http://www.allhiphop.com/features/
For years, Bizzy Bone has been portrayed as the black sheep of Bone Thugs~N~Harmony. He was labeled as the dysfunctional alcoholic member who was always causing friction within the group by not showing up to video shoots, concerts, or press opportunities.
This is the stigma Bizzy has had to live with. Well Bizzy strikes back and tells his side of the story. In an emotional, brutally honest interview with AllHipHop.com, Bizzy reveals it all.
From the brutal murder of his brother Capo, to Ruthless Records allegedly screwing him out of millions, to Bone Thugs kicking him out of the group, Bizzy finally comes clean. If you think you know who Bizzy Bone is, think again, because now it is his turn to set things straight. This is why rap interviews exist!
AllHipHop.com: Can you talk about the new track, "Everywhere", where you talk about P.Diddy, Jay-Z, and Beyonce. What made you want to release a track like that?
Bizzy: That song I did is a real song, about the things I have went through in the industry with the different females. So it just came out of me and I wanted to speak about it. It’s all true, every last bit of it. I have been in this business professionally for thirteen years! I ain't just step in the game six years ago, so I have seen a lot of girls go and pass. So that was just me doing me.
AllHipHop.com: You said something about P.Diddy like, "You my man, you know what it is, you know what it was, you know you did". What's the meaning behind that?
Bizzy: P.Diddy is my guy, we have done songs together, and he has taken me out to the Bahamas. I have had a ball with P.Diddy and the Bad Boy Family, he has shown me nothing but love. It’s more of…him and I know what it is, and he is smiling right now! It’s not a bad thing, ‘cause he is smiling his ass off when he hears it. And when he ever sees me, he is going to be smiling his tail off. But that story is a secret. (Laughter)
AllHipHop.com: If it is okay with you, I would like to speak on some personal issues you have been going through.
Bizzy: Yeah, its cool with me, bring it on.
AllHipHop.com: First off, I would like to send my condolences to you and your family for the loss of your brother, Capo. I was truly saddened to hear about his death. Can you speak about this murder, and exactly what happened?
Bizzy: Yeah, well, I am going to be real, real honest with you. And I haven't been this open and candid about this before, but I am going to give this one to you. Because I am looking at his picture right now, as I keep him with me everywhere I go. The whole thing that happened with Adrian was...the industry and what we are doing, was not ready for 7th Sign. And not only were they not ready, they were not willing to give us a chance to be heard. And when you don’t give people a chance to be heard, who need to be heard, as this is their only outlet out, when you take that from them….When people say, "Please don't do business with him, don’t give him any deal, don’t let him put out this, don’t let him do this, he is untrustworthy, etc". When you hold him back like that, when you get that black ball on it, by him just always sticking with me, because he was [family]. So virtually, he was blackballed in the industry, like I was blackballed in the industry.
During the course of that, we have kids we have to feed. He has three children he left behind. And in the course of that, things happen in when you have to take care of your children. From that, you step in the jungle, and you have to be an animal. Unfortunately, somebody came up into his home and he was murdered! That is the thick of it. I blame myself, because if I wasn't blackballed in the industry, I could have had him out there working. I could have had him out there singing his heart out, doing what he does best. But we are real people and what we rap about and sing about is not fake. So if we are not doing this, there is a good chance, and there is a good possibility that we may wind up dead. That is just the truth. We are not like your cake ass rappers out there, we are real. We are real street poets with terrible stories. No mothers, no fathers, foster homes, beat on, touched on, those types of stories! So we lost him, and he is watching over us and that is what happened.
AllHipHop.com: Have the police been doing anything to find the killers?
Bizzy: There have been 175 unsolved murders in Columbus, Ohio, my friend. They are working it, you feel me. It’s a funny thing out there. People really don't know that Ohio is really like everywhere else. Its not where your from, its not even where you are at, it is just what it really is. But we also have another young solider that passed before Capo. He got killed by the police out here, by an off duty cop. And my main man who did security for me for about seven years; he just got murdered in Cleveland last year. So 7th Sign has been going through the twist. Because it’s that serious! And I am still going through it out here and I think people respect that. I think people in this industry respect when you go through some things and you survive, and you leave with your mentality and you still have love in your heart!
