightings, he gets on the horn and hollers at his boys back home: If you're trying to blow up, this is where you need to be. Bizzy, Layzie, Krayzie and Wish hop on a one-way Greyhound trip to LA in search of a record deal. They audition for an approving Eric "Eazy-E" Wright over the phone but nothing comes from the initial contact. When they learn that Eazy is doing a show in Cleveland, it's back on the bus. This time, they audition in person. Eazy signs the hungry, undisciplined group to his Ruthless Records label and takes them under his experienced wing.

"We was young and hardheaded, man," said Krayzie. "We loved E. But when we got frustrated, man, we'd tell a muthafucka, ‘Fuck you' in a minute. But he understood we was wild niggas off the streets. That's why he kept us and worked with us after all the hotels we tore up and all the money we burnt. I guess they went through the same thing when they first came out with N.W.A."

"What Eazy did for us was something that went over and beyond," said Bizzy. "He lived with us. He talked with us. He gave us money. He gave us herb. He gave us food. He bought us what we needed, ya understand? He did a lot of things for us."

Ruthless Released Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's debut EP, Creepin' On Ah Come Up, June 21, 1994. Eazy-E died of AIDS on March 26, 1995. His passing was shockingly sudden. There was little time to set up a business plan for the label he started. The one thing he did tell his wife, Tomica Wright, was not to sell the company. Of course, she followed his wishes, taking the reigns as Ruthless CEO herself.

When Eazy died, Bone lost more than a close friend. They lost a mentor who had been carefully shepherding them through the music industry. Their career, which would reach record-breaking levels with the mournful "Tha Crossroads" a year later, was on an altered course.

"Eazy-E was really the only person that knew how to market us," said Krayzie. "That's why when we first came out, we went platinum on our first single. ‘Cause Eazy-E knew what he was doin'. Everybody else we done fucked with, man, we just sold on the strength of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Muthafuckas just put our shit out and say, ‘OK, sell."

Despite the friendship and expertise Eazy offered Bone Thugs when he was alive, the group knows now that when it comes to business, paperwork signed isn't always what it seems.

"Just like to keep it real," says Krayzie, "we was really some ass-holes to sign that Ruthless contract. But shit, everybody need they first break. We was like young niggas off the streets. Desperate, homeless. We was like, ‘Nigga, whatever.' You just learn."

[caTASHtrophe]

Bizzy Bone is one intense man. Even over the phone long distance, his words reverberate with the passion of a preacher in the pulpit. You can almost see him wiping the sweat off his brow.

In March of 2001, in the midst of troubles both personal and professional, Bizzy spoke on his cell phone as he ran errands in his car. Forthcoming and philosophical throughout, Bizzy was also extremely polite. (Well, except for the instance when a reckless driver cut in front of him...)


XXL: Were you ever happy at Ruthless?
BIZZY: Was I ever happy? Well, I'm gonna keep it real with you. At the beginning, it was so much shit goin' on and everything was goin' so fast that I just stayed drinkin', man. So it was never really a period for me to reflect on any success. I could never really just sit back and say, "Hey, I'm happy." Because it was always some shit goin' on. Hell, the man who take me out of a shack die of AIDS. Now when he took us out you know that nigga ain't just drop us no money. We wasn't rich off the rip. When we did "Thuggish Ruggish Bone," nigga, we was broke as hell. We wasn't gettin' our money ‘til it was muthafuckin' payday. That's just the way this business is, it ain't no muthafuckin' love. [Silence] we broke ‘til then. And then by the time we do get one check, this muthafucka died. Then it's like, "Damn, what the fuck goin' on?"

You mentioned you used to drink too much and in the song "Don't Doubt Me" you mentioned going to detox
BIZZY: Ah yeah, man, I went into AA with two pairs of Reeboks around my damn neck. Walked around that muthafucka and shit like, "Fuck it. I gotta do this shit. I gotta take care of this for my family." Because, you remember that little hiatus when muthafuckas wasn't seeing me? That wasn't all because a nigga wasn't getting paid for shows, man. I had, shit, five kids to take care of, man. On my own. Shit, homegirl ran off on me. I tried to get a nanny. I couldn't keep up the payments. ‘Cause I couldn't get a royalty statement.

