Monday, October 26, 2015

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (Busby's Review)


I haven't written on this blog for quite a while now and I've noticed that I have written damn near all my reviews for this franchise on my personal blog for the past 5 years (with the exception of the first one).  So it's only right that I have this review for the final installment on here.  Now first things first, like I've said numerous times, the first Paranormal Activity is one of the greatest horror movies of all time.  It was a simple story, had a simple concept, and it was simply scary.  It simply scared the hell out of me and it had simply terrifying moments in it that I'll remember for the rest of my life.  The first film was just plainly simple and it worked.

Then after it made a shit load of money, Hollywood had to be Hollywood, and they had milk it for every penny it was worth.  That's how the sequels were born and that's how things became complicated.  Now I've seen ever single one of these films and I have enjoyed them for what that are.  At the same time I have gotten highly intrigued of the story as a whole.  The cliffhanger endings were just enough for me to comeback just to see what happens next.  Welp, we have finally arrived.  After 4 installments, 1 spin off, 1 couple, 4 families, a few witches, and 1 consistent demon.  The franchise known as Paranormal Activity has finally come to its conclusion.

Given that this is the last movie, the producers promised the fans that we are finally going to get ALL our questions answered.  Not only are we finally going to actually SEE the demonic presence that has been tormenting everybody for the past 5 movies.  All the dots will be connected and we are finally going to get some closure from this terrifying tale.

Or so we thought...

The "final" chapter of this found footage saga is entitled The Ghost Dimension.  In this story we follow Ryan Fleege (Chris J. Murray), his wife Emily (Brit Shaw), and their 6-year old daughter Leila (Ivy George) as they are prepare for the holidays.  While Ryan and his brother Mike (Dan Gill) are putting up Christmas decorations, they stubble across a box that is filled with VHS tapes that are dated back to the late 80's and early 90's along has a unique video camera. While toying with the camera, Ryan discovers that it has special functions that lets him see things beyond the human eye. Along with that, he discovers that the video tapes contains footage of a young Katie and Kristie from the 3rd movie along with new footage of the sisters practicing supernatural abilities with their grandmother and a mysterious man.

Meanwhile Leila has made a new imaginary friend.  Wanna guess who it is?  I'll give you a hint, it rhymes with Obie!

Ryan then starts to document everything that goes around in his house with the special camera and discovers that a dark presence is in their house and communicating with his daughter. Along with that Leila begins to become very distant with her family and becomes very close with her "special friend."  She than reveals that her "friend" Toby wants to take her away from this world.  If you've followed the last 5 movies you should already know what happens next.

If this was a stand alone Paranormal Activity movie I would have left feeling satisfied.  The scares were brought to new heights with the 3D element and the tension that the movies were notorious for are still there to make you uncomfortable.  It was a perfect cast and all the actors did a great job to make you care about them in some way shape or form.  But other then that, that's where it stops.

Now let me remind you, producer Jason Blum PROMISED the fans that we were FINALLY going to get answers about the overall story of this franchise.  He said that NO stones were going to be left unturned and we were finally going to get closure.  Well...we DID get SOME answers to some major questions.  However there were still quite a few questions left unanswered and given that this was the "last" movie.  It left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth.

For starters, Katie Featherson, the actress that has been in every PA movie up to his point and is the key character that keeps the whole story together, is NOT in this movie.   She is mentioned, and her younger self makes appearances, but the adult version does not make a physical appearance in this film.  It's the most mind blowing thing about this whole film because if this is indeed "the end." Why isn't the original actress from the first movie NOT play a key role in this film?












Not only that, they still left some major plot holes unfilled. Like how come Katie and Kristi got amnesia about everything that happened to them as kids when they got older?  The movie alludes that they were being "brainwashed" but never fully explained "how."  And another thing, whatever happened to Hunter's older sister Ali (PA2)? She made a minor appearance in Marked Ones, but to not have her play a key role in this film is disappointing.  And speaking of Marked Ones, they didn't even bother to mention any of the events that happened in that movie either.  I know it was just meant as a "spin off," but they could have made a slight mention to it.