AllHipHop.com: All that you have been through is enough to drive anyone crazy, so how are you able to cope with everything that is going on? What makes you stay so strong?
Bizzy: This is how I maintain, because everybody has a story, and there is always somebody out there who has had it worse than you. So pick your s**t up, kiss your children and go get some f***ing money, Bryon! And that is how I maintain. And one more thing that keeps me going is the people. Some people are touched by Bizzy's trials and tribulations. That is more fuel than you can imagine. When someone comes up to you and says, "I feel what you have been through. I went through foster homes, and when I listened to your music I found out I wasn't the only one who was like that, and it made me cry". That right there is like nitrogen to my fuel reactor, it gets my ego oil jacked up.
AllHipHop.com: How have you been doing in regards to drinking, because I know you have had some issues with that in the past?
Bizzy: You know, I woke up maybe, I don't know, six or seven months ago, and just said, "Nobody is really taking me as serious as I really am, let me go introverted and look at myself so I can clean up a few things". I am tired of this s**t. So I would stop drinking for eight or nine months and they would look at me as if I was acting like I was better than them. Or I was being funny about the whole situation, when I really was not. There were times when I was looking at them taking chicks to their hotel rooms, and I'm like "Come on man, you don't need these little ass girls, they are all hype and hoopla anyway". And I was just looking at that like, that ain't me, so I would go to my room by my damn self. But that wasn't televised! Nobody knew about that because that wasn't the popular thing to do. Everybody [had] f***ing groupies but Bizzy. Nobody wanted to tell that story, so I had to step out on my own, realize what was being thrown on my shoulders, and fix it.
So now when I am doing shows I am not drinking or anything like that. Because it’s not like I want it like that, I am just really trying to unwind. But now that I know in the past I was actually winding up and I was actually hurting and harming myself. So there are restraints that I have to put on myself and they have done nothing but wonders for me. Now people understand why they have to compensate me for coming into their clubs. They can't be like "Well, we are going to give you a couple of bottles of alcohol, we are going to make sure you have blunts, and just come on through!" No motherf***er, you gonna drop turkey! You gonna pay me and we will be there professionally, and we don't want anything to drink. Because as soon I take a drink you guys feel as if I have gotten comfortable. So now you can keep $500 or $5000 from me, because I am a “drinker”, and I can't speak intelligently. Man, half of these motherf***ers in this industry do not know what the f*** they are doing!
AllHipHop.com: Let's talk about Bone Thugs for a minute. As of right now, what is the status of the group?
Bizzy: It’s the status that it has been for the last two years. Layzie, Krazie and Wish are Bone Thugs~N~Harmony. Flesh is a solo artist, and Bizzy is a solo artist. That is just the way it f***ing is! And what I do with them is, I go and have fun. I do it as a friend, this isn't business. I don't want to talk about if we are going to put out another album, that isn't even a possibility. First, lets talk about getting Bizzy back in your group. They basically David Ruffin’d me. They gave me paperwork and said we don't want you in the group anymore. So give me paperwork that states you want me in the group, and give me the decision and the choice to be in your group. Because it is no longer my group! So virtually when they put me out of the group, not only did they put me out, they said I was unreasonable, I couldn't be worked with, I was an alcoholic and a drug addict. So therefore I couldn't do any business with anyone else, and everybody was scared to do business with me. So not only did they say goodbye, but "We don't want you to make any money anywhere else", is what they were trying to do. And you know what, I still forgive them! Lord, forgive them for they know not what they do. Father, forgive them. And when you see my new CD, that is on the head of it, right on the side. Because it didn't do anything but make me better, but that is what really, really happened. That is the honest truth!
AllHipHop.com: There are a lot of Internet rumors that Bone was talking to Dr. Dre about signing with Aftermath. Were those rumors true?