You also say, "Two of the Bones dissed me/Fuck that we still got history..."
BIZZY: That's right, you know what I'm sayin'? That's like when muthafuckas was on The Bassment and shit and whoop whoop whoopin' about me and sayin' this and sayin' that in The Source magazine. What the fuck was that all about, man? First and foremost, dog, we went out to muthafuckin' LA as kids. Niggas was 16, 17, 18 years old, man. One-way muthafuckin' bus tickets. We was friends before any of this bullshit jumped off. I don't give a fuck if I never show up for a show. Nigga, I'm a strap up and kill a nigga for you, nigga! What! Why are you mad at me for? Over this music shit?! C'mon, baby. It ain't that deep.


Saturday afternoon, February 9 finds Bone Thugs-N-Harmony at an immense, state-of-the-art photo studio out near the highway. Up from Miami, where they recently engaged in what MTV News reported was a 15-hour meeting with Tomica Wright to "discuss their differences," the guys are taking a break from laying down tracks for a new album, Thug World Order. Tomica is here, now, making sure the clothes for the photo shoot look right, and that everybody is fed.

"We went through everything," she says of the Miami meeting. "I would say the main topic of that conversation was to put everything on an even keel. It wasn't just about money, it wasn't just about the deal points. Attorneys do their part—but at the same time, if we don't have an admiration or respect for each other, or an understanding, then everything can't be handled by attorneys and paperwork."

The time spent recording has been good for the group, as well. They look healthy and relaxed. By all accounts, the vibe in the studio was lovely. "It kinda reminded me of back in the days when E was here a lil' bit," Says Wish. "Kinda like the beginning all over again. Just havin' fun and really in there just gettin' down."

In one of their first interviews since the reconciling and resigning, Bone Thugs joked around a lot, often finishing each others' sentences—always giving a slight tap on the arm to say, "excuse me for interrupting."


XXL: There's been reports about a 15-hour meeting—
BIZZY: Now, I'ma clear that one up. I don't know what the fuck nobody talkin' ‘bout, no damn extraordinary powwow meeting and shit. That's a damn lie.
KRAYZIE: I mean we been gettin' together, man.
BIZZY: There wasn't no big time span when niggas wasn't talkin'. We just wasn't doin' it businesswise. We was more talkin' to each other on cell phones, still keepin' in touch... It wasn't no big division like that. See, every time we get together, we congregate, we do what we do. We sit down, we drink, we talk, we smoke. If we got any problems, we hear it out. We cry, we fuckin' tight, we go back to the drawing board.

So is it safe to say that you got what you wanted when you renegotiated your contract?
BIZZY:: That is one of the most safest things you can say in this whole [interview.] Because on some real shit, if things would have kept goin' the way they were goin'—
LAYZIE: We was gone, baby.
BIZZY: We was gone. We stepped off for a second. We did.
LAYZIE: We had to.
BIZZY: We had to for a while, in order to properly negotiate. So we were able to sit down and everybody has a common respect for each other. We all have grown. Just like how, after E passed on and his wife came in to take over, we all had to grow. ‘Cause I'm quite sure she never had nuthin' like this business, although she has a vast amount of experience in the music field. She has credentials. More than I did when I stepped in the game. So, in other words, we now have a common respect and the relationship is very fifty/fifty. Period and point-black. No ands, ifs, buts about it. Fifty fuckin' fifty.

Do you think you stayed with Ruthless because of your respect for Eazy?
LAYZIE: Aw, bleed, trust me. We woulda made some different decisions if it wasn't for Eazy-E. Our love for Eazy-E is what made us focused on Ruthless and really stand together as a group. We seen what went on with N.W.A. We know that E wanted them to get back together. So that made us stick together even more. And then, I'm a say this too, bleed. No other company could have delt with Bone like ruthless.

Has Bone ever come close to breaking up?
BIZZY: Let me tell you, man. See that's not even a probable equation. Even if one, or all of us at one point of time, had said, "I ain't fuckin' with them niggas no more." How many times have you said that? How many times have you said that? How many times have muthafuckas told they own mom, "Y'know what, I hate yo'ass!" That ain't mean it, ya overdig what I'm sayin'? I can call this man anything I want.