Another thing that didn't sit well with me is finally seeing Toby.  What made the Paranormal Activity movies so scary was fearing the unseen.  Using your imagination to figure out what was going on and off the camera made the movie 10X more scarier.  In this movie we finally get to see the demon and it's...ehh.  It's no different then any other demonic ghost we've seen in countless other scary movies and it makes me wish they left that aspect of the movie alone and kept it unseen.

Which then leads me to the ending.  Again like i stated before, you would THINK that this ending would bring some type of closure for it's core fans.  Unfortunately it's nothing more then another cliffhanger ending that might as well had the text: Toby Continued (Get it? To Be Continued lol).  It's a cliffhanger ending for a sequel that will never come and that's a damn shame.

It's a damn shame this series had to end this way.  I understand that the studio was getting tired of making the movies and ever since the 4th one the numbers have gradually declined at the box office.  But to have the creators market this movie as the "last one" and give their fans such a half ass effort leaves me disappointed.

In a way I should have seen this coming, you can tell that after the 4th movie they wrote themselves into a wall.  The Marked Ones was a good movie but it made things more complicated and it forced the creators to make up more bullshit with no intention to have a proper situation.

The sequels were never meant to happen.  Maybe one day another studio will come along and bring the films back one more time to give it it's proper ending.  I could seriously go on and on about the plot holes and what I did and didn't like about this franchise, but at the end of the day..it's just a fucking movie.  It wasn't meant to be this complicated.  It was just meant to scare the living shit out of you.  Nothing more..nothing less.  It was just simple..

Farewell Toby...hope you will haunt another cinema again some day.

Busby's Review: 2.5/5

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Unfriended (Busby's Review)



Haven't wrote a review on here for a GOOOOOOD minute, but after a recent run to the movies, I lightweight felt a little inspired to write a lil something something.  But before I get into that let me just say that for some reason I am a sucker for the "found footage" genre of horror movies.  Ever since I've seen The Blair Witch Project, I've always found the aspect of watching a horror movie through the lens of a camcorder very intriguing.  From the Paranormal Activity franchise, Cloverfield, V/H/S, Chronicle, and many others.  The found footage genre has evolved through the years and has showcased new aspects of the first person view of a horror movie.  Unfriended showcases a new aspect of telling a ghost story through a first person viewpoint.  However this time it's through the internet.  Which brings me to this new evolution of the genre with the film Unfriended.


Unfriended tells the story of a young teenage girl named Laura Barnes (Heather Sossaman) who became a victim of severe cyberbulling after an embarrassing video gets posted on YouTube that drove her to commit a violent suicide in public (which was also filmed and uploaded to Liveleek).  A year later, Laura's "good friends" Blaire (Shelley Hennig), Blaire's boyfriend Mitch (Moses Jacob Storm), the valley girl airhead Jess (Renee Olstead), the very blunt spoken Val (Courtney Halverson), the sarcastic tech-geek Ken (Jacob Mysocki) and the alcoholic hot-head Adam (Will Peltz) all gather together for their nighty Skype chat.  However this time they have a mysterious user that has joined in on the chat that is looking to make their night a living hell.

The web cam-less user "billie227" is revealed to be non other then the vengeful spirit of Laura Barnes.  In a span of one hour, the ghostly troll whacks supernatual havoc on all her former friends via their cyber connection and plays sinister games with them in order to pull out dark secrets about what lead to her suicide.  This then causes the friends to turn on each other and causes a domino effect of pain, shame, and even death.  By the time this particular chat is over, the group of friends will be suffering the same fate Laura had just 1 year prior.

Going into this movie, I honesty thought this movie was going to suck.  Shockingly, I enjoyed this film a lot more then I thought I would.  It does an excellent job telling the story for the young social media generation of today and does it in a way that only they can understand.  By using social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and many others to drive the story.  Newcomer director Levan Gabriadze does a noteworthy job on creating an accurate atmosphere of teen social life on the internet.  Even down to details like the real life Skype and Facebook notification sounds, the delay in video during the Skype chat, the music they listen to, and many more details that only a web savvy young person could understand. This movie did a great job on creating tension within all those aspects.  I will admit that it did jack the same concept that the movie The Den had in 2013, but I feel that Unfriended made the concept a whole lot better.

