(AllHipHop Features) Many Hip Hop fans have been looking forward to the reformation of the Grammy winning group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. As one of the culture’s most influential acts of all time, Bone Thugs have made a mark on music that cannot be denied. All five original members are set to hit the stage in their hometown of Cleveland on August 28 and will also be joined by a virtual version of their mentor Eazy-E at this year’s traveling Rock The Bells Festival.
AllHipHop recently chatted with Bizzy Bone to talk about various topics related to Bone Thugs like whether a full reunion album is on the way, their mission to make it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, rumored issues between the members, and more.
[ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Bizzy Bone Addresses Rumors of Drug Abuse & The Legacy Of Eazy-E]
AllHipHop.com: You guys have the Rock the Bells Festival coming up, and you’re performing with a hologram of Eazy E. Have you had the chance to rehearse with the hologram yet?
Bizzy Bone: That’s what we’re gonna be doing two weeks prior to the first performance. It’s going to be monumental.
What’s the status of the Bone reunion album?
Right now we’re really doing a single thing where we put out our singles, the first one “Everything 100″, and we have a site for just putting out some really cool stuff. We’re really just hitting YouTube, hitting the airwaves. Seeing if it works. We don’t want to say we’re gonna do something and not do it. Let’s just see if it works. Let’s see if we still have what it takes to do another great record together. Not being locked in. That’s the mind state. Besides that the five-year plan to get to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That’s what we’re focused on right now as far as a unit and a team. We have a goal. That’s Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s goal for the next 4-5 years, and see if something materializes in the studio, because we’re there. We’re around each other more now. Something’s bound to happen.
Speaking of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Like you mentioned you guys have five more years until you’re eligible. That same year you have a few other Hip Hop acts that’s going to be eligible as well like Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop. Why do you think voters that select who’s going to be enshrined in the hall should cast a vote for Bone Thugs?
They got to know that each one of the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony members are so humble. That the we carry ourselves is mainly “If don’t nobody want you. We do anyway.” So it’s all in friendly competition with all of our peers. Some of them older, some of them younger. We’ve sold a ton of records, made a lot of money. That’s where we stand on that issue in my view.
That competitive nature in Hip Hop had been gone for a while. Do you feel like that competition is needed in the game?
If it’s friendly competition.. I mean with Jay Z and Nas, them dudes made it okay to go at it, battle and not kill each other, so I think it’s okay. Depends how you call somebody out. If you calling somebody out like Pac did Biggie or Biggie did Pac, okay then that’s a different thing, or if you calling out somebody out like Jay Z called out Nas. It was clearly I want to battle rap you on wax. That was clearly what Jay Z was saying to Nas. Now we’re smart enough to know don’t kill one another.
We need that kind of calm vibe out here for these kids to be honest with you. We need brothers up there in friendly competition and not really gunning for each other. Getting these kids to enjoy that on a clean level. It’s like playing football.
Bone had the chance to record with both Biggie and Pac. I believe you guys were the only ones?
I think back in our time we were the only ones, and then I think later on people where able to get verses from them for different stuff. Like Eminem did stuff with them afterwards. When it first happened, yeah.
Where you guys actually in the studio with them when you did those recordings?
Definitely, to see Pac perform phenomenal. To see Biggie watch us do our thing and then do that project afterward, phenomenal. These guys were phenomenal artists and people. Let’s not get in twisted. They’re not just stars in the sky or whatever anybody may think of them now. These were actual cool people, just really good guys in general. Just a phenomenal moment. Talent beyond you could ever expect or imagine from other artists. All of our generations have those, and those two are definitely legends, along with Big Pun. Just that whole school of people. You noticed how it was all the good artists that got taken?
Do you have any plans to do another solo album?
I’m always working, but I want to be group oriented first. If the group ain’t really doing anything I talk to the group and say, “Hey, this my music out here. Who do you guys know that I can talk to as far as who I can get for a record or mixtape if you’re not working with them? Give me one of your contacts to see if I can do something phenomenal.” That’s kind of like how Bone Thugs-N-Harmony is. We share all of our contacts that we have with people that we need. We’re family, but people don’t know that. And you know what, they don’t have to, because at this point we just want to give them great music.
You have to hear the rumors about tension in the group…
It’s five brothers from the Midwest. It’s gonna be some tension. It’s gonna be some fighting. It’s just gonna be that without alcohol. Just normal business. “I don’t want to make this move. Well I do.” You’re gonna get stuff like that. It’s up to us to hash all that out, or separate for a couple of months, because we’re p##### off and then meet back up. “Look I still wanted to do that deal.” The next guy says, “well I didn’t.” Alright, well let’s go and find something else. Its’ kind of like that. It ain’t as drastic as people are thinking. It ain’t like this big explosion where everybody gets mad. Nah, a brother go to his own house for a couple of months and get things out and meet back up like okay let’s go find something else. So that’s how men of Bone gets things accomplished.
Well, I’m glad you cleared that up because every so often you hear things like “they’re breaking up again” or “they’re fighting and such-and-such is not happening now.”
You got to understand when you have major deals on the table and major money on the table, and you have one of your brothers who could possibly help you make that deal even better decide not to do it, it’s always gonna be a sit down like “Why don’t you want to do this?” and [their response is], “I just don’t want to right now. That’s not where my mind at.” So those are the kind of conversations that we have with things that happen in business. A lot things don’t get accomplished, but a lot of things do.
From some of the mistakes some of us may make as far as not taking this deal or that deal, we learn from that. Sometimes we make a big decision by not agreeing, plus we’re not doing it anyway if we don’t agree. That’s how we get down. People got to understand that. We’re like true brothers that made it together. So we always come back to each other.
We’re always on the road. We’re trying to work half of the year, so we can keep things together for the children. That’s what we’re on the road for to get things moving. Why the f*ck sit down and not make something of yourself? Why sit down on publishing? We’re trying to get up and get it moving for people to see us again, enjoying what we doing. That’s where we are.
A couple of months ago Krazyzie said that you guys are working with Kendrick Lamar and Wiz Khalifa. Have those tracks been finalized?
[ALSO READ: The AHH Q&A: Krayzie Bone]
Krazyzie Bone finalizes all of his stuff. That’s one thing that Krazyzie Bone is known for in the group. He does remarkable guest appearances and when it’s going through one particular member they usually request another member through that member. We just kind of wait for it to see when those guys… Personally, I haven’t heard anything from them as far as that. As far as Wiz, he’s a really cool guy. I had the opportunity to meet him, but Kray Bone has to be leading that charge right there. But of course if it’s good music I’m with it. If it’s a hot twelve lines or something I can do to compliment the song I’m cool with that too. Besides that I haven’t heard anything personally.
Does each member have their own niche in the group that they take on as their role?
The coolest dynamic of our group is that simple with all five of us with any contacts we get outside of each other we bring back to the table. So just imagine the number of contacts and business people, all different from five different directions. That’s sort of how we do it. We just help each other. Each and every time if it’s a way for each other to make more money, that’s just what we do. Why have two of us when you can have all of us? That’s how we get down.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony will be performing at Peabody’s Concert Club in Cleveland on Wednesday, August 28 and at the Rock The Bells Festival this fall. For more information visit www.ticketmaster.com.
Follow Bizzy Bone on Twitter @ThisIsBizzyBone
Check out Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s latest single “Everything 100” below.