[caTASHtrophe]

All families fight...
LAYZIE: That be the word, bleed. It's family. Ya know I mean? Family don't fall out, bleed. You not a family if you don't have problems or disputes.
BIZZY: Because, if you don't, then that would make it, I think, phony. It's like you gotta get checked by your family members. They help you move in the right path. That's what it does for me personally. I don't need anything when I'm with them. And when I'm not with them, I need everything I can't have. It's a void to not hear that voice. It's a void to not see that face and be next to your friend who you struggled with, who you starved with, who you kill for, who you would die with, who you die for.
LAYZIE: See why I ride with this nigga?

But is it alright to say that there has been a time when Bone was close to—
LAYZIE: Hold on, hold on, hold on, man. Before you even say that, let me say this: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony have never been close to breakin' up, bleed. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony has never—hey put the microphone right here [he knocks on the table]—has never, ever been close to breakin' up. Now if I was mad at him [he nods at BIzzy], he'd fuck around and go tell my mother. That how deep it go.
BIZZY: We do not want Momma P to be mad. Oh, Momma P, we love you, baby. Please don't beat us.
LAYZIE: We raised us. And our families respect us as men because of it. So it was never a time that was like, "Oh, we ain't this shit no mo'." It's like, he like, "Let me let Lay cool off. I ain't fuckin' with him right now. Let that nigga go get his head together." And if I went too far left, he snatch me back. That's how we do.
WISH: What makes us really different from anybody else is because we did a lot of shit together and then it's like we all had individual time. Like me and Bizzy spent a year in a house just writin' together one whole summer, remember? Then Bizzy and Krayzie did a winter together. I think that's what makes us strong because that gives us a way to know each other as a group and as individuals. So we know each other's ins and outs. I think all the struggles that we went through together and individually early on in the game made us stronger and prepared for all of this. Nuthin' can really split us up.


Bone is a family.
If you understand that then you can comprehend how strong they really are. They were strong when they first broke into the rap biz, pioneering an undorthodox style some were simply not ready for. They stood tall through years of struggling, the death of their comrades, the imprisonment of their kin. They proved unbreakable when the pressure of the music industry came down on them. They deserve more respect and recognition than they get.

Still, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony got quite a lot. They got loyal fans who reward them with Tupac-like record sales (they move, on average, 1,500 units a week of their back catalogue.) They got numerous awards and industry records (in 1995, the Grammy winning "Tha Crossroads" tied the Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" as the fastest rising no. 1 single ever). And they got youth on their side (they are all still under the age of 30).

So it appears that Bone have got their best years ahead of them. As Krayzie Bone noted over a year ago, "The kind of style that we got, we probably can go on until we die, probably. ‘Cause I don't really see our style playin' out because our style cover everything: you got rappin', harmonies, singing, R&B, you got everything."

Hours into the photo shoot, Krayzie, Layzie, Bizzy and Wish—the four core Bone Brothers—sit together at a table. No one comes to bother them, and they get lost in their own world. It's only them sharing a meal and some sweet-smelling herb. The laughter doesn't seem to stop for a minute.

Evidently, the best thing that Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony got is each other.

[HBKid_Jr]

i got tha magazine,  dope read.  Damn bizzy has aged a lot though.  On creepin on ah come up he looked like he was 15, now he looks 40-45

[CWalker187]

Props for posting that.......I am from Cleveland and I still have mad love for Bone. By the way, did you type up that whole article?

[ZILLA THA GOODFELLA]

i got tha magazine,  dope read.  Damn bizzy has aged a lot though.  On creepin on ah come up he looked like he was 15, now he looks 40-45

Exactly wat I was thinking......He's aged like a crack fiend......Did I mention he is one? lol.

Nah, but this article was brilliantly done, Props 2 XXL and fuck tha Source......

CANT WAIT 4 THUG WORLD ORDER......

[serv-on]

thx for posting that interview, tite!

[Doggystylin]

yeah i see all this shit over there and all but i dont copy and paste it here cause most people on this board dont feel bone much, but props for spreadin this shit

[Smooth]

DOPE ass article... thanks for postin that shit... that article makes me respect Bone even more...

Peace