For starters, unlike The Den, this entire film takes place on Blaire's Macbook in span of one hour.  How you know this is because the clock in the upper right hand corner is accurately ticking in real time.  On top of that, the entire movie takes place on their web cams and they are barely any cutaways from the characters unless Blaire brings up a website, chatting on her instant messenger, or the death of a certain character.  The main cast of young actors did a great job at holding their own for the duration of the 70 minute film. 

From what I understand, they filmed the entire movie in a series long shots, and the editing team just edited everything together based on the actor's performances.  Now that's quite the accomplishment if you ask me because there were so many layers they had to build around.  When you watch the film all the way it goes by so smoothly you don't even notice.  Kudos to the editing team on that.



Even though there isn't any legit jump scares (until the very last shot), the slow tension it builds is really unsettling.  Especially when "Laura" does her countdown for the impending doom on one of the characters.  You, along with the characters, don't know whats going to happen or how they are going to die.  But when Laura finally reaches zero it leads to unsettling results.  The death scenes are pretty damn gruesome and hauntingly disturbing.  It does a noteworthy job on keeping the viewer's eyes glued to the screen to see what happens next all the way to the nerve rattling finale. When this movie becomes available for purchase in the next few months, I highly recommend watching this on your laptop to get the full experience.


All in all Unfriended is a very entertaining but yet disturbing movie to watch.  It's a nice ghost story for the young internet generation to enjoy and I truly believe that it will be remembered for a long time to come.  It's also another example on the evolution of the "found footage" genre of horror cinema.

Busby's Review: 4/5

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

MJ Gone 5 Years Later: Do You Even Give A Damn?







I hate Transformers 2.  Not because of the shitty dialogue, or the shitty acting, or the over the top special effects, and the non-stop explosions.  That just comes with the territory when it comes to Michael Bay films.  I hate that movie because that was the exact movie I was watching when I got the news that somebody close to me passed away.  Every time that movie comes on my television I instantly get transported back to my seat at that AMC Theater.  I instantly remember glancing down on my cell phone when I refreshed my twitter page when the following tweet popped up on my screen: “@BreakingNews: TMZ CONFIRMS. MICHAEL JACKSON DEAD AT 50” It has been exactly 5 years since I seen that tweet, and I’m still in denial that he is really gone.   Now I know that I am not related to him in anyway shape or form.  But Michael Jackson has been apart of my life ever since I was born. 

I was introduced to him at a young age through my baby sitter who ran a day care center.  When she wanted the kids to settle down, she would always go in her video collection, and put on a movie so we would all shut up.  The movie she would always put on was Moonwalker.  It was Michael Jackson’s musical movie opus of his career up to that point. From the very first shot of Michael performing Man In The Mirror” in front of what looked like SEAS of people, I was hooked.  I was convinced that man had superpowers the way he would sing and dance.  It was unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. When I saw him lean in the Smooth Criminal” video I thought the dude wasn’t human. At that moment, I become a Michael Jackson fan.



From the early to mid 90’s, everybody in the world LOVED Michael Jackson.  He was literally the biggest thing on planet Earth, the only person he came close to was Jesus, and I’m not even exaggerating when I say that.  Now don’t get me wrong, the dude did do some weird shit.  I mean who the hell would walk around with a damn monkey and name him Bubbles?  Who the hell puts an amusement park in his backyard and call it Neverland?  Who the hell dresses up in a rhinestone outfit suited for Captain Crunch? Who the hell takes Madonna and Brooke Shields out on dates and by the end of the night he puts THEM in the friend zone? Michael fucking Jackson that’s who!   He sold millions of records, he was selling our stadiums, MTV was doing greatest hits specials on him, he was getting awards named after him, and he was still in the prime of his career!  He called himself The King of this pop music shit, and at that point, the man was untouchable.

The keyword here is that he was a MAN, and he was still mortal.  With all the fans in the world that loved him, he still had a huge group that hated him and wanted to tear him apart.  When the child molestation accusations came out it just opened the floodgates for the media to pick apart the man that the world loved.   Even though there was no evidence, the media had all the ammo that they wanted to use against him.  And in a matter of a few years it seemed like the world turned their back on Michael.  He became a running punch line and it wasn’t too long ago when late night talk shows were just having a field day with Wacko Jacko jokes.  Who can forget Katt Williams stand up routine when he just went on a 5 minute rant and screamed “Fuck Michael!” from the top of his lungs.  Let’s not forget Eminem’s Just Lost It” video, or the jokes that SNL, Mad TV, and countless other shows made about him.  Very few people defended him, and when they did they would just get laughed at.  I was one of them.