Bizzy: Well let me tell you, I talked to Dr. Dre, maybe three years ago about doing the Donald Goines story. He sent me in the video-tape and all these other things, so I am with it, but then he gives me a phone call. And he says "I need to speak with you", so I was like "What's up? Sh*t, Dr. Dre you can speak with my anytime you want!" So he says, (in a very serious tone) "Hey, look man, the way that I handle my business is, I am always on time, none of that not showing up stuff…". So basically he starts going off on the rumors. Now he done came from Ruthless Records just like me, you got f***ed by Eazy just like me, buddy! So hold up! Give me the break that you wanted Jimmy Iovine to give you. So I slowed him down and told him, "To deal with me is a whole different scene than too hear about dealing with me. All I ask for is a time, place, a date and an opportunity, and I'll be there". Do you know I haven't gotten a call back from him yet and its 2004, we had that discussion in 2001, 2002. So I don’t know what that is about, as far as Bone signing with him, because he may have talked to Layzie, Krayzie and Wish.
But Bizzy is ready. Everyone knows that Bizzy has been ready, and they know I am just waiting. Just give me the track, bring it on! I am not going to try and rap better than them, I want to compliment them. See, they are underestimating who I am.
AllHipHop.com: A lot has been made of your relationship with Krazie, so can you talk about what your relationship is like with him now?
Bizzy: I think the friction comes from people thinking that we were that close. We were never that close in the first place. And in all my interviews I never said anything. And when I finally did talk, what came out my mouth? They ain't paying us. That’s all that came out of my mouth! Then it become a problem, because I started telling the truth. They asked me to open my mouth and when I did nobody liked it. They were more or less like, "You be the rapper, you be the baby of the group who brings in a certain demographic, and if you don't bring them in for our group, then we don't even want you to have those people". But that is where they made a mistake, because the people are going to do what they want to do. People are going to like who they want to like, and the only reason I am still alive and surviving in this business is because of those people. Those rebels who are still with me! They watch me get kicked out of the group, they watched me go through what I went through, and then when I showed them the America's Most Wanted, oh my gosh they couldn't believe it! That nigga had a story before he even came with the group, no wonder he is solo! No wonder! [ Editors note: When Bizzy was 4 years old, he was kidnapped by a family member who told him for months that his mother was dead. He was found with the help of television show America's Most Wanted.]
And do you think for one second, that [Bone was] happy about that damn s**t! Man, my dudes were salty at me. Layzie was like, "Yeah, yeah, you got raped, haha". I said, "Layzie, are you trying to make me mad? That s**t happened when I was five years old, what are you crazy or something? See you are trying to hurt me and that will never work. Now if you were to slip it on me and didn't really mean it, you might have caught me. But you are trying to hurt me, and you know what Lay, its cool, go ahead and do your thing, because there is a few things you have done that you don't want to tell nobody about.” See, then we stopped that conversation, then it was more or less like, "Oh, well they only showed five minutes of Bone Thugs~N~Harmony on it". I'm like, "Well, maybe if you would have gotten kidnapped then we could have gotten ten or fifteen minutes". Because that is what the whole show was about, John Walsh finding little Bryon McCain. And we are talking about 80's, before Bone Thugs~N~Harmony was ready to blow. So you are going to get the truth from me, and people don't like the truth because the truth hurts. Not me, because I am telling it, it never hurts the one telling it.
AllHipHop.com: Let's talk about the legacy of Bone Thugs. You guys put the Midwest on the map and I believe you are the 10th highest selling rap artists of all time, but do you feel you don't get the credit you deserve from the Hip Hop public today?
Bizzy: I am going to step out of my shell and tell you that nobody really wants to bear witness to what Bone Thugs~N~Harmony did until they are dead. They will not say anything that we did, or commemorate us in anyway until we are dead. Because if they do commemorate us now, that means somebody is going to give us millions and millions of dollars. There is no way that these people should have been signing 30 and 40 million dollar contracts when Bone Thugs were still on E.1999 looking stupid as f**k. Just because Ruthless says we can't be worked with, no one is coming to talk to us about doing any business. We have four members still living and one in prison, and everyone is still doing there own thing. Everyone is still sounding up to par for where we need to be, but no one has really come to check us. So of course we are not getting the credit, especially like you said, from record sales. People are acting as if Bone is dead right now, and no one wants to toss us any money. And we are free, we are not with Ruthless Records anymore. And the artist and the one who everybody thought was the most problematic, is the one who has all of his s**t together. I'm not in the group anymore, but of course we don't get the credit we deserve.
