Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony will perform at 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17 at the Kalamazoo State Theatre.
(Johnny Nunez)
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Earlier this summer, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony announced the band's final album with all five members will be released in 2015.
It will be auctioned off with bids starting at $1 million and a multiple-year, worldwide tour to follow. Before all of this, one of the top-selling hip-hop groups will bring its tour to Kalamazoo when Bone Thugs-N-Harmony performs at 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17 at the Kalamazoo State Theatre, 404 S. Burdick St. During a phone interview from the West Coast, Bizzy Bone talked about the band's legacy as it appears ready to put the finishing touches on the band's final chapters.
If you go
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
What:
Influential hip-hop quintet
When:
9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17
Where:
Kalamazoo State Theatre, 404 S. Burdick St.
Cost:
$35, or $85 for a VIP meet-and-greet
Contact:
269-345-6500,
Bizzy Bone is now 38 and the youngest member of the band that includes Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Wish Bone and Flesh-N-Bone. The group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, and eventually signed with Ruthless Records by N.W.A.'s Easy E in 1993. At a young age, the members of Bone Thugs sold millions of records and won a Grammy Award. But recently, it appeared the original members were done making new music. Not so, Bizzy Bone said.
"I've always been the baby of the group. They're always the older brothers. With Bone Thugs, we are so much of a family. I don't see us being able to do anything but make music together and go on the road for the rest of our lives. That's just what we are. That's just what we do. We survived for 20-plus years," he said.
The new album, to be called "E. 1999 Legends," is already picking up interest from labels, Bizzy Bone said. The album's auction will be followed by at least three years of touring, he said. It's the group's way of sending its run out in proper fashion.
"We're not as wild before the shows. Everybody used to be tee'd up – smoking herb, drinking whatever kind of liquor. ... Now, it's more focused on having a good show, more focused on carrying the name Bone Thugs-N-Harmony to new plateaus to be able to flourish. It's a different vibe and we're doing it together. Those things have changed. We used to be wild, because we were just starting out and we didn't see so much of the future," he said.
A big part of the future includes garnering the industry's respect they don't feel they've been given and getting into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame, located in the same city where the group started.
"We want to carry Bone Thugs-N-Harmony all over the world to one day be able to get into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame," he said. "We want to put in the work, though. We want to earn it."
It's been a hard road for the members of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
Bizzy Bone, whose real name is Bryan McCane, lived a challenging childhood where he and his two sisters were abducted by their stepfather. He was featured on the 1983 made-for-TV movie, "Adam," about the murder of Adam Walsh, whose father John Walsh went on to host "America's Most Wanted." McCane's image was shown during "Adam" as one of more than 50 missing children. The segment led to his rescue. After spending time in the foster system and later selling drugs as a teenager in Ohio, he made friends with the the teenagers who would eventually form Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
In '93, Bone Thugs released its debut EP, "Creeping On Ah Come Up," and the hit, "Thuggish Ruggish Bone." Its second album, "E. 1999 Eternal," a reference to the street the grew up on in Cleveland, featured three massive hits in "1st of tha Month," "East 1999" and "Tha Crossroads," a tribute to Easy E that garnered the group a Grammy Award in 1997. In 2000, Flesh-N-Bone was sentenced to 12 years in prison for assault with an AK-47 rifle and being an ex-convict with a firearm. The judge lessened his sentence due to his childhood filled with abuse.
Bone Thugs continued to succeed into the 2000s. Several of the members released solo albums throughout the next decade. Flesh-N-Bone was released from prison in 2008 and the band reunited to record 2010's "Uni5: The World's Enemy."
The lineup has fluctuated over the years, including with Bizzy Bone stepping away from the group, mostly due to conflicts with record labels.
"If you're in business and meet somebody who doesn't have your best interest at heart and all they're trying to do is rob you, or whatever it may be, you've got to put your hands up naturally. Learning those things in the industry helped build us to this point we are at now – being able to take care of the children, being able to take care of the company, management skills and so on and so forth. It's quite better now than it ever was, because when we were young, we were wild, crazy," he said.
Bizzy Bone said the members of the group are doing fine financially.
"Everyone is OK. Nobody is starving. Everyone is out on the road. Everyone is working," he said.
For those planning to attend the group's shows, Bizzy Bone said to expect a polished performance after years together. Bone Thugs will perform for about 75 to 80 minutes and include their biggest hits, he said.
"We are more in tune with each other. We kind of know where each other is on stage. We understand when someone is out of breath. We can see when someone is having a bad show. We can get over there and pick them up and say, 'Come on, let's get it together,'" he said.
Will all five members take the stage in Kalamazoo?
"We're always expecting all five of us. The way we put our things together is, it's normally the four of us and we interchange. We look forward to having all five of us on there at all times. Just things, for some odd reason, come up with one of us. Krazyie just had bronchitis and he couldn't show up to three shows. Within our group, we try to maintain that presence so it's just stationary. That's always the icing on the cake," he said.
He added, "We like to stay for a while after and party and dance and let the fellas have a good time, let the ladies have a good time. We really put on a real show where the crowd can get involved, be free and flow with it."
Once the group's multi-year tour ends, Bizzy Bone expects the members to slowly step back from the spotlight -- their friendship intact.
"It'll be a lot less us, because it's going to be time for the kids to shine. Plus, we're up there. We made our mark. We saved our money. Everybody's good. Everybody's got their business. We friends. We made it out of the music business and we're still homies – that's the stuff that counts. That's the good stuff," Bizzy Bone said.
John Liberty covers entertainment for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Call him at 269-370-7372, email him at jlibert1@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.