I was the dude in my high school that was still blasting the Dangerous album like it was the hottest thing on the planet.  I was the guy that would go up to the DJ at my school dances and tell them to blast You Rock My World so I can holler at my crush.  When I was chilling with my homies, I would put on a random MJ record, blast it at ignorant levels, and just sing every note to the song.  And of course, I would just get laughed at and just be told, “Man turn that shit the fuck off bruh! You know he touched them boys!”  And I would just look at them and argue with them about what evidence they had that he did “touch them kids” and when it came to the music I would just look at them like they were the weirdos and say, “You don’t hear this shit?!”  Maybe my ears were developed differently, but Mike’s music was so ahead of it’s time that’s it’s not even funny.  He paved the way for the Ushers, the Chris Browns, the Biebers, the Ne-Yos, the Burno Mars, the Timberlakes, and anybody else that ever tried to moonwalk.  I mean seriously, do y’all remember THIS nigga?


I find it funny how everybody just LOVES Michael Jackson all of a sudden.  I remember the day after he died, the same people that told me to turn off Michael’s music were calling my phone asking me to burn them CD’s of all of his work.  DJ’s would play his music at the club like it was a regular thing to do.  People all of a sudden were calling him the G.O.A.T. and started acting like they were fans from the beginning.   After-death overnight bandwagon fans are the worst, but it comes with the territory.



In the 5 years since his passing, the wound is still fresh.  Even after watching the hologram performance at the Billboard Music Awards it just made the wound worse.  A computer cannot mimic the moves that Michael Jackson made.  Michael Jackson and Michael Jackson only can make them moves.  Sure we have a few new Michael Jackson albums with unreleased material. But it doesn’t feel right when we will never see Mike perform those songs or do extravagant videos for them.  It just isn’t the same.  5 years after his untimely death the world realized that we really lost a gift.  There can never be another Michael Jackson.  The throne is not for the taken.  When he died, he took that crown with him.  I just wish we all appreciated him a little more when he was still here.  Danyel Smith has the perfect quote to sum up how I feel about his death 5 years later.

“It’s still unbelievable to me that he is ACTUALLY dead. We should ALL be ashamed..”

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Busby Throwback: The Full Bone Thugs-N-Harmony 20th Anniversary Interview


Last year, I had the honor of interviewing the legendary Bone Thugs-N-Harmony for their 20th Anniversary of being together.  It was published in last year's issue of Goder Magazine and it got a lot of love.  I posted a portion of the interview on the site last year, but I never got a chance to post the full interview.  So without a further ado, here is the full interview the way it should have been presented...enjoy..


Bone Thugs N Harmony 20 Years Later:
Still Celebrating
Words by Aaron Busby
Twenty years ago five young men from Cleveland formed a rap group that will go down as one of the greatest rap cliques in hip-hop history.  Their rapid-fire flow along with raps about the gangsta life, spirituality and living a life full of celebrating took hip-hop by storm.  This year will mark twenty years since Krayzie Bone (Anthony Henderson), Layzie Bone (Steven Howse), Bizzy Bone (Bryon McCaine), Wi$h Bone (Charles Scruggs) and Flesh-N-Bone (Stanley Howse) formed the group we know as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.



 Guided by Eazy-E, Bone Thugs came into the game as one of hip-hop’s most lyrical emcees.  After they dropped their classic album E. 1999 Eternal, Bone Thugz certified themselves as one of the hottest emcees of the 90’s. They have collaborated with legendary artist such as 2Pac, Biggie, Mariah Carey and countless others.  Bone Thugs took the hip-hop world by storm and it seemed like they would continue for a lifetime. However, when the 90’s came to a end, so did the flame that seemed to be keeping the group together as a whole.



