{"id":551,"date":"2013-07-26T12:05:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-26T12:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/?p=551"},"modified":"2019-12-18T18:36:52","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T02:36:52","slug":"hiphopdx-com-krayzie-bone-says-fan-mail-sparked-three-6-mafia-beef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/2013\/07\/26\/hiphopdx-com-krayzie-bone-says-fan-mail-sparked-three-6-mafia-beef\/","title":{"rendered":"HipHopDX.com: Krayzie Bone Says Fan Mail Sparked Three 6 Mafia Beef"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>HipHopDX.com has published a lengthy interview with Krayzie Bone, looking back at 20 years of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, from recording E. 1999 Eternal and The Art of War to squashed beefs to hip hop today.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/KryazieBone304.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"304\" height=\"304\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-552\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/KryazieBone304.jpg 304w, https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/KryazieBone304-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/KryazieBone304-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/KryazieBone304-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 304px) 100vw, 304px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>HipHopDX.com Exclusive: Krayzie Bone looks back on his 20-year career, discussing the first time Bone Thugs-N-Harmony met Tupac Shakur, the &#8220;E. 1999 Eternal&#8221; and &#8220;The Art Of War&#8221; recording sessions, and reconciling with Twista. He also highlights the differences between working with Pac, Eazy-E and The Notorious B.I.G.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nFans of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony in 1995 remember the cryptic experience of opening the now classic E. 1999 Eternal CD case. The cover art featured the four most prolific members\u2014Layzie Bone, Bizzy Bone, Wish Bone and Krayzie Bone\u2014standing in the bottom left corner of the ominous image. Burned down buildings and a bent E. 1999\/Eternal street sign shadowing an avenue filled with human skulls and rib cages filled the backdrop. Included in the insert booklet was a street map of what many non-Ohioan fans assumed was Cleveland, but supposedly served as part of a dark scavenger hunt corresponding with the backwards text on the following page that felt like something from \u201cTales From The Crypt.\u201d The only way to read it was to hold it up to a mirror. And just when all indicators seemed say these St. Clair Thugstas arrived straight from Hell, behind the jewel case\u2019s spine read the words: \u201cDon\u2019t Give Props To The Devil\u201d and \u201cBelieve In The Last Day.\u201d Teenagers nationwide struggled to make sense of it. Lunchrooms everywhere were buzzing with hyperbole.<\/p>\n<p>Bone Thugs would face a number of demons over the 18 years following E. 1999&#8217;s release. Flesh-N-Bone spent too much of that time bouncing in and out of the prison system. Bizzy Bone battled drug and alcohol addiction for years, appeared on Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew, ranted about not signing to B2K on High Radio, among a slew of other odd anecdotes. He was even arrested for purse snatching following the 1996 MTV Music Awards. On any given tour, two members were probably absent for one reason or another. Only two of the multi-platinum group\u2019s eight full-length LPs prominently feature all five members (BTNH Resurrection and Uni5: The World\u2019s Enemy).<\/p>\n<p>But throughout the fractured history, Krayzie Bone has remained a beacon of consistency. Since his 1999 solo debut\u2014Thug Mentality 1999\u2014Leatherface has released seven albums, six mixtapes and notched scores of guest appearances with artists ranging from Mariah Carey to Rick Ross to Freddie Gibbs. He\u2019s something of Bone\u2019s Rza (sans production)\u2014the member whose vision and veracity dominates perception. As he describes in this exclusive interview with HipHopDX, Krayzie&#8217;s a studio rat and concerned about little more than making timeless tunes. \u201cThat\u2019s how it should be,\u201d he says. \u201cMusic shouldn\u2019t be put in a box. It should be universal. It should be global because music is what connects everybody anyway. We should always keep that politics-free and just let music be music.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the conversation below, Krayzie Bone clarifies a number of forgotten pieces of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony history, such as the first time the group met Tupac Shakur and how they were able to collaborate despite conflict between Death Row Records and Ruthless Records. Along with detailing The Art Of War recording sessions, he also reveals the surprising origins of Bone&#8217;s feud with Three 6 Mafia, where he was when he first heard Do Or Die&#8217;s scathing diss track, &#8220;Bustin&#8217; Back,&#8221; and how he and Twista reconcilled their differences. And in an unexpected moment of candor, Krayzie even cops to not understanding &#8220;30 percent&#8221; of Bizzy Bone&#8217;s rhymes\u2014something in which every Bone Thugs fan can relate.