Staying power is an accurate determinant of longevity and success in the music industry and this is especially true in a genre in which the fans are as much involved in scrutinizing albums as the critics are. In the Hip Hop mainstream, where quickies are preferred over music that will buck with your mind for a guaranteed climax, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony seem to steadily compete with everyone from ABC rappers to rappers for sell.

In the midst of it all, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony has dealt with notable label, legal and internal issues, especially pertaining to its eccentric member Bizzy Bone. Despite their group struggles and inevitable punches thrown by the music industry, Bone has more than stayed above the water, recently winning American Music Awards' "Rap/Hip-Hip Band/Duo/Group" category, as their most recent album, Strength & Loyalty received RIAA's gold certification (pushing over 500,000 units). As the Hip Hop trio (now consisting of Krayzie, Layzie, and Wish Bone) continues their promotional tour, and promoting their 2007 independent release T.H.U.G.S. through Sony/Red, HipHopDX catches up with masters of melodic flows to discuss individual growth, latest acting endeavors and their staying power among new and old fans alike.

HipHopDX: You’re on tour right now. How’s that going?
Wish Bone: It’s going real good; we’re always on the road, we’re used to it. We gotta keep our music out there for our fans and stay in their faces. But we love to tour; it’s just part of seeing how our fans appreciate what we put our heart and soul into.

DX: What’s the craziest thing that happened so far?
WB: I would say probably people jumping on stage and getting tackled by security. [Laughs]

DX: What happened with Canada though? You guys were refused entrance?
Krayzie Bone: Yeah it’s real crazy, ‘cause we had just went over there like a few months before they denied us. We was just over there, did a show in…I forgot the cities we was in but we did three shows out there and we tried to go back and they tried to hit us up with our music is too violent and just coming with all kind of stuff out of left field; basically, they was just hating on us.

DX: 50 Cent was allowed in –
KB: Exactly. They’re a bunch of haters.

DX: Does Bone Thugs-N-Harmony have much of the fans it had a decade ago for example or do you see yourselves catering to new crowds?
WB: I mean we got our die-hard fans that’s been there with us from the beginning, and at some of our shows you see little kids, little kids like 10, 11 years old singing “Thuggish Ruggish Bone.” I basically say we evolved to the new fan bases too.

DX: What attracts the new generation to your music?
WB: Good music. There’s just something about good music that you can just feel from it, from the heart, from the soul. You can’t deny it, no matter who makes it. And that’s just something that we’ve been blessed and fortunate enough to do – make music that people can feel.

DX: How do you define “good music”?
WB: Real music. Not just music that makes you wanna get up and shake your watootsie but music that you can sit down and think [to], and can probably help you through some personal situations.

DX: Your movie, I Tried. Are you satisfied with the feedback?
KB: The feedback from the movie was real good – even better than we expected. We didn’t really know what the outcome was gonna be until people started telling us “Man it was a real good movie; y’all really did good.” For it to be our first movie to ever be in…it’s been a really good outcome so far --
Layzie Bone: -- And then it went platinum in DVD sales.

DX: Were you guys nervous about acting?
KB: In the beginning. We was all nervous when we got to the set, but once we got past the first scene, we was like, “Man, this is easy, we can do this.” We just really got into it after the first scene we shot and just tried to move…

DX: How did you go about memorizing the script?
KB: That was kind of easy - if you just practice. We were at home practicing, in the trailers practicing. It ain’t like we had to learn a whole verse; when you do movies everything is chopped up. You just gotta learn a couple lines and just re-mash them; so that was kind of easy.

DX: What’s happening with the documentary you guys are planning to shoot, the one about your life; that still in the plans?
KB: Oh yeah, definitely. We’re exactly trying to have that as a part of our next group album that comes out, which we plan to start recording in probably like the next few months; so that’s definitely gonna be coming out with the album.

DX: Any plans for the album so far?
KB: We really haven’t even been into the studio ‘cause we’ve been on the road…we’ve been on the road for a minute now. We didn’t really get into the studio to even come up with concepts yet. We’ve been talking to Swizz and talking to Interscope, but we haven’t really sat down to talk about the concepts. Continued on page 2 »