For almost a decade the group had been having internal conflicts. There were rumors of arguments within the group as well as battles with their own personal demons. A lot of people thought that getting Bone Thugs back together as a group could not happen.  However, twenty years later all five of the original members came together and are set to go on tour celebrating twenty years of their career as a group. They couldn’t be any happier to continue to do what they love...Its a celebration bitches!





Go Der Magazine: It’s been twenty years since you guys came together to form Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, How do you guys feel that twenty years later you still have a solid fan base and still have respect amongst your peers in Hip-Hop?



Krayzie Bone: "Aw man that’s a blessing.  Not so many artist can say they've had a twenty year run, you know what I mean?  So many artist come and go you know what I’m saying?  Like some artist have a good run but then they go away and when they do go away, they go away for good. You know what I mean?  You gotta get yourself a fan base; a SOLID core fan base and have people that will come out all over the world just to see you.  We had no clue that the Bone movement would be so big and universal."



Layzie Bone: "Actually we’ve been together for thirty years.  When it comes to rapping and recording and all that, that’s like twenty years.  But all together if you count our younger years it’s about thirty years.  It’s a dream come true when I look back and analyze all the things we’ve done.  It’s a dream made into reality so it really warms my heart.  We’ve been able to take care of our family by doing what we’re doing."



Flesh-N-Bone: "It feels amazing to have the gratitude and the ability to be humble with having a twenty year strong career and still have a solid fan base.  It’s nice to have a fan base that’s there for you through thick and thin, ups and downs.  Words can’t describe how I feel; It’s a warm feeling.  We're very comfortable with it and we're able to take this type of experience and still grow in order to be here just watching where it goes; and have it be the sub-way into the next phase of our career. I’ll be looking forward to the 25th Anniversary.  I’m looking forward to doing a interview with you on the 25th Anniversary of the group.  It never gets old.."



Wi$h Bone "It’s a blessing from God."



Bizzy Bone: "We're their Aerosmith, we're their Megadeth, we're their Guns N' Roses. We are just the mega group flat out.  That’s what we are. We're their Beatles man."



Groups go through a lot of drama and because of that drama, a majority of them don’t last.  You guys have had drama as well,  however you guys managed to put all the bullshit aside and come back together fully.  How did you guys manage to remain together twenty years later?



Krayzie: "Well first of all, what it all boils down to is the love and respect we have for each other and the love and respect we have for music.  It was never really as serious as the public may think, you know what I mean? I tell people all the time we are like brothers.  Real family has personal situations you know what I mean?  Sometimes family will be separated for a long time or sometimes it would be a real short amount of time, that’s all it really is. We all decided that the love for the music and fans is what’s really important.  So that’s why twenty years later, we are still together."



Wi$h:  "To me; we all grown men, at the end of the day, we knew that we had to do this music.  We came in this game together that’s basically how they wanna see us.  They appreciated our solo attributes and things like that, but they love to see us together.  At the end of the day, I think the media blows up a lot of the situations more then what they really are.  We might have a small argument and they make it look like it’s life ending."



Layzie: "We’ve had a general love and respect for one another.  We’ve fallen out like brothers fall out.  When someone goes straying away, we gotta go and pull them back in.  It’s the common love of music and we showed how we are really a true family."



Bizzy: "You can’t get away from your brother.  On some “Where you going?!” type of shit.  We are just watching what our kids are doing and what our kid’s kid’s kids are doing and shit. We are really a family, it’s a serious business."



Flesh: "I think we managed to stay together for this long by a whole lot of compromise.  A lot of fans see us go through this and go through that.  That might catch wind of bickering and arguments and differences amongst the group.  But through out all that, we still managed to stay strong.  One element that’s a factor with us is the fact that we are family and we grew up from the "roota to the toota". These guys are my life long comrades, period.  They’ve been around since our moms and pops and we've just been long time friends.  It’s a family business and it’s the reason why we have been around for so long. No matter what we go through. It don’t matter how hard the fall out is.  That’s because everybody has them, we don’t like them, but things have to get addressed when it needs to get addressed.  Call it a fall out, call it whatever you want to.  But don’t say that we fall off.  Bone Thugz-N-Harmony will NEVER fall off." 



Of COURSE not!