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Photo by Ray Lopez<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Krayzie Bone Discusses Bone Thugs-n-Harmony&#8217;s Influence On A$AP Rocky<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nqUIqYlebnY?feature=player_embedded\" height=\"360\" width=\"640\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>HipHopDX:<\/strong> I spoke with Pete Rock [in 2010] and he was talking about how popular he was again. He described it as \u201chis era coming back to him.\u201d Artists like Kendrick Lamar shout you out regularly. A$AP Rocky shouts out [Bone Thugs-n-Harmony] regularly. Freddie Gibbs was shouting out Bone regularly for a long time. Does it feel like your era has come back to you?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> Yeah man, it definitely feels that way. We have a lot of up and coming artists now that\u2019s out, and they\u2019re paying homage. We at that point in time now where we can look back and see artists that say they came up off our music when they was younger, just like we used to look up to N.W.A and Eazy-E and the Run DMCs and all that. It feels real good to be able to be brought back and those cats pay homage to us and everybody knows where it all came from.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> It\u2019s also interesting because you guys had to fight for your reputation to a degree, at least for your props. And that doesn\u2019t necessarily make sense in a [Rap industry] context when you\u2019re talking about a group that&#8217;s sold over 50 million records. Usually you sell 50 million records and people just respect. The album <em>The Art Of War<\/em> was clearly a response to people copying your style, and it\u2019s come up in various interviews and on various projects over the past 15 years or so. What\u2019s the difference between A$AP and Kendrick and Freddie and all the people who are giving you props now while sporting similar styles? Is there a difference?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> I think back in the day when we was going at it, we were a lot younger then. We didn\u2019t really understand. We come from an era of Hip Hop where if you came out trying to sound like somebody, you was called a biter and that wasn\u2019t good. And that\u2019s how we came up, so when we heard people trying to copy our styles back then, we took offense to it. That was our Hip Hop instinct. It\u2019s like, \u201cThese dudes bite us. We gotta get at these dudes.\u201d It was real young thinking at the time. But now that we older and we see what we have contributed to the game, it\u2019s a sense of flattery that hits us. We brought something to the game that was different. We created this lane in Hip Hop and it was so original, quite naturally everybody just wanted to do it some time. It was like another part of Hip Hop that we added to give it more flavor. And that\u2019s how we look at it. We proud to have done that and created that era in Hip Hop and now we just look at it as flattery now.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> We\u2019re at 20 years since Bone Thugs-n-Harmony met Eazy-E. You were first signed to Ruthless Records in 1993. You guys released a project under B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e before that called <em>Faces Of Death<\/em>. My favorite song on that was \u201cBless Da 40 Oz.\u201d I\u2019ve seen three Bone Thugs-n-Harmony shows now, and I\u2019ve never seen y\u2019all perform \u201cBless Da 40 Oz.\u201d When was the last time you guys performed that live?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> The last time we performed that song was probably at a talent show in Cleveland. Back then I don\u2019t think we never brought out any of those songs and performed them after we hooked up with Eazy. That was just something local we done. We didn\u2019t even think that album was gonna be known to the world. That\u2019s something we did locally and that\u2019s just what it was.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> That was before the braids.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> Oh yeah, that was before the braids. We all had fades, we was looking crazy on that. Looking like little babies.<\/p>\n<h2>Krayzie Bone Details <em>E. 1999 Eternal<\/em> &amp; <em>The Art Of War<\/em> Recording Sessions<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bpBP9dALcWw?feature=player_embedded\" height=\"360\" width=\"640\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> Then you guys signed to Ruthless in 1993, and in 1994 history begins with <em>Creepin\u2019 On Ah Come Up<\/em>, and then <em>E. 1999 Eternal<\/em>, which is one of the top-selling albums in Hip Hop history. What was the recording session like for \u201cMr. Bill Collector\u201d?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> It was crazy. I remember going in and doing that song. It was actually me and Bizzy in the studio together when we first did it. I came up with the hook for \u201cMr. Bill Collector\u201d way before we even met Eazy-E. My father had got me a job at a deli and I was washing dishes. I only had this job for a week. I was washing dishes and the radio was on. I heard a song from The Police, and when I heard it I was like, \u201cMan, that song is dope. If I took it and flip it, it\u2019d be a cold rap song.\u201d So I just thought of the hook right there while I was washing the dishes. So when we went to the studio with E, we actually sung the hook to DJ U-Neek and he came up with the whole track after we sung the hook to him. That\u2019s how it came about.