Bone Thugs-N-Harmony open up about lyrical content, responsibility they feel towards their fans, and the challenge of being role models.
Emily Berkey: One debate that will always be in Hip Hop is regarding lyrical content. Do you believe that rappers should be socially responsible for the influence and the words they put out there, or do you think that they should just be able to make music and not have to worry about it?
Wish Bone: You should be able to make music any way you want to. The listeners should be conscious of what they listen to; if you can’t handle certain things, don’t listen to it.
Krayzie Bone: I agree with that to a certain point, but whether we like it or not, once you are successful, you’re in the public eye. You are automatically considered a role model whether you wanna be or not. Whether you choose to fess up to it, that’s on you, but everything you do, you now have the authority to grab the public’s ear and catch their attention. Hell yeah we’re gonna be accountable to these people down the line, we’re gonna tell the truth.
Layzie Bone: We’re responsible for all our actions.
Krayzie Bone: You’re gonna at some point be responsible. It’s tricky question because some people think “I’m ain’t a role model,” and we used to think the same thing when we would listen to NWA, but really when it comes down to it you really are.
Layzie Bone: I mean definitely there’s a responsibility that comes with it. We’ve got kids out here, so we wanna guide them to a strong state of mind and to always have integrity and look up to intelligence, to be more sophisticated and try hard. You’re responsible, but it’s different music for different scenarios. That’s why Bone can get away with Mo Murda, it’s real, but is it really for a kid to listen to? That’s for the listener to decide. We put messages in our music, so if you put a message in, you shouldn’t just tell one side of the story. There’s always two sides to the coin. If you’re a real writer, you’re gonna enlighten.
Krayzie Bone: And we never said all our songs were for everybody.
Wish Bone: Exactly
Krayzie Bone: We never said that. We be in our own world. All of out music is not for everybody. It’s up to the person who’s listening to decipher it. Some people don’t like to hear about Mo Murda and Ouija Board, but some of them are insane and they like that type of shit.
Emily Berkey: Would it be fair to say that you guys are a mixture of both? You gotta be mindful of what you’re putting out there but at the same time the listeners have to be mindful of what they’re putting in?
Krayzie Bone: Exactly.
Wish Bone: It’s entertainment!
Krayzie Bone: And never take it too serious. It aint nothing but music.
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Bone Thugs-N-Harmony open up about their faithful fan base, selling out shows, and offer advice to young people everywhere.
Emily Berkey: There’s a wide range of artists who use your influence. You also have a wide array of fans at your shows from middle-aged women to barely legal’s. How have you seen your fan base change over the years?
Layzie Bone: We been had them from two to ninety-nine. We’ve had them from the beginning… it’s always been dynamic.
Flesh-N-Bone: Three to four generations.
Layzie Bone: Every race, every gender, our fans have always been so wide.
Emily Berkey: Why do you think that is?
Krayzie Bone: Because of the music, because it was original. It was something nobody had heard before. We just happened to have sense enough to put a message behind it also. It captured everybody, we mystified everyone. It was a mystery. And it still is, people try to copy but they can’t quite get it. It will always be a mystery.
Emily Berkey: On this tour, some of your shows have sold out so quickly that you’ve had to add a second show. Is that something you guys were surprised about?
Layzie Bone: Not really because we stay on the road. we’ve been building our shows over the last couple years. So building that, we’ve been consistent with it. We’ve watched it grow, it dwindled down to barely anything, and watched it grow back all the way to where it’s almost on fire. We gotta album out, we’re on TV, but we always had that type of star power. We were never really out in the open or in front like that. We attracted just as much attention though.
Wish Bone: Good music speaks for itself, you know. I think a lot of the music, like the harmonies and the flows, I think a lot of subject matter and real life situations that people could relate to like First of the Month, Crossroads, things like that, set us aside from the average artist because we had real subject matter. Like real music, like our music comes from the heart, we hella creative but it’s not all creativity, It’s real life situations. Our music mixes into all different situations. It’s like there’s a piece of music there for everybody.
Layzie Bone: And back to the touring aspect, it’s like they call us the Beatles of Hip Hop, the Rolling Stones. With our different partners, we’re in the right place at the right time right now. The partners we work with now, Rock the Bells, we feel like we’re in the right place at the right time right now.
Emily Berkey: Your Twitter said the other day: In retrospect, your times of struggle will be the most beautiful. What advice do you have to give to the people out there, your fans that are struggling?
Wish Bone: First and foremost you gotta put God first, you know what I mean? Cause your life is in God’s hands, you gotta strive hard and let Him know what you’re trying to do and work really, really hard at it, and believe in yourself and make things happens. It might not be the exact thing that you want to happen, but it’ll happen.
Flesh-N-Bone: Just be confident in what you’re doing. You gotta do everything you gotta do to get to where you want to be. Be confident in yourself.
Layzie Bone: Embrace your struggles because that’s what builds your character. Your character is what’s gonna determine if you’re successful or not, and your persistence and dedication and what you’re really trying to do. Being 38 years old, I know now that you should embrace your struggle because that’s what’s building your character and makes you what you’re gonna become. Don’t look at your struggle like a struggle, look at it like it’s just an obstacle and you’re trying to win a race. You should be happy for them because they’re gonna make you stronger. Keep pushing, be smart.
Krayzie: If this is something you truly wanna do, then you should do it because you love it, not because of what you see on TV, the cars and the houses. It’s really a slap in the face when you get into this business and realize that it isn’t all like that, and everybody can’t bounce back from that. Once they chase their dream and they’re slapped with reality, it’s a whole different thing. First you gotta talk to God and make sure that this is what you really wanna do, cause it isn’t an easy road. Souls are being sold. It’s something serious. Make sure that this is for you.
– @Emily_Berkey