Flesh: "When they ask, “What’s Bone Thugs-N-Harmony doing?” Oh, we taking care of our brand!  I’m a BRAND!  When you see Bone Thugz-N-Harmony, that’s a BRAND! We are talking about BIG business.  When you see that symbol “Bone Thugs-N-Harmony” that’s like a refrigerator looking at Tony the Tiger on a Corn Flakes box.  That’s how much of a household name we are.  So when you got a family that can do something like that and create a brand that goes down in history, we have something to thrive on FOREVER!" 



Exactly..



Flesh: "We aren’t going to be rapping forever, but it’s going to be a full fledge business that’s going to be around forever."






What’s y’all viewpoint on the music industry right now?




Krayzie Bone:  "It’s definitely changed over the past twenty years.  I’ve kept a careful eye on it. I’ve done some research and followed it since the beginning all the way up to now.  People should expect it to change you know what I mean? Cause the world changes and people change.  If things stayed the same then we would all still be here.  Everything is evolving now and that’s a good thing. However, I don’t feel all the music that’s been playing on the radio.  There are a lot of tired MC’s out there that just have no guidance and everybody wants to do what the next man is doing.  Even more so these days…"



Wi$h: I love the music right now; I love staying up on the fresh stuff that’s out there.  A lot of it seems like the artist don’t put enough thought into it. However, at the end of the day, it’s stuff to party too.



Layzie: Music hasn’t really changed much at all.  We still have the same kind of music that you had back when I was a kid.  You have your serious presentable music.  You have the street music.  You have the clowns out here watering it up and dumbing it down.  As far as content and creativity I feel the content stayed in a growing place.  As well as the Internet and the tools that come with the game.  It’s out of here. It’s light years ahead of us; it’s on some Elroy Jetson type of shit. I think music is in a wonderful place right now.



Bizzy: It’s lively! Every 3 or 4 years the music industry does it’s functioning.  Whose gonna let who through the reigns and reign supreme on the radio and videos and all that.  It happens. We’re fortunate and blessed and we worked enough and showed work ethic to be in the position where we have a camp that goes through out the years.  So when we watch these young cats get their money and they save it and they invest it into basketball teams, TV shows, etc.  it’s just a beautiful thing.  I sit back as a scholar of hip-hop and the fraternity of the hip-hop alma mater;  And I love it. All my brothers love it as well. We are together now, so there is no reason to begin or even try to be bitter.



Flesh: I tip my hat to any youngster that feels he has something to offer to the world of art and musical creation.  I tip my hat to them cause a lot of people don’t have courage to be able to step to the plate and take a swing at it.  A lot of people say that can do this and they say they can do that, but they are not putting in the work to grow wings and fly.  As far as the industry of today, I mean it’s ight…Because that’s NOT what I’m gonna do.  I’m not gonna knock the new artist of today.  Like what this dude is doing or what that dude is doing.  Let them get their own creativity and create their own lane. As quiet as it’s kept they know what they're getting themselves into. They know how much work that needs to be put in; I don’t think they would want to get into it.  Because this shit right here is 24/7 eat, sleep, shit, and piss.



I feel you on that completely!



Flesh: If your not willing to do it all;  put in the hours, or are able to network with people,  just get out the way. Just flat out.  Now you do have those people that put in the work, that’s doing what it takes, and created a name and franchise for themselves.  That’s because they work HARD to do it and they deserve it!  So I tip my hat off to whoever made a name for them selves.  God bless em..








Go Der: Out of all the albums you guys have done, within the group or within y’all solo catalogue,  Which one personally do you feel the most proud of?



Krayzie: "I would most definitely say E. 1999 Eternal.  There was some stuff that we wanted to get off our chest.  We just did everything possible to get people to love us.  We had so much to vent, and we just went in on it; you know what I mean?  And the response for the public after they heard it was all love."



Flesh: "I’d have to say E. 1999 Eternal as well.  That album produced our biggest hits, Crossroads, 1st of Da Month, and songs of that nature.  Of course we’ve had other great albums as well, but personally I have to say E. 1999 Eternal because our biggest hit was Crossroads.  To me that is a no brainer because that was the album that pushed us beyond mainstream."