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know how much of a concept <em>E. 1999<\/em> really was intended to be, but I know when I listen from \u201cDa Introduction\u201d all the way down to \u201cBudsmokers Only\u201d those songs kind of go in order. You\u2019re on the block in Cleveland on \u201cEast 1999\u201d and \u201cEternal.\u201d Then \u201cCrept And We Came\u201d is immediately followed by the court scene at the beginning of \u201cDown \u201871 (The Getaway)\u201d\u2014which makes that song sound like you\u2019re breaking out of jail. You\u2019re back on the block bill collecting [\u201cMr. Bill Collector\u201d], and now you\u2019re budsmoking with \u201cBudsmokers Only.\u201d Was that something intentional that you guys crafted, or was that something that Eazy played a hand in when putting together the album?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> It wasn\u2019t really intentional. We went in with those songs. Like I said, we had most of those songs already written. That\u2019s the reason we knocked it out so fast. We just went in and we was getting stuff off our chest. So when the arrangement came in to put the songs in order, it was mainly DJ U-Neek because Eazy had passed right when we had started getting into the mixing phases. It was mainly DJ U-Neek in there, arranging and putting the little magic on there that he put on there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> I think your verse on \u201cNo Shorts, No Losses\u201d is one of the most incredible verses you\u2019ve dropped in your career. For me, that was the first time that I ever heard someone flip their previous song titles in a verse. There are examples in Hip Hop that existed beforehand, but on that album it was something that really stood out to me. That album itself was super cohesive. Going from <em>E. 1999<\/em> into some of the best soundtrack joints: \u201cDays of Our Livez,\u201d off the <em>Set it Off<\/em> soundtrack. \u201cShoot \u2018Em Up\u201d off <em>The Great White Hype<\/em> soundtrack was incredible. \u201cEveryday Thang\u201d off <em>The Show<\/em> soundtrack [was great]. Those actually feel like <em>E. 1999<\/em> tracks. Were those recorded around the same time as <em>E. 1999<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> As a matter of fact, they were. All those songs were supposed to be on <em>E. 1999<\/em>. But the soundtrack opportunities came along and we just threw \u2018em on there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> That makes sense because they all sound really cohesive. You guys really sounded like a unit at that time. How hard was it putting together that album when Flesh-n-Bone was incarcerated then? I think he went to jail right before you guys got signed to Ruthless, which is why he\u2019s not on that album cover.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> What really happened, he was in and out. He was going through his little thing once we got out [to Los Angeles, California]. He was actually in and out, so he was on some of the songs. Just like on <em>Creepin On Ah Come Up<\/em>, he was on some of the songs, but he wasn\u2019t on a lot of them because he was out here wildin\u2019. Same thing for <em>E. 1999<\/em>, he was in and out there. That\u2019s why you see him and then you don\u2019t see him. I think the most he was on a Bone album was <em>The Art of War<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> <em>The Art of War<\/em> felt like a major change for Bone Thugs. One, I thought the beats were bigger. It sounded like the budget must have been huge for <em>The Art of War<\/em>. You guys were coming off \u201cTha Crossroads\u201d single that put you guys in a whole other tax bracket, I\u2019m sure. For the album lead up, you guys were all very consistent, talking about how each artist was going to have their own solo song on the album. Wish got one [&#8220;Get Cha Thug On&#8221;]. Layzie got one [&#8220;Mind Of A Souljah&#8221;]. Bizzy got one that he shared with Mr. Majesty [&#8220;7 Sign&#8221;]. You pretty much were on more songs and more hooks than anyone else. It felt like you were more committed or at least more involved in that process than anyone else. Is that fair to say?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> That\u2019s pretty much how it went. I would get to the studio because I was working hand in hand with DJ U-Neek. So every time they\u2019d get a new track they would call me like, \u201cCome listen to this track.\u201d I\u2019d go down and vibe on there, think of a hook, and put a verse down. Then everybody else would come in, hear what I did, and then just add to it. That was pretty much the method of making the whole album.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> There were 28 tracks on that album. That\u2019s a long album. Why wasn\u2019t Bizzy\u2019s face painted on the album cover? It looked like a still shot from the \u201c1st of Tha Month\u201d video, on the cover of <em>The Art of War<\/em>. Everybody had <em>The Art of War<\/em> face paint, and then Bizzy looked like he was riding in the convertible from \u201c1st of Tha Month.