AllHipHop.com: I have been a huge Bone fan from day one, but I noticed that after Art Of War, Ruthless really stopped promoting you like they should have. I mean, the Resurrection album was dope as hell to me, and you had an amazing video for "Change The World", but it seemed like Ruthless never went out of its way to get you guys on MTV or on the radio.
Bizzy: Well let me tell you how the business goes so you can understand. If you do a contract with someone and you do a projected sales contract, if you guys sell a million records in this amount of time, you get this amount of money. If you sell two million records, you get this much money in a certain amount of time. Now imagine if someone had the power to stop record sales before they had to give you that fat bonus, because you signed the contract on a mediocre level in order to prove yourself. Like, "We know we are going to go platinum, so give us this little money and when we do go platinum, then you give us the big one". But then Ruthless Records was like, "Oh, so you think I am going to let you go platinum? I'll wait until the time limit is up and then I will take the album to platinum, and then I will bootleg some on the side". That is the game! That is why the promotional s**t slowed down, because if we would have reached that mark, then everybody would have gotten a cool million or a cool quarter of a million. And that was something Ruthless was not willing to do. So after all of that happens, then Ruthless can negotiate lower prices!
AllHipHop.com: Damn!
Bizzy: See, now you are getting it! Now imagine me telling this to my fellas. Now what would be the only reason they wouldn't stop and say "What the f**k is going on!" Now you understand why I am not in Bone. Now you get it! You feel me?
AllHipHop.com: Yeah man.
Bizzy: I done caught you with your hand in the cookie jar, and I went and told on you. They are stealing our money, but everybody is looking at me like "So what?" That f***ed my head up! What can we do? S**t, we are Bone Thugs~N~Harmony, what was the last song we just made? What was it called, "Murder, Murder"? Was it called, 'I'll kick you ass if you try and f**k me over"? Mr. Bill Collector? What about all them songs! I wasn't playing! F**k it, let’s go and prove it, let’s all go to jail, we will all make the news! What's up? But they were like, "Oh B, you are going crazy, you are tripping, your always starting stuff". Wait, hold on, we are from the streets man, and I ain't saying we have to act as though we are street people, but this is where we are from and we are getting done in a street way. You guys don't want to take care of this in a business way, then what should we do, nothing??? Well, you know what, God bless you, I have to keep going.
AllHipHop.com: That is the type of stuff you never hear about.
Bizzy: That is what's really going on around here. And there is no hard feelings, because what's done is done. But people are afraid to speak the truth, and people are worried about other people’s feelings, instead of their own feelings, and family. So the thing I am saying is I wasn't as hard to work with as everybody thinks. I am not an unreasonable person, I am very rational. But there is a reason why B was never there, and I think people feel it, but when I tell them it is going to make everyone else look really, really f***ed up. But I have to tell the truth, I have no choice. And there is still stuff I am holding back on, just to save what little credibility can be kept.
AllHipHop.com: I see you did a track with Jim Jones for his album, how did that come about?
Bizzy: It was like a street connection. I was in New York taking care of some things, and we seen each other, so we shook hands and introduced ourselves. It’s like you meet certain people and it feels like you have known them for awhile. It was like, "Damn, I know this cat right here". Their characteristics reminds you of something that makes you comfortable. That's what is was, it was a friendship, it was a bond. I seen him at the club, at another spot that week, so we bonded then and he told me, "Look cuz, you come to the studio whenever you want. I know you! I know you gotta get down, I know you gotta get some stuff out of you". So he gave me his number and invited me to the studio. So he put the track on and I blacked out! I started going crazy! Everybody was looking at me like, "Damn, this nigga needs to rap". Its like I'm being held back, as you can heard the eagerness in my voice man! So he gave me an opportunity to flex my reality amongst his, and now we speak very often.
AllHipHop.com: Any last words?
Bizzy: First of all I want to thank everybody, and I want everyone to know that I am not new in this game but I am not old in this game. I am the fresh batch bakery, seasoned veteran catch. I am not the gold fish you throw back in the ocean, I am the one you hold up in the air and take a picture of. And I am coming, and when I do, watch what happens. God bless.
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BTNH = untouchable
