BONE THUGS

Q: Two years ago, you got hit with a drone onstage. What’s the craziest things that’s happened to you at a show?

A: Well, basically, getting shoved by that drone was one of the craziest things that I think could happen to somebody while they’re onstage. ... I tell you what, maybe fans jumping onstage and having to push them off. They think they can just bum-rush the stage. You see me kind of give them the arm. If I can get to them before the security gets to them, it’s better that way. If the security gets to them, the security’s looking for a reason to rough them up anyway. Trust me, those security guys be looking for any slightest reason to put their hands on somebody that’s getting out of control in that venue.

Q: What’s kept Bone Thugs around this long?

A: You’ve got to really understand the business side of things. It’s up to the artist to say, “I want to make sure Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, from left: Layzie Bone, Krayzie Bone, Wish Bone, Flesh-n-Bone and Bizzy Bone

I’ve got to appeal to my fan base.” It takes a very special person to be able to build a solid career that’s going to last for a long time. A lot of people who come into the game just think it’s flopping around, lollygagging, drinking or smoking. Those are the people who fall by the wayside. ... You’ve just got to want to do it. A lot of people, they complain about the game being a dog-eat-dog world, but you’ve got to have tough skin to survive in this world.

Q: You were in prison for a decade in the early 2000s

(for a gun threat while on probation). How did you stay connected to the group?

A: I was really, really hoping the guys would be able to keep the business together and keep everything intact while I was in prison. It was really unfortunate to up and be gone for that long. It was devastating. ... But the fans kept me up. They wrote me, and I wrote as many as I could back. When I was in prison, they had music programs. I was able to purchase a little Yamaha keyboard that created beats. I was able to stay creative

to the point where at least I was writing raps and doing small tracks here and there. I was determined to keep what I had. I wasn’t going to let prison take away from what I worked so hard to build.

Q: How has hip-hop changed since you started?

A: If you look at it, it wasn’t only hip-hop that changed a lot. We had inventions coming in that change the ways to access the human life. You’re able to have a computer in your hand. Whoever thought in the early ‘90s that that big computer, you’d be able

to carry it around with you? Instagram, Myspace, SoundCloud — all these ways to get your music out to millions. To have your fan base at the click of a button on your Facebook helped change the game. This is why it’s worth it to have a business sense and learn how it works, and not panic and say, “The game is changed; it’s not the same.” Of course, it’s not the same; nothing’s ever the same. Everything evolves. So you have to be willing to go ahead and make the changes and move with it.