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> At that time Bizzy was going through his thing, so he was starting to be in and out. He was actually withdrawing from the group more and more, because he was going through whatever he was going through. That\u2019s probably why. I don\u2019t even think he took the pictures with us that time, because he was doing whatever he was doing. That\u2019s basically why, because he wasn\u2019t around. He just came in, did what he had to do, and he was out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> I know that was a source of conflict within the group in the years that followed, and you guys always did a great job of [reconciling]. Of course, business can always complicate how tight you guys are or not. Another thing I loved about <em>The Art of War<\/em> was that that project dropped when everybody was doing double disks. [The Notorious B.I.G.] just released a double disc [<em>Life After Death<\/em>], [Tupac Shakur] released a double disc [<em>All Eyez On Me<\/em>]. Wu-Tang Clan had a double disk [<em>Wu-Tang Forever<\/em>]. All the biggest artists, when they got the love they got a double disc. It seemed like an accomplishment to even have a label put out a double disc for an artist at that point. Thematically you guys were charged, going at everybody that was copying your style. How much did Ruthless play a role in that? You\u2019ve been very vocal about how Ruthless shaped the album a little differently than you guys intended to. Was it supposed to be so heavily weighted towards diss tracks as opposed to sounds closer to your previous work?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> We decided how we wanted to do that album. We wanted to do a double CD because we still had a lot of music. We was like, \u201cWe ready to go. We still got stuff to talk about. And we got these dudes trying to copy our style. We finna get at the world with this.\u201d We was ready. We pretty much orchestrated everything. Ruthless, they had their say, but when it came to the creativity part they pretty much let us rock how we wanted to rock. They let us get in there and do what we did.<br \/>\n<strong>DX:<\/strong> You were the only person who changed your verse on \u201cLook Into My Eyes\u201d from the version that came out with the <em>Batman &amp; Robin<\/em> soundtrack. Why\u2019d you decide to change your verse?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> When I did the first verse, I really ain\u2019t like it. I was like, \u201cIt\u2019s cool, but I want to try something different.\u201d And then they was like, \u201cWe want y\u2019all to do a clean version,\u201d so I took that as an opportunity to go in and change the whole verse. I don\u2019t know what I was on, that was a whole completely different verse.<\/p>\n<h2>Krayzie Bone Reveals How Bone Thugs-n-Harmony First Met Tupac<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o9IXAJg4Vm0?feature=player_embedded\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> I guess y\u2019all were in a creative zone, right? You\u2019ve got all this material, you\u2019re putting all this music out. Buckshot did an interview recently with HipHopDX. There was a recent video of Buckshot with some old footage of him with Tupac. Tupac flew Buckshot and Smif-n-Wessun [to Los Angeles] to start recording what was going to be the <em>One Nation<\/em> album. In the interview Buckshot starts naming people that were going to be on that <em>One Nation<\/em> album with Tupac. He was like, \u201cBone Thugs-n-Harmony, they were gonna be on that <em>One Nation<\/em> album.\u201d How far along did you guys get in that process and that collaboration? Was \u201cThug Luv\u201d the song that originally was supposed to be on Pac\u2019s album?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> That\u2019s what really set it off because before the whole thing, the whole collaboration with us, Pac was on Death Row. There was still a little bit of tension with us and even dealing with them at the time. As far as we was concerned the beef was still on. And even though Eazy tried to keep us out that whole mix, we was young. We was ready to ride regardless. We was like, \u201cNaw, we signed to Ruthless, we in it.\u201d It was like we really had to get at Pac. We saw him coming out the hotel one day and this was just when he just got out. We saw him coming out the hotel one day, and he was like, \u201cWhat\u2019s up with y\u2019all? Man, I just want to let y\u2019all know that \u2018Tha Crossroads,\u2019 I played that everyday I woke up in my cell. That\u2019s what got me through, listening to \u2018Tha Crossroads,\u2019 the original version.\u201d After that we asked him for some weed. After that we was friends. While we was smoking he was like, \u201cWe need to get in the studio. We need to make something happen,\u201d and we all agreed. We saw each other like two or three more times after that, kept talking about the studio. Eventually he ran into Bizzy at the studio and they went in and made a song happen and we heard it later and was like, \u201cAw man, it\u2019s going down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> Did you guys have plans to work on any other songs, or how many songs did you guys knock out in that session? Was \u201cThug Luv\u201d the only one?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> Yeah, that was the only one. Because as soon as they put that track up and Pac heard that beat with the gun shots in it, he was like, \u201cMan, that\u2019s the one, let\u2019s go. That\u2019s the one, let\u2019s move with that.\u201d We was scheduled to work on more stuff, but we never got a chance to make that happen.