Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
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Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

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“When we came out, we changed the game with what we were doing. When we got into the business it was new. Right now, you look around and you see that people are only just starting to catch up on what we were doing all those years ago – artists like Drake and Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Rocky – you can really see how much of a big influence we were on their music. That is our legacy after 20 years – we can sit back, not only as artists, but as businessmen and entrepreneurs and enjoy what we brought to the game. It is a legacy – we are some of the few living legends and it’s a real blessing to have longevity in this business.”

It’s not easy to make an impact on the music industry as significantly as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony did, Krayzie claims. In fact, it wasn’t just the industry itself that the group changed but also the rap game – it soon became obvious to the group that talent wasn’t the only thing required to ‘make it’, a sound business sense was perhaps at times even more vital. “It’s called the music business,” Krayzie Bone states.

“I’m not sure many of the younger generation understand that. About 90 per cent of it is business, though it can present as music. You have to look at it like that and learn from your mistakes and turn every bad decision into a lesson learned. The key is to connect with your consumers emotionally – and that takes heart because fans relate to that, and if you’ve got no fans and nobody knows you, you’re not going to get anywhere.”

With a new solo album ready to drop this year, Krayzie insists his music is pure passion and all heart. Titled Chasing The Devil, he explains how it’s been a difficult process having to select key tracks from a grand total of 75. In the end, the only thing that made sense was turning the project into two albums rather than just one. “I’ve been working on it for almost two-and-a-half years,” he says.

“I’ve got at least 75 tracks ready to go, so it will definitely be a double album out, one released in November and then another one released in the first half of next year. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony is also getting together and planning to do an album and a world tour soon, so that’s even more music to work on. The remainder of this year will be all shows, just reuniting with the whole group and getting those sparks flying. “

Despite prior ‘beef’ among the group members, Krayzie Bone claims it’s been much like a family reunion. “Family can be at each other’s throats,” he says. “But it’s always love – all of our differences that we ever had – they were always business differences, the love was always there and it was never personal. That’s the reason we’re able to make this reunion happen. Once everybody came back into the same room and started reminiscing about the old times, there was laughter and tears and it just felt so real. You can’t deny the love you have for each other.”

BY NINA BERTOK