Mo' murder, mo' murder, come come again. It's the first of the month. Man, I miss my uncle Charles, y'all.
This weekend, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, one of the top-selling hip-hop groups of all time is coming to The Stage in Miami.
The group was discovered by Easy E via "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" and recorded the classic album E. 1999 Eternal. Twenty years later, Bone Thugs is still 'round and 'round.
Just the other day, we here at Crossfade spoke with Flesh-n-Bone. Here's what he had to say about sex, weed, and murder.
Crossfade: Hello?
Flesh-n-Bone: Hey, how's it goin'. I was actually rollin' when my manager called and told me about this interview, so Imma take a minute and just park somewhere.
Cool. Where you at right now?
Los Angeles. I'm out here in the valley. The Northern Valley
Yo, I saw that regular tickets to your Miami show are sold out already.
Dope! I'm lookin' forward to it, gettin' ready to come down and smash how we always do.
What's your history with South Florida?
Man, you know Florida always been a great, great market for Bone. I love Florida. I stayed there for a couple of months in 1998 for the second Mo Thugs album. We stayed right there off the water and it was real fly. I got real acquainted with Miami. We was in a mansion on a lake with jet skis. We worked out of several studios down there and spent time swimmin' in the ocean.
Oh, shit. Cool. So you guys recorded here? I never knew that.
We sure did. Mo Thugs' second record.
How did you start smoking weed?
I started smokin' weed as a youngster. But today, I treat it mostly as a medicinal aspect. I'm smoking purely medically. I don't smoke out of recreation or pleasure how most youngsters do. My job and career is very stressful and I smoke just to relax and cure that headache. And take the monkey off my back.
What do you think about legalization?
It needs to be legalized. I'm an advocate of the 420 movement, that it will one day be legalized. It's a real deal situation. Between the people and the dispensaries there are millions and maybe billions in taxes they can make.
Best weed album?
The best Bone Thugs album of all time might have been E. Eternal 1999. That might be the best of all time.
What's your songwriting process?
Basically, it's pretty much the same. The writing process for me and the rest of the guys is same now as then. Get in there and hope to bring that special vibe to work, and focus on the music at hand. Get in and concept the song, what harmonies, and piece the raps together. It's a nice little situation. It's easy for us.
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What are you writing about these days?
Whatever I'm writing has always had an element to inspire others. I write about anything under the sun. That's what's great about being an artist. It's motivational. Inspirational. I have fun. Now we got concepts in terms of the ladies, gettin' off into the concept about the ladies. We got a ladies' man type song, and Bone Thugs can do it all. We write about everything. I think we might pull that outta the cup at the show.
My lyrics start like, "We git ya lady stuck on that thugsta, that tool she want that love from a Bone Thug, come get a lump sum." And then it goes, I tell 'em, "Shut up and listen up to this game, then rub 'em down, head to toe, and rip 'em up with that thang."
See that's thing, we never got off on the concepts about the pussy and all that before. We never really got explicit about women like that as a group. Never. We did this tastefully by putting it a certain way. We can please a woman pretty much like that.
We meet at the show and they ready to go and go live with a nigga.
What made your rap style different before this.
Hard to say, too busy on the battle. We battle rappers. We battle a lot a lot for the essence of the battle rap. Crackin' heads on a mic, smashin', being the best, the greatest that ever done it. We got our own lane, and when it comes to the mic, lyrically we crush everybody. Rap is a very competitive field, so you gotta be able to get into a cypher in a circle and spit bars. That's like a main thing in hip-hop, having cyphers.
What you think about weed wax and marijuana concentrates?
It's aight if that's yo thing. It's not my thing. The THC, for me, all I need is some weed. I can go edibles, but even some of those are too potent and too powerful. The first time I saw the wax and how they do the big sophisticated glass, it's like, "Damn, man. What the hell? Butane?" They crank on the butane like a blowtorch to smoke it. It look too much like a crack pipe. It looks like crack. But I have tried it. I don't really like it. Gets me too high.
What you think about guns in America?
First of all, there's a Second Amendment right to bear arms. And you should arm and protect yourself, and don't let anybody tell you not to. If you take away the guns, you allow criminals to be able to do heinous and unspeakable acts. If the criminals understand that the people are armed, they might have a second thought before they commit a crime. You can't infringe on anybody's rights to protect themselves. Had it not been for the right to bear arms, we'd still be part of Britain right now. It's about protecting yourself. You can't take guns out of the hands of people. Look at Chicago, they completely banned guns and it's the worst city in the country for crime.
What do you think about Stand Your Ground laws?
Now you playin' with fire. It's like you fight fire with fire. If somebody try to knock you out, you protect yourself. Now if somebody tries to knock you out, you don't have the right to use lethal force. If somebody smack you with a bat, you smack 'em right back with a bat. If somebody try to fight you, instead of being a pussy and pulling a gun or knife, fight the motherfucker. Whether you get your ass kicked or not, fight back.
What do you think about the American prison system?
I think they should bring back open capital punishment. To hell with the prison system, locking somebody up doesn't solve the issue. We need to have open public capital punishments. Prison doesn't do nothin' to help society at all. But if you have to be forced to come and see someone's ass get shot, like back in the day, in front of a firin' squad ... They used to hang the horse thieves. If people had to see that, it would discourage crime. Like, "I don't wanna hang or face the firing squad. Let me not do that." Prison don't do a goddamn thing. Nothing. It doesn't teach society why it's important not to be a criminal.
On the other hand, sometimes these prisons do have trades and you can go to school and better your life. But nine times out of ten, all you learn in prison is how to be a more sophisticated criminal. There has to be a better punishment system to check people.
I personally believe there should be public executions. And it should be mandatory to come out and watch the hanging. You got all these people that's doing home invasions, murder, rape. This shit is happening too much. So, hang his motherfucking ass. Murder? Hang his motherfucking ass. Rape? Hang him. Home invasion? Hanging, just flat out hanging. And make people come out and watch it. That's it. If I ever became part of politics or ever became President, I would make that a part of the system. It wouldn't be a matter of vote.
So my point is, the system is flawed, but I do believe it works. Because without this place we live in, it wouldn't be the greatest country on Earth. Even illegal aliens, everybody tryin' to get here. Something is goin' on special, and having a system is very, very necessary.
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Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. With DJ Heron and DJ Klassik. Sunday, March 23. The Stage, 170 NE 38th St., Miami. The show starts at 5 p.m. and tickets cost $60 plus fees via wantickets.com. Ages 18 and up. Call 305-576-9577 or visit thestagemiami.com.
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