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> What was the difference between being in the studio with Eazy, Pac, and B.I.G.?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> Pac probably had the most energy. He\u2019d go up in there and track after track after track, he\u2019s like \u201cC\u2019mon, let\u2019s work.\u201d Eazy liked to sit around for a while, smoke joint after joint just listening to the track. Then he\u2019d tell everybody to get out. \u201cEverybody get out, I\u2019ma put my verse down.\u201d B.I.G. was real laid back too. B.I.G. was just sitting back looking at us. Just amazed, like \u201cHow y\u2019all niggas do that shit?\u201d Looking at us, like \u201cMan, that is insane.\u201d But then after we got done, he was like, \u201cLet me take the track to the house.\u201d Then he took the track to the house, and came back the next day and laid what he laid down. To me, he killed that track.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> I thought that was interesting too because we always hear stories about B.I.G. and Jay-Z being the guys who don\u2019t write down their verses. That was the first story I\u2019ve ever heard of B.I.G. where he had to take a track home to think about it, as opposed to just writing it or coming up with it in the studio like we saw in the <em>Notorious<\/em> movie. Was there pressure getting on these tracks? You mentioned earlier that in the \u201890s you had to be original, right? It was <em>all original<\/em>. Was it competitive when you were about to rhyme with Biggie or 2pac? Was it competitive among you all?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> It wasn\u2019t competitive at all. I was just thinking the whole time, \u201cThis song is about to be insane. It\u2019s about to be crazy. The world is about to love this.\u201d\u2014especially the one with Pac, because everyone was waiting for it. And the one with B.I.G. just shocked everybody, like \u201cWhat? Bone Thugs got with B.I.G.?\u201d It was unique with both of them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> Do you have a favorite member of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony? A favorite style you like; a favorite emcee? I know you\u2019re all brothers. You\u2019re all family, but when you\u2019re just listening to the track, who\u2019s another member you like to listen to?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> It\u2019s crazy because it\u2019s different. On different songs each person comes off a different way. On one song I may like Layzie the best, another song I may like Bizzy the best. It varies, because they coming with some pretty amazing stuff.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> Who had the best verse on \u201cMr. Bill Collector\u201d?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> I like Bizzy\u2019s verse. I like Bizzy\u2019s verse, definitely.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> Aw, c\u2019mon man! Why not Layzie? He gets slept on so much, why is that?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> I don\u2019t think Layzie gets slept on because I could point out some verses out where Layzie just goes in and kills it. They better not be sleeping on little Layzie because he gon\u2019 come with it, for real.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> If we do the math on this, you\u2019ve got the double disc that came out with <em>The Art of War<\/em> in 1997. <em>Thug Mentality 1999<\/em> comes out 2 years later. That\u2019s another double disc. This is a super, super productive stretch that you\u2019re having at an early point in your career that hasn\u2019t seemed to cease. Does making music still feel the same? Does it feel like work?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> It still feels the same. Making music, to me, don\u2019t feel like work. It feels like I\u2019m doing something that I enjoy [doing]. I got something to say and I got an avenue and an outlet to say it. To me, it\u2019s like medication. It\u2019s like a stress reliever. Whenever I\u2019m stressed out and whatever, I can still come and do music because I can go off whatever emotion I\u2019m feeling and come up with a song for it. I love doing what I do. I couldn\u2019t ask for another job. I\u2019m doing what I always wanted to do. I\u2019m happy with it.<\/p>\n<h2>Krayzie Bone Describes Tech N9ne&#8217;s Recording Process<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_mlRTZPf-pU?feature=player_embedded\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> We shadowed Tech N9ne down at the Paid Dues Festival [this year]. During the interview with Tech his phone rang and he had a picture of Michael Myers on the wallpaper on his phone. I said, \u201cOh, that\u2019s you right there, you\u2019re Michael Myers?\u201d And he was like, \u201cYeah, yeah. Eminem is Jason and Krayzie Bone is Leatherface.\u201d Then I was like, \u201cYo, you guys should do an EP or something.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> That\u2019d be insane if we did that. That\u2019d be insane, for real.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> Did you ever work with Tech N9ne?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> Oh, yeah. Definitely. We did a couple things together in the studio. We went down to Kansas City, he showed us some real good hospitality down there. Took us to some good soul food spots. He\u2019s cool, that\u2019s our people.