A man of painfully few words, Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony seems exceptionally sane. He’s soft-spoken and unassuming. Cordial even. After speed-mumbling his way through six Bone albums and now on his second solo LP Thug on Da Line, in person he’s so tacit one wonders if after all that high-powered wordsmithing he’s simply run out of things to say.
The skinniest man this side of Snoop D-O-double-G, Krayzie Bone held the script to his upcoming Western flick in his spindly hands throughout his interview with Allhiphop. His characteristic blase attitude (you imagine this guy could lose a pinkie and not bat an eyelash) was betrayed by his enthusiasm about producing and starring in a film in which he will likely wear stirrups and shoot up several dozen thugs. On the heels of 1998’s countrified "Ghetto Cowboy" hit off the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony album Mo Thugs Chapter II: Family Reunion, the film centers around the adventures of one Sawed Off Slim and should have a slew of hip hop hop celebs who will have caught the acting bug by production time (hopefully not regrettably so like some of those, ahem, in MTV’s hip hopera Carmen).
Oh, and if you’re wondering, yes, you can understand what he’s saying when he speaks.
Allhiphop.com: Since you first came out with "Creepin on ah Come Up" in '94 to your current album, how has your sound changed?
Krayzie Bone: Man it's ghetto, um it's more, it's perfected more you know what I'm
saying, it’s grown. I concentrated on production more on this album, make sure I have the right beats for the right rhymes.
Boss is on your new album. What’s the deal with that, she’s been gone for a bit.
To me she really put it down for like the gangsta rap thang, you know what I’m saying, like ‘cause I mean she was like the first female I heard, like Boss, for real.
She got some flack back in the early 90s for sort of fronting as gangsta when it turned out she had a sort of privileged past, studied ballet and such, her past wasn’t as gangsta as she claimed it to be. Do you think that reflects on your own authenticity?
I mean no, not really, 'cause I know some niggas that went to college is killers, I know some niggas who didn’t finish school who’s business men, like myself, so it’s like man, shit man you can never tell for real.
After Ghetto Cowboy, you’re now working on a feature length Western, what’s up with your obsession with Western culture?
I always liked Westerns, you know what I’m saying? I like how raw they used to be back in the day. Everybody had a pistol you know, just balling, niggas was getting shot in bars you know what I’m saying? It was just wild, it was off the hook.
Ever ridden a horse?
Yeah, in the Ghetto Cowboy video, that was my first time.
Are you in touch with Flesh-N-Bone [who’s serving an 11 year sentence for assault]?
Oh yeah, I write him you know what I'm saying. I wrote to him, I gottawrite him again. But I talk to him, he doin’ alright, he's maintaining.
Your were in lockdown too, before the business right?
Huh?
Weren't you in prison for a while?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
For how long?
Like a year and a half.
What did you do while you were there?
Man, basically just wrote, wrote songs, um played basketball. Just did whatever I could, like just read, trying to keep my mind off stuff.
What was it for?
What was it - it was um possession of a shotgun, yeah.
Didn’t it have something to do with an altercation with Wish Bone?
Yeah, it had to do - it wasn’t an altercation it was like me and him was like - we was like driving around drunk doing stupid shit and um I accidentally shot him. Shot him in the leg with the uh twelve gauge and it was like a whole big thing. He went to the hospital, police came, you know what I’m saying, took me to jail and everything.
Did it affect your relationship?
Not at all, we do, me and Wish is like real close right now. But we cool, on a day to day basis we kick it, talk, whatever.
How do you feel about the Shyne verdict?
Man that's messed up you know what I'm saying? They starting to show rappers it's serious. They giving niggas time, for real.
What advice would you give him?
Man, just don’t let them institutionalize your mind.
You’re considered the brains of Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony, is that an apt description?
Man I do more of the creating, you know what I’m saying? I came to that role, I guess it just - I don’t know, everybody say I act like an old man so it’s just like I guess that’s what it comes from -- sitting back looking at everything, looking at my life. I always watch the news, always try to stay conscious of what’s going on in the world.
Um, why "Krayzie"?
'Cause I’m crazy sometimes, you know.
Tell me the last crazy thing you did.
Man, the last crazy thing I did? I don’t know, I can’t remember. Damn (long pause) I can’t remember.
Can’t be that hard.
I don’t know I ain’t done nothing crazy since-- I’ve been kind of calm, like I ain’t done nothing crazy in a while.
Uh, ok, then I’m going to tell you something crazy. In Florida there’s this thing called the Baker Act where if you think someone’s done something crazy you can have them institutionalized against their will for 72 hours.
Word?
Yeah, like anyone can do this.
Hell no!
Hypothetically, do you think anyone would ever do this to you?
What? Hell yeah! Yeah, especially in Florida too. Hell yeah motherfuckers probably say I’m crazy -- try to put me in that motherfucker.
Would you want to Baker Act anyone?
Hell yeah - Bush. Put his motherfuckin ass in there, for real.
You got any skeletons in the closet?
I don’t have too many secrets, man. Shit, not really.
Ever broken a bone?
Uh uh, never had nothing broken.
I broke my collarbone recently. Do you have any expertise in this matter, any recommendations?
What, your collarbone? You know my father broke his collarbone like a while back at his job. He used to work at like a steel plant, he used to cut steel and like load it up and put it on a the truck so they can carry it out. One of the big ass coils fell on him and he broke his collarbone. And man, I forgot how long he was off, maybe like four months.
No way.
Yeah. But, he up and kickin’ it right now so -
So I’m gonna be kickin’ it soon?
Oh yeah.
Ever gotten a boner at an inopportune moment?
Huh?
Ever gotten a boner at an inopportune moment?
