They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and after recent photos of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s Bizzy Bone surfaced online the story making the rounds was that the Cleveland native was on drugs or sick or both. According to Bizzy neither rumor is true.
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“I’m perfectly healthy. Everything is lovely. I’m probably the healthiest I’ve ever been in my life,” says Bizzy. “It’s difficult when the camera’s on to try and turn on your best ‘picture face.’ You wanna be normal so much and you wanna give the realness to the people so much, so in the course of that you’re gonna catch some funny faces.”
There has been speculation that Bizzy’s recent weight lose was the result of a substance abuse problem, but the original member of Bone makes it clear that his drop in mass was from his own personal decision, and he is not currently involved in excessive drug use despite what some observers may draw from certain pics.
“A brother done lost 70, 80 pounds. I had to. I was too damn fat, and it was all from alcohol. As far as me drinking and things of that nature, I’ve gone out maybe six times in a year and six months. My fiance hated it every time. Never have I done anything else. No Mollies, none of that sh*t. No crack. No coke. The farthest I’ve ever been is opium back in my younger days,” explains Bizzy. “I’m not suppose to be cute all the g###### time. I’m a man, so sometimes you gonna catch me in my manly mode. It’s difficult to keep a model face and suck your teeth in and all that bullsh*t. I ain’t got time for that.”
For an entertainer, even the mention of hard drug abuse can negatively affect business relationships which is why Bizzy wanted to clear up the matter.
“I can’t walk into any business places that’s conducting distribution, marketing, promotions and them take me serious if I don’t answer these things,” says Bizzy. “So if I leave it out there and say I don’t care what anybody say about me it starts affecting my business. I have to say, ‘Nah, it nothing like that. I ain’t never done no sh*t like that’.”
Bizzy also made headlines recently when he spoke on how he felt that his mentor Eazy-E’s death from AIDS has prevented the former N.W.A. member from being held in the same esteem as other fallen entertainers.
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“It’s the energy that’s going around of what people consider violent and what people consider a tragedy, of what people consider a culprit and what people consider a victim. It’s so much about AIDS going on in people’s mind that it’s a touchy ass subject, so that’s why I think mostly it’s not really spoken about. It’s like let’s stay away from that,” says Bizzy. “The gunshots with Pac and B.I.G. and even Left Eye getting into the accident, our beloved sister Aaliyah, they can talk more about that more so than the AIDS issue. It’s just a crazy issue.”
Bizzy and the rest of Bone will do their part in honoring the legacy of Eazy at this year’s Rock The Bells Festival where the group will perform alongside a virtual Eazy-E. Bone will begin rehearsing with the hologram about two weeks before the traveling festival starts in San Bernardino, California on September 7.
“It’s going to be monumental. It’s a major thing for Bone Thugs-N-Harmony to bring Eazy to the table. It’s not enough exposure of Eazy E so every time we bring Eazy to the table it rejuvenates everything and makes all the old stuff new.”
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