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t realize that. What\u2019s it like in the studio when you\u2019re watching Tech N9ne write and create?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> You ever seen one of his live shows? That\u2019s exactly how he is in the studio and everything. Hype. He get it in. He go hard. I respect the way he do business, I respect the way he get down. Got nothing but love for him.<br \/>\n<strong>DX:<\/strong> You have a new project now that you\u2019re pushing, an EP.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> Yes indeed. <em>Quick Fix, Level 1: Less Drama. More Music<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> What\u2019s going to be the difference between this and any other project you\u2019ve released?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> There really is no difference. I\u2019m really doing what I usually do and it always seems to work. That\u2019s keeping it real. That\u2019s making real music and addressing real issues that people can relate to. Even though we have this genre of music that we have out now where people aren\u2019t really addressing the issues that\u2019s going on in the world and stuff like that. There\u2019s still people who want to hear that kind of music. That\u2019s what I do. I mix it up a little bit. I still have fun. I still like to kick it and have fun myself. I just mix it up a little bit and try to give everyone what they want.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> Scarface once told us that the secret is to keep making the same album, because as soon as you start switching it up that\u2019s when your fans get mad and they leave you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> Exactly. I done heard so many people like, \u201cY\u2019all need to make an album like <em>E. 1999<\/em>.\u201d The only problem with that is if you think rational, when you get older and you have kids and stuff like that, all that stuff starts looking different to you. I\u2019m not about to teach my kids [what we talked about on <em>E. 1999<\/em>]. They don\u2019t have to go through it. I went through it, but they don\u2019t have to go through it. There\u2019s still ways you can keep it real and kick street knowledge to people and keep it street. If you\u2019re a true artist you can always make it happen. A true artist knows how to create.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> Do you ever wonder why Bone didn\u2019t get more love and respect out of New York City, specifically around the mid-90s? It seems like cats would go to New York and would be surprised that their songs weren\u2019t being played on New York City radio. I grew up in the South and lived in a number of regions, and there\u2019s definitely a disconnect between Bone\u2019s reputation and the East Coast.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> What\u2019s crazy is, in the streets the fans are there. But when it comes to playing us on the radio, for some reason they just never played us on the radio. I don\u2019t understand why. I don\u2019t know why. But the only time they played us was with B.I.G., [&#8220;Notorious Thugs&#8221;]. That\u2019s the only pass we got.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> That\u2019s a big pass, though.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> I guess we wasn\u2019t good enough for New York.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> That\u2019s how different Hip Hop was, though. Each region had its own style, but now we\u2019re in a region-free style zone.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> That\u2019s a good thing because music shouldn\u2019t be put in a box. It should be universal. It should be global because music is what connects everybody anyway. We should always keep that politics-free and just let music be music.<\/p>\n<h2>Krayzie Bone Explains Origins Of Three 6 Mafia Beef<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YcbdX34ygIU?feature=player_embedded\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> I always wanted to ask you this question. October 1998, <em>Heaven\u2019z Movie<\/em> comes out, Bizzy\u2019s first solo album. <strong>Thug Mentality<\/strong> comes out April 1999. So there\u2019s about six months between Bizzy\u2019s solo album and then your solo album. On Bizzy\u2019s album he drops a line, \u201cBetter act a little bit feminine \/ Take the fatigues off \/ Fuck the club \/ Even the six \/ It\u2019s hellish\u201d [\u201c(The Roof) Is On Fire\u201d]. He was referring to Gangsta Boo from Three 6 Mafia. On your album you did a collaboration with Gangsta Boo and E-40 on \u201cWe Starvin.\u2019\u201d What was the relationship like between you and Three 6 at that point in time? It\u2019s an interesting dichotomy between those two projects.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> The whole beef with Three 6, that was something I really never even understood. What was the beef about? From what I hear, it all started when we was reading fan mail back in the day. We went to the office at Ruthless Records and opened up the fan mail. Back then we was tripping off getting fan mail. I had read it and some chick from Memphis was telling me, \u201cThere\u2019s this group out here. They made an album that\u2019s on the radio and they dissin\u2019 y\u2019all, saying that y\u2019all stole they style.\u201d I was like, \u201cFor real? Who is these dudes?