*As a Cleveland native, please trust and believe that I know about BTNH: Wish was as cool as a fan when we chatted ahead of a show. When I did catch them at The House of Blues, it was after waiting for them in a packed revenue nearly 2 hours past showtime as they navigated iced over roads in the unexpected cold snap. Fans were restless and frustrated, but when those brothers hit the stage practically minutes after leaving the tour bus, they hyped everyone back up and people were chanting right along with every line and verse. New music is coming in Nov., so revisit this chat re last CD and admit it, you’ve got a favorite Bone joint….*
Their resume is enviable, their accomplishments record-breaking; eighteen years, eight CD’s, four music awards (including a Grammy), and millions in sales and devoted fans. But for every career first and triumph, pioneering Cleveland-bred Bone Thugs N Harmony has experienced internal and industry-related setbacks that seem ripe for a VH1 “Behind the Music” segment. Yes, their journey’s been a rocky one, but according to Wish Bone, it’s one that they wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.
“We own our category,” he says in a recent interview about eighth studio CD, Uni5: The World’s Enemy. If you missed their recent stint at Dallas’ House of Blues, you have Wish’s sympathy. “It was two people away from being sold out, nothing but love in there, and for us to have Flesh and Bizzy on stage again, we rocked it. It was off the chain.”
He’s just as excited about the new CD, and if their fiery new singles “Rebirth” and “Shine” are any indication of its quality, it’s well-placed. Both songs capture that trademark BTNH flavor, combining authoritative beats, tongue-twisting verses and melodic rhymes that will entrance the younger set while reminding their original fans why they remain so essential to the genre.
“The title represents the unification of BTNH, all five of us coming back together. The enemy part, of course, is saying that there are haters in the game that don’t want us to make that music, but we’ve still got to use that talent to reach the masses. They listen to us, they buy our music, and we’ve got to give something back to all those ears.”
The struggles they’ve overcome in recent years almost read like a hip-hop horror tale: almost-instant success after being signed by NWA’s Eazy E, a handful of super-selling songs and CDs (“Thuggish Ruggish Bone,” “Foe tha Love of $,” “1st of tha Month,” “Tha Crossroads” “Look into My Eyes”, etc.) and worldwide success.
Then, almost as quickly came group dissension, hit-or-miss side and solo projects, label disputes and absentee members (Bizzy fell out with the group over a contract dispute with the original label, Ruthless Records, and Flesh-N-Bone pled guilty to assault and firearms possession and served an eleven-year sentence) who unceremoniously left the others to pick up the pieces.
Strength and Loyalty, released three years ago, had been their last collective effort and sold close to a million copies soon after its release, but Wish says that the new CD, as well as the new label, BTNH Worldwide (being distributed through Warner Bros.), is a much stronger product. “We parted ways with Interscope on good terms. With our fan base and our longevity, we just can’t be treated like new artists. It was just a better situation for us.”
Wish has his favorites on Uni:5 (”Rebirth,” ”Meet Me in the Sky”) and reveals that the next video to be filmed is the track “Gone.” And with all the members now back in place, it’s about giving their devoted fans the BTNH style—sophisticated, street-savvy grooves layered with hypnotic, rapid-fire rhymes—they grew up with and were inspired by.
“We’ve been blessed to do what we’ve been doing, and we had to get back together and do it for the love, if nothing else. There have been a lot of music groups in the world that have came and went, so if someone tells you that people can’t come together, we’re here to show you that it can be done. We keep up a presence on Facebook, My Space, You Tube, and when we’re on the tour bus, that us communicating directly with the fans, not some fake-*** person that somebody hired. We keep it 100% and however the game evolves, we’re gonna keep up with it.”
Even as part of the best-selling hip-hop group of all time, Wish Bone is far from complacent about their achievements and sees more touring (“We are the Rolling Stones of hip-hop”) and hits, hopefully with the artists that inspire BTNH, such as Jay-Z, Gladys Knight and The Temptations. He takes nothing for granted and knows that although they’ve made history, he and Layzie, Krayzie, Bizzy and Flesh couldn’t have done it without the fans.
“The bottom line is we love y’all, it’s been a major blessing and a great ride. We wouldn’t change nothing, because nobody can do what we’ve done. Look at what we’ve accomplished with Eazy, Pac, Biggie, Pun, Jam Master Jay….all of those guys made a major impact in hip-hop, we had a chance to work with all of them and that can never be done again. People come up to us practically every day saying, ‘you saved my life with this record.’ That’s why we do it, and that’s what makes us feel good.”
And what advice does he have for newer rappers who want to continue their legacy? He gives a good-natured laugh. “To young kids coming up, music is cool, it’s a great thing, but we have enough rappers, basketball and football players. We need more doctors, lawyers and litigators, more governors that are African-American, you know? Especially presidents.”