At an inopportune - hell yeah, shit. You know sometimes, you know what I’m saying, you be seeing some, you know, see somebody and you get to thinking, then you be like GOD DAMN!
The skinniest man this side of Snoop D-O-double-G, Krayzie Bone held the script to his upcoming Western flick in his spindly hands throughout his interview with Allhiphop. His characteristic blase attitude (you imagine this guy could lose a pinkie and not bat an eyelash) was betrayed by his enthusiasm about producing and starring in a film in which he will likely wear stirrups and shoot up several dozen thugs. On the heels of 1998’s countrified "Ghetto Cowboy" hit off the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony album Mo Thugs Chapter II: Family Reunion, the film centers around the adventures of one Sawed Off Slim and should have a slew of hip hop hop celebs who will have caught the acting bug by production time (hopefully not regrettably so like some of those, ahem, in MTV’s hip hopera Carmen).
Oh, and if you’re wondering, yes, you can understand what he’s saying when he speaks.
Allhiphop.com: Since you first came out with "Creepin on ah Come Up" in '94 to your current album, how has your sound changed?
Krayzie Bone: Man it's ghetto, um it's more, it's perfected more you know what I'm
saying, it’s grown. I concentrated on production more on this album, make sure I have the right beats for the right rhymes.
Boss is on your new album. What’s the deal with that, she’s been gone for a bit.
To me she really put it down for like the gangsta rap thang, you know what I’m saying, like ‘cause I mean she was like the first female I heard, like Boss, for real.
She got some flack back in the early 90s for sort of fronting as gangsta when it turned out she had a sort of privileged past, studied ballet and such, her past wasn’t as gangsta as she claimed it to be. Do you think that reflects on your own authenticity?
I mean no, not really, 'cause I know some niggas that went to college is killers, I know some niggas who didn’t finish school who’s business men, like myself, so it’s like man, shit man you can never tell for real.
After Ghetto Cowboy, you’re now working on a feature length Western, what’s up with your obsession with Western culture?
I always liked Westerns, you know what I’m saying? I like how raw they used to be back in the day. Everybody had a pistol you know, just balling, niggas was getting shot in bars you know what I’m saying? It was just wild, it was off the hook.
Ever ridden a horse?
Yeah, in the Ghetto Cowboy video, that was my first time.
Are you in touch with Flesh-N-Bone [who’s serving an 11 year sentence for assault]?
Oh yeah, I write him you know what I'm saying. I wrote to him, I gottawrite him again. But I talk to him, he doin’ alright, he's maintaining.
Your were in lockdown too, before the business right?
Huh?
Weren't you in prison for a while?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
For how long?
Like a year and a half.
What did you do while you were there?
Man, basically just wrote, wrote songs, um played basketball. Just did whatever I could, like just read, trying to keep my mind off stuff.
What was it for?
What was it - it was um possession of a shotgun, yeah.
Didn’t it have something to do with an altercation with Wish Bone?
Yeah, it had to do - it wasn’t an altercation it was like me and him was like - we was like driving around drunk doing stupid shit and um I accidentally shot him. Shot him in the leg with the uh twelve gauge and it was like a whole big thing. He went to the hospital, police came, you know what I’m saying, took me to jail and everything.
Did it affect your relationship?
Not at all, we do, me and Wish is like real close right now. But we cool, on a day to day basis we kick it, talk, whatever.
How do you feel about the Shyne verdict?
Man that's messed up you know what I'm saying? They starting to show rappers it's serious. They giving niggas time, for real.
What advice would you give him?
Man, just don’t let them institutionalize your mind.
You’re considered the brains of Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony, is that an apt description?
Man I do more of the creating, you know what I’m saying? I came to that role, I guess it just - I don’t know, everybody say I act like an old man so it’s just like I guess that’s what it comes from -- sitting back looking at everything, looking at my life. I always watch the news, always try to stay conscious of what’s going on in the world.
Um, why "Krayzie"?
'Cause I’m crazy sometimes, you know.
Tell me the last crazy thing you did.
Man, the last crazy thing I did? I don’t know, I can’t remember. Damn (long pause) I can’t remember.
Can’t be that hard.
I don’t know I ain’t done nothing crazy since-- I’ve been kind of calm, like I ain’t done nothing crazy in a while.
Uh, ok, then I’m going to tell you something crazy. In Florida there’s this thing called the Baker Act where if you think someone’s done something crazy you can have them institutionalized against their will for 72 hours.
Word?
Yeah, like anyone can do this.
Hell no!
Hypothetically, do you think anyone would ever do this to you?
What? Hell yeah! Yeah, especially in Florida too. Hell yeah motherfuckers probably say I’m crazy -- try to put me in that motherfucker.
Would you want to Baker Act anyone?
Hell yeah - Bush. Put his motherfuckin ass in there, for real.
You got any skeletons in the closet?
I don’t have too many secrets, man. Shit, not really.
Ever broken a bone?
Uh uh, never had nothing broken.
I broke my collarbone recently. Do you have any expertise in this matter, any recommendations?
What, your collarbone? You know my father broke his collarbone like a while back at his job. He used to work at like a steel plant, he used to cut steel and like load it up and put it on a the truck so they can carry it out. One of the big ass coils fell on him and he broke his collarbone. And man, I forgot how long he was off, maybe like four months.
No way.
Yeah. But, he up and kickin’ it right now so -
So I’m gonna be kickin’ it soon?
Oh yeah.
Ever gotten a boner at an inopportune moment?
Huh?
Ever gotten a boner at an inopportune moment?
At an inopportune - hell yeah, shit. You know sometimes, you know what I’m saying, you be seeing some, you know, see somebody and you get to thinking, then you be like GOD DAMN!