\u201d And she was like, \u201cThey call themselves Three 6 Mafia.\u201d So we heard about it, and one time we had a show in Memphis. And we was getting ready to walk into the show and we heard somebody scream out, \u201cThuggish ruggish bustas!\u201d We turned around, and we was like \u201cWhat?\u201d We ready to run down there. Our security was telling us, \u201cY\u2019all getting ready to go on stage and do a show and get paid. They in the parking lot. Let\u2019s keep going and get this money.\u201d I really didn\u2019t understand what the beef was until I talked to somebody on the phone one day. It was a conference call with Relativity Records or Live Records or something. And they was like, \u201cWe just want y\u2019all know to know it ain\u2019t no beef, it ain\u2019t no nothing.\u201d All that stuff was stupid. We was young. Everybody was young. I was like, \u201cCool,\u201d because I wasn\u2019t really trippin\u2019 anyway. So when the opportunity came to work with Gangsta Boo, I was like, \u201cMan, let\u2019s make it happen. Let\u2019s squash some of this beef that\u2019s out there. Let\u2019s do this. It\u2019s about business, for real.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> Was that a hard decision on her end? In the verse it seems like she\u2019s alluding to problems with Three 6.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> I\u2019m not sure if that had a part to play in it. It could have, maybe it didn\u2019t. I listened to the verse and took it like that too. It is what it is. I could be wrong, like I said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> It\u2019s always interesting too, especially now that we get to see emcees as adults. Everybody in Hip Hop was a kid when they started, and now they\u2019re being adults and being responsible about their decisions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> Even when I talked to Twista for the first time, I was like, \u201cWhat was we beefin\u2019 over? Who rapped the fastest?\u201d That\u2019s the dumbest shit I ever heard in my life. So what who rapped the fastest? Fans loved both of us, so whatever, let\u2019s get this money together.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> Where were you the first time you heard Do or Die and Twista\u2019s response to <em>The Art of War<\/em>? [Do Or Die] dropped a song called \u201cBustin&#8217; Back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> It actually took me a long time to listen to it because everybody was telling me, \u201cYou heard the song? You heard the song?\u201c I actually wasn\u2019t gonna listen to it until I was in Cleveland, in the hood, and one of my dudes brought it to the hood, like, \u201cCheck this out\u201d\u2014just tryna feud, tryna instigate. I heard it and I was like, \u201cDamn, I never been called so many bitches in my life.\u201d They was going hard on us. I was like, \u201cMan, they going hard.\u201d I wasn\u2019t really trippin\u2019 at that point. I said a lot of little slick stuff in my rhymes throughout that time period too. I was gettin\u2019 back at \u2018em too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> With the Internet, the way people participate with Hip Hop has evolved a bit. You used to have to go get some spray paint and work on your tag, or make sure your helicopter wasn\u2019t off beat, or rhyme in cyphers. That\u2019s just how people historically participated in Hip Hop. Have you noticed a difference as your career has reached this level of longevity and the way you interact with your fans? Is it the same way? Do you feel that people interact with Hip Hop in the same way that they originally did?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> Lately, you been hearing a lot of complaints about the way Hip Hop is going and stuff like that. But that\u2019s just what I said: Hip Hop is big. I think it has more fans than it did back then because Hip Hop has integrated with other genres of music. Once it becomes intertwined like that, it\u2019s going to go to other levels. People might not like it but that\u2019s why it\u2019s different.<\/p>\n<p>To me there are different categories of Hip Hop. If you like what\u2019s on the radio now, then that\u2019s your category. If you like more what came out in the Tupac, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Biggie era, then there\u2019s music out there like that. There\u2019s just certain categories.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> What\u2019s a line or verse of yours that you\u2019ve been rapping forever but you still tend to stumble over it on stage when you\u2019re performing it?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> I know it\u2019s something \u2018cause I always do it. I always have to do the remix of the \u201cNotorious Thugs,\u201d the one I did with Twista. That whole verse, every time I say it\u2026I tried to play it back and listen to it one time, and I didn\u2019t even remember what I said. I was like, \u201cMan, this is crazy.\u201d My own verse, I\u2019m like, \u201cI don\u2019t even know what I said.\u201d It\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> See, that\u2019s how fans feel when we listen to Bizzy\u2019s verse on \u201cMo\u2019 Murda,\u201d for example.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> I still don\u2019t understand with Bizzy. Outta the whole group, he\u2019s the one. There\u2019s about 30% of his stuff I don\u2019t understand what he\u2019s saying. No lie.