by Cyclone Wehner

Six years ago a bunch of kids from the poor, crack-riddled Eastside of Cleveland, Ohio boarded a Greyhound bus bound for Los Angeles. They were determined to meet the former NWA member Eazy-E, hoping that he would sign their rap group to his then fledgling powerhouse, Ruthless Records. That group was Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. As Krayzie Bone -- widely considered to be the mastermind behind today's Bone phenom -- settled down for a long ride, he never imagined that one day he would be discussing his first solo project, "Thug Mentality 1999", with the Australian media. 'I ain't know it would go this far that I would be talking to Australia,' Krayzie chuckles quietly. 'It's off the hook.'

Krayzie proves to be a reticent interviewee. He is shy but far from the antisocial rapper stereotype. In fact he is humble and genial. Krayzie speaks so softly that he is often drowned out by the raucous laughter of his entourage in the background.

Working alongside Californian DJ U-Neek, Bone have now delivered several multi-platinum records to Ruthless including the EP, "Creepin' On Ah Come Up", and two albums, "E 1999 Eternal" and the double-set "The Art Of War". In 1996 they took home a Grammy for their definitive hit, "Tha Crossroads", which also saw them somewhat memorably interviewed by Molly Meldrum on "Hey, Hey It's Saturday". Various members have guested on records by The Notorious BIG, Master P and Mariah Carey. The prolific Bone even oversee their own label, Mo Thugs, which only lately released Krayzie's Kenny Rogers-sampling hit "Ghetto Cowboy", an ingenuous cross-fertilisation of rap and country. Now, taking their cues from the Wu-Tang Clan and Fugees, all of the Bone members are releasing full-scale solo projects. Krayzie's "Thug Mentality" follows LPs by Flesh-N-Bone and Bizzy Bone. Yet how does Krayzie feel his album compares to those of his Bone homies? 'Each member has a different personality and so we all come off different. Every time it's like a different person. Bone is like a group where there's totally different people.'

With "Thug Mentality" Krayzie provides some insight into the mind of a street thug who transcends his circumstances through intellect. The theme is survival. Krayzie has gone so far as to dub his album a 'ghetto survival kit'.

One of five, Krayzie was raised by his hard-working, struggling parents in the ghetto. They were devout Jehovah's Witnesses. He credits his musicality to his father, a steel worker, who would sing at home. Needless to say, despite the efforts of his parents to instil him with a sense of righteousness, Krayzie fell prey to the thuggish ruggish streets. He wound up in gaol for two years after inadvertently shooting his homeboy, Wish Bone, in the leg. It was during this spell that Krayzie developed the distinctive Bone rap delivery, which proved a hit with his inmates. When Krayzie came out, he created the group Bone Enterprise (later Bone Thugs-N-Harmony) with Wish and three other homeboys, Bizzy Bone, Layzie Bone and Flesh-N-Bone. Together they set about turning their lives around -- using hip-hop as a means of empowerment. To this end, Bone flipped the negative image of 'the thug', a ploy 2Pac had first popularised with his group, Thug Life. Nevertheless, it would be the haunting Bone sound that would initially capture the public's imagination. While Bone may not have been the first group to combine harmony and rap, they were its most gifted practitioners. Bone came across like a fantastic combination of retro-soul group Boyz II Men and gangsta rappers NWA. And their evocative, gospel-inspired records were steeped in a gothic spirituality that was, to echo Krayzie, off the hook.

Bone's crossover also curtailed hip-hop's dangerous obsession with the East-West Coast split. After all, this group hailed from America's musically fertile mid-west, where they had long been exposed to hip-hop influences from the East, West and South. Krayzie's album is the latest in a long line of post-beef albums that features guest rappers (Fat Joe, Snoop Dogg and Naughty By Nature's Treach) and producers (KayGee and Suave House's T-Mix) from every compass point of the US Hip-Hop Nation. Thug Mentality even encompasses the remix of Mariah Carey's "I Still Believe", on which Krayzie and Da Brat guest. This ambitious undertaking bears testimony to the respect Bone command in an industry where they have virtually triggered a movement. The Bone sound has been widely emulated.

In the late 90s hip-hop is now the sound of young America. Hardcore rappers are outselling rock stars. And they are moving into Hollywood. Urban music is reshaping popular culture. Movies. Fashion. Visual arts. Hip-hop has even infiltrated the King's English. Ghetto Music appeals to the streets and suburbs alike. And so it is a sign of the times that Krayzie should be quite comfortable about his middle-class audience. He remains confident that those suburban mall rats understand the realities that inform hardcore rap. 'There's a lot of understanding, and it's real. I think that's why so many people choose to listen to it, because it deals with real subjects.

That's what everybody is into now, do you know what I'm sayin'? Everything is real. It ain't like now covered up no more. I think they understand what's goin' on just by listening to the music. You can get this idea ... they can understand and picture it.'

The biblical street war theme which permeates all of Bone's work has taken on an eerie dimension given the involvement of the US in the current crisis in Kosovo. Krayzie's views are enlightening. 'I can't understand why America has to always get involved. We've got so much going on over here in the streets. We should let them work it out for themselves.'

Life may be better for Krayzie nowadays, but success is a double-edged sword. In early 1995 Bone lost their mentor, Eazy-E, to AIDS-related complications. The group have made no secret of their fall-out with Ruthless since Eazy's widow, Tomica Woods-Wright, assumed control. But Krayzie says they are working though their differences. 'We're still talking to them.'

Krayzie speaks of the other stresses fame brings. A thug can never leave the ghetto behind. Following the deaths of several high profile rappers, ghetto celebrities like Krayzie now fear for their lives. For this reason, the rapper understands why so many of his peers arm themselves and wear protective clothes, even though, as he emphasises, this can occasionally get them into deep shit with the US law. It's bugged out.

"Thug Mentality 1999" is out through Sony.