With a new project (or three) for every year since 2004, Bizzy Bone proved that he would continue to shine, with or without his group Bone Thugs n Harmony. Meanwhile, Layzie, Krayzie and Wish seemed to be doing just fine without Bizzy’s falsetto in the mix for the Strength & Loyalty album. To anybody else, that’s what you would call a good clean break, but for die-hard BTNH fans, it’s just some regular bullshit.

Fortunately for fans and for hip hop in general, long-time incarcerated member Flesh-n-Bone came home from jail and the group finally reunited to complete the long-awaited album,  UNI5: World’s Enemy. Bizzy Bone sat down with HHLO to talk about the reunion, his favorite Bone Thugs classics, and what’s next for him as a solo artist.

How’s it going Bizzy?

Man, its going great. Here with my manager man, we’re just keepin’ it one zillion!

In the last two years or so, you’ve just been grindin’!

Who told you that? Somebody done told you the truth! Grind time, that’s what it’s about right now. Just trying… not even trying, we’re making something very real happen. In the course of all this craziness, differentiating that business and the friendship with the Bone Thugs crew, just so we can truly be friends.

Is there anything that sparked that flood of music from you?

It’s always been there but right now, it’s just in full gear. After the great ascension that happened when everybody thought I was going crazy and things of that nature. After that, it was just a beautiful thing from there. A lot of great things happened, spiritual-wise, you know Bone’s always been a spiritual kind of group.

You also have a lot of great people around you; most recently, you’ve been spotted with DJ Quik. Can you tell us about that?

Aw man, that brother’s all the way one zillion. Good dude got nothing but love for him. He’s like my brother. My management and I were just talking about him. We did a few songs together. It’s just a great thing happening right now, especially in the industry.

Sounds good. You’re about to get a lot busier with the release of this Bone Thugs reunion album.

We just finished up the new record and Bone trying to get back in the studio, we just did a hot single with Chamillionaire, all of us. We just making things happen. Everybody just pitching in. Krayzie threw Chamillionaire on the table from that “Ridin’ Dirty” platinum thing he did with him. We’re going to do it again, together. It’s just a good thing, everybody doing their own thing and then we’re doing stuff together. We’re putting out a whole bunch of material. People are saying ‘you’re flooding the market’, but when Lil Wayne flooded the market and he did a million in one week, in the recession.

Yeah, as long as the music is good.

Nothing but love for Lil Wayne and his whole Young Money camp. Just did a song with him and Baby. Everything is good out here; we’re doing real nice things.

Since Flesh-n-Bone is back in the mix, what was the recording process like? You think he might have been the missing ingredient for keeping you guys all together throughout the years?

He always was the missing ingredient. He’s the reason why Bone even made it to LA man. He’s the entire reason. Just to set aside differences and everything else. He’s the one who paid for the bus tickets. He’s the one that made sure we had somewhere to stay when we first came out here. He’s the one in college who had the connection out here. So Flesh-n-Bone, we’re just glad he’s back out. He’s the first one to lose his mind and go crazy. He had to take ten years out of his life because of it, but he came back looking strong as ever. He look like he’s 22 years old. He looks younger than all of us, we all overweight and fat while he lookin’ good than a mufucka, got us all saying ‘goddamn we’ve got to lose weight!’ (laughs) Bless his soul. At any rate, everything’s good. It wasn’t the same without Flesh Bone but now everything one billion.

You guys have matured so much as a group and as people. How do you resolve disputes differently from before?

Well, there are no disputes. We all handle our own business; we all have our own team and management. So when we all meet up in the studio, everybody has their own money. When we’re at the show, everybody has their own money. So on and so forth. It’s not as difficult as it used to be. We still have our ‘damn he ain’t show up on time’ you know, things of that nature. But there are no major new edition catastrophes. We just make it happen, we’re going to put out great music and put on great shows. It just don’t get no better than that.

I remember watching a Bone Thugs DVD back from the BNTHRessurection period. You guys smoke a lot of weed in the studio.

Aw c’mon man, you know when you’re young, rock-and-rollin’; you like to do ya thang (laughing). But nowadays, my manager and I like to keep a constant pace in what we’re doing. My management doesn’t mind me drinking, as long as it doesn’t affect my work. As soon as it starts affecting my work, my management will not hesitate to put me on a drug program. Me knowing that they want the best for me, I’m going to take my ass in.

As long as you have that mutual trust.

Exactly, exactly. As long as it doesn’t affect what we’re doing and we keep it in moderation and stay productive. I can’t smoke weed anymore because I’m on papers right now, I caught a little felony, but it’s alright. It just helps us stay woke.

You gotta tell me about some of these songs. “See Me Shine” is your single, why’d you pick that?

Well, you’ve got to know. There was so many of them, we were having trouble deciding what we wanted people to hear. Dealing with a major label, you can’t just do what you want. Me, I think we should have just started throwing songs out for no goddamn reason at all. When you’re dealing with a company, you’ve got to be organized with teasers, and there’s a system of things.

One song that really blew me away was “What Have We Done”.

That Michael Jackson tribute has touched everybody. What we wanted to do was get the rights to put the single out and give the music to his children.

Nice, so have you reached out to them?

Well, that’s management. That’s another good thing about being with a major label, they take your ideas and they flow with it. Let you take it to the next level.

Who are other people you’re working with on the album?

Lyfe Jennings. Of course, Michael makes a guest appearance. There’s a few of them. I’ve got to talk to the rest of them to find out for sure because we’ve got songs with T-pain and all kinds of stuff.

Sounds good. You guys are pioneers of this singing and rapping thing.

Thank you.

What do you think about Cudi who sings and raps and is also from Cleveland?

Aw c’mon, I love Cudi. I dig the stuff he did with Jay. He doing his thing. He seems like a hell of an artist and he seems like a real cool dude. His music is cool, so everything where it needs to be.

Who are you feeling right now?

Everybody. Everybody’s doing their thing. I got my homeboy Badazz from the LBC. Him and I are like crew. A whole buncha dudes man. Everybody seems like they’re on an entirely other level. Since it’s a recession, everybody’s on the grind again. Nobody’s leaning back. Even Jay-z came with some shit.

In terms of your legacy as a group, you guys have collaborated with the greatest, won Grammy’s, sold millions of records, what’s left for ya’ll to do?

We still haven’t done anything with Rakim. We still haven’t done anything with Dre. There’s still so many great artists that we need to collaborate with. That’s enough to drive you for the rest of your life.

What’s your favorite Bone Thugs song?

Right now, “Days of Our Lives”. Tomorrow, it’s probably going to be “Crossroads”. And I got a new one off the new record, it’s called “Meet Me in the Sky”. It’s a cold one.

Anything else you need to let the fans know about?

I got a major project coming out, it’s a rock record. It’s the first of its kind. It’s called Crossroads. It’s coming out April 20th. So definitely show as much love as you can. And on behalf of myself and Bone Thugs and Harmony, we love you, stay strong out there.

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