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> He needs a certified Rap Genius account.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> Exactly. He been going so fast, I\u2019m like, \u201cMan. That\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Krayzie Bone Reflects On His 20-Year Career, Collaborating With dead prez<\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MHGdxEbRWw4?feature=player_embedded\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> As you\u2019ve gone from being part of a group to solo artist and back and forth for 20 years, what\u2019s something that you\u2019ve learned that\u2019s irreplaceable about yourself; about what it means to create art that impacts people?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> Man, I learned about myself that I can keep just going and going and getting better and better. That saying, \u201cPractice makes perfect,\u201d is the realest saying I ever heard. At anything that you love doing, if you keep doing it, you\u2019re gonna eventually master it. No matter what it is. And I feel that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done with music. I practice at it. I work out with it every day. Every single day of my life, and that just helps you get better and better. That\u2019s what it is.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> Your collaboration with dead prez is one of those examples where the growth of an artist and as a person truly shows through. Bone started on some thuggish ruggish, and that joint with dead prez, [&#8220;Walk Like A Warrior&#8221;] wasn\u2019t the same Krayzie Bone.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> No. It was the more activist side of me. That used to be in me, too. I adopted it from Tupac. I was thuggish ruggish, I was militant-minded. I was all that. I was going through all that. But as you grow and get older and change everything, all your personality traits and all that change with you. Anything you carry changes with you, just like my music. So once you get older everything gets more mature, and you start thinking different and you start looking at things for what they really are.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> You got <em>The Quick Fix<\/em>. All five Bone Thugs members are on tour. We have Rock The Bells coming up again this year. You have a clothing line. You have certain artists that you\u2019re working with that are on your label, The Life Entertainment. Am I missing anything?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> The clothing line, we been doing it for three years. We\u2019re trying to build it into a huge, epic merchandising company for anybody in the game that wants to do Hip Hop. They can come check us out. We\u2019re doing real fair deals. The Life, we been getting real good responses. The fans really been taking to it. They now can have a chance to get our gear when they want it. It\u2019s been doing real good.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> Where can they find the gear?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> The website is [URL=&#8221;http:\/\/www.TheLifeApparel.com&#8221;]www.TheLifeApparel.com[\/URL]. We also just opened up a store in downtown Los Angeles at 1121 Santee Street.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DX:<\/strong> Is there anything else that you want the people to be aware of?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Krayzie Bone:<\/strong> Like I always do, thanks to the fans for supporting us for 20 years. Being behind us through the thick and the thin, the make-ups, the break ups, and all that with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Just really recognizing the music for what it is and keeping it about the music because we got some crazy fans man, and they not just here in the US. They worldwide. Much love to everybody all over the world.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hiphopdx.com\/index\/interviews\/id.2130\/title.krayzie-bone-says-fan-mail-sparked-three-6-mafia-beef\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.hiphopdx.com\/index\/interviews\/id.2130\/title.krayzie-bone-says-fan-mail-sparked-three-6-mafia-beef<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HipHopDX.com has published a lengthy interview with Krayzie Bone, looking back at 20 years of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, from recording E. 1999 Eternal and The Art of War to squashed beefs to hip hop today. HipHopDX.com Exclusive: Krayzie Bone looks back on his 20-year career, discussing the first time Bone Thugs-N-Harmony met Tupac Shakur, the &#8220;E. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"templates\/template-full-width.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"HipHopDX.com: Krayzie Bone Says Fan Mail Sparked Three 6 Mafia Beef","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19,18,21,23,22,27],"tags":[29,106],"class_list":["post-551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bizzy-bone","category-bone-thugs-n-harmony","category-flesh-n-bone","category-krayzie-bone","category-layzie-bone","category-wish-bone","tag-krayzie-bone","tag-three-6-mafia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9307,"href":"https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions\/9307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.btnhlegacy.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}