Extracted from the AOR Vault: April 2008
What’s up guys?
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony: Alright, alright
You guys silenced the critics in 2007 by coming back hard with Strength & Loyalty. Ya’ll have a lot popping off right now. Want to give us a quick run down?
Wish Bone: Yeah, basically we put the Strength & Loyalty album out there and we have the T.H.U.G.S. albums that we’re working on. It’s the 20th anniversary of Eazy-E’s label. We’re just keeping our heads above water. We’re out traveling and working on another movie called Ghetto Cowboys. We have our own label and we are working on getting our own artists out. We’re just doing our thing and staying busy. We are always on the road. We’re the Rolling Stones of Hip Hop.
“I Tried” was an interesting take on your lives. What’s the Ghetto Cowboy movie about?
Layzie Bone: It’s a Black Western movie. We are trying to get the business and paper work together right now. You’ll hear about it more in the near future.
Where’s the groups mind state now with this new rebirth?
Wish Bone: We feel like we’ve made a mark in the game that could never be erased. We came with our own style and a lot of people touch on that style now. Every so often we come back and hit them and let them know who the real originators are. We are going to stay current.
Layzie Bone and Bizzy Bone dropped Bone Brothers 3. Can you give us some insight on that?
Layzie Bone: That’s an album I did with Bizzy some time last summer.
How has it been received by the fans?
Layzie Bone: It was good considering it was an independent album. Album sales are doing pretty good. I think people mostly wanted to see Bizzy’s presence around the Bone aura again. The album came out hot. The single is “The Rollercoaster of Life”. It’s doing alright.
Back to “I Tried” the movie. Like I said I thought it was a interesting take on your lives. What was the reason behind that?
Wish Bone: Man, twenty below weather. We were originally supposed to shoot the movie in Cleveland. It was supposed to touch on the whole story of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony but we had to change it up because it was too cold and the equipment was malfunctioning so we came up with the what if scenario. What if we didn’t make it? So that’s what our lives would have been like.
There must’ve been a lot of reflection going on. Was it a surreal feeling filming something that may have very well happened?
Wish Bone: Yeah. It definitely makes you think what we’d be doing for real if we weren’t in the game. It definitely makes you think like that but thank god we are in the game and we are off those streets. Trust me, we probably wouldn’t be anything like the movie.
There has been a lot of speculation about the group’s cohesion. Care to clear the air on that?
Krayzie Bone: Basically it is what it is. It’s like we tell them. We’re best friends, we’re cousins and we’re brothers. We’re together for life. We are grown men and have had different situations so of course we had disagreements but what we do isn’t just for us. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony touches a lot of people so we are always going to do that.
I know Flesh-n-Bone has a chance at freedom. Are there any new updates and is there anything the fans can do to help out?
Krayzie Bone: Definitely. They can write him and let him know his presence is missed and keep him in their prayers. We have to go from there and just hope for the best.
So you’re releasing T.H.U.G.S. on Ruthless Records. How did that come about?
Wish Bone: Basically its for the 20th Anniversary album. Anything involving our mentor that put us in the game, we are always going to support it. It’s basically some songs we had done back in the day and they went in and touched them up. They called us and asked for our support and we did that.
Are they all unreleased tracks on the album?
Wish Bone: The album itself is all unreleased tracks.
What’s the group’s label status now? You’ve dealt with a few labels such as Koch, Interscope and Ruthless. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony got their start on Ruthless. Where’s home for you guys now? Is there a label you would consider home?
Wish Bone: They are all business ventures but right now we are definitely home with Full Surface Records. Much love to Swizz Beats because you know he stepped up and helped us get our Interscope deal and put us back in the game as far as being back on top. Instead of doing Independent albums and stuff like that he got us back in the mainstream. We’re definitely going to say Full Surface all day.
We spoke with Twista a while back and he expressed his excitement for the Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Twista collab album. Can you guys give us an update?
Layzie Bone: We haven’t really had a chance to go in there and really concentrate on the record. We’ve been on the road so long promoting the album and the movie. That’s definitely still in the plan. That’s definitely going to happen we are just haven’t put a date on it yet.
With all the performances you’ve guys been doing is there any talk of a world tour in the works?
Wish Bone: Oh yeah. Like I said they call us the Rolling Stones of Hip Hop. We are always going to be somewhere in a city near you. We definitely are going to go overseas and do the world tour thing. We have some things coming up I believe with Akon in Africa. We are going to hit Amsterdam, Switzerland and all our big markets.
So what’s your feeling when you see younger artists mimic your style?
Wish Bone: At first back in the day when they started touching on our style we didn’t like it. Now we’ve grown up and we look at it as a compliment now.
You mentioned growing up. You’re newer music has a more mature feel than the rawness you brought in the beginning. Was that something you guys consciously tried to do?
Wish Bone: It was conscious and natural. We’ve grown up. We have different situations and we have families, babies, wives and all that. So definitely what we talk about is going to change a little bit because our lives have. We aren’t on the block wilding or none of that so we can’t be out here fronting like that’s our everyday lives when its not. We make real music.
Absolutely, that’s what the game needs. Real music.
Wish Bone: Definitely.
Last words?
Layzie Bone: We definitely want to say much love to our fans. Thanks for the support. R.I.P. Eazy-E. Make sure ya’ll support that album. It’s the 20th year anniversary. Much love and watch out for everything we have coming up.