Wi$h: "I really feel the most proud of the last one we did with Interscope Records, Strength & Loyalty because for one; they said it couldn’t be done unless all the members were present, and it turned out to be our most successful record.  That was one of my happiest moments for me because they said it couldn’t be done and we did it.  So I’m proud of that one."



Layzie: If I could choose one, I would have to say Creepin on ah Come Up.  That was back then when we were at a point where we were either gonna make it or we weren’t.  So we stuck true to our music and we stayed hungry and we did it.  And Creepin on ah Come Up solidified everything.



Bizzy: "We set a really cool goal for the next five years. When you look back on it and your sober minded and so on and so forth you grow up and you start doing things the right way for yourself, it’s everything.  Creepin on ah Come Up, and the one that was underground Face’s of Death.  Everything played a magnificent role of the story and the saga of five brothers from Cleveland."




You guys have had history with Eazy E, God rest his soul.  But if he was alive today, how would you think he would feel about you guys 20 years later?



Krayzie Bone: "If he were here right now, he would be exactly like how he was.  He would want to travel with us, however I think he would probably get tired of the bullshit we were doing ya know? He would be like “What the hell are y’all doing?” He would tell us to get our shit together."



Wi$h:  He’d be proud of us like a proud father, seeing that his decision to rock with us is still alive and staying relevant and vibrate out here, he would most definitely be proud.



Layzie:  Right now he would be rooting for us.  He would be proud of us getting back together and celebrating. I know he would be happy.



Bizzy:  You never know what happens with people.  Some people give it up and retire.  Some people move on and get into Congress and all kinds of other stuff.  We don’t know what Eazy, Pac, or B.I.G had in store for their lives before they left.  This is real life and people are here one minute and gone the next.  And Eazy left a great legacy and a great history in hip-hop, and that’s whom he is.  Beyond a disease or anything else that he truly had.  But to answer the question, I don’t know what he would be doing right now, I really don’t know.  Hopefully he would still be working with Bones.



Flesh: I think he would be somewhere between, two or three skyscrapers right now 123 feet from the floor looking out over the scene.  I think he would be talking about “What’s the next move? How many more buildings are we going to build? What type of franchises will we have to create? You know what I mean?



He would have cut off that perm he had and look like a business man *laughs*



Flesh: Exactly, he would have been something more then what he was back then I can tell you that much.  If he were here right now, he would be more in a direction of building more things and expanding.





You guys have worked with countless artist through out the years.  From Biggie, to Pac, to Mariah Carey the list can go on and on.  Recently you guys jumped on Game’s Celebration remix.  Is there any artist out there right now that you would want to work with?



Wi$h:  I always wanted to do something with Jay-Z, his wifey Beyonce, you know people like that. The list can go on and on.  There are a few records right now that we wanna touch on with an artist with legendary status.



Layzie:  I love to work with greatness; I want to work with T.I., Kanye, Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, and that whole camp.  Everybody that is really doing it.  When we find where the good music is, we most definitely want to get it in with them.  Who ever wanna work with Bone, we can do any style of any genre.



Flesh: There are definitely quite a few people that we wanna jump in the booth with.  Jay-Z being one of them, maybe 50 Cent, Eminem you know what I’m saying? Imagine that, an Eminem and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony record.  The possibilities is endless…



Bizzy:  I wanna work with everybody! If it’s with my five brothers, nothing’s better then that.  We got some real good stuff going on right now, we don’t wanna let the cat out the bag just yet, but when Bone Thugs hits y’all with this beautiful stuff we got going on with a few of these young guys that we are grooming; it’s going to be a monumental event!



Krayzie: Well I mean we about to do this 20-year Anniversary situation and we looking to get anybody we can to come out and celebrate with us.  They can be old or new it doesn’t matter, it will be a big party.  So you will definitely hear some stuff with all kinds of cats out there right now.




On a personal note, I find it crazy that some kids now a days do NOT know that you guys did 1st of the Month.  They believe that you guys sampled Game and you guys are some biters.  It just BLOWS my mind!



Krazie: *laughs* "That’s crazy!



Layzie: Wow! Well that just means that they got a lot of homework to do.  They're gonna read this interview and they will be surprised that they don’t know that.  They got a lot of homework to do; there is a lot of history with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.  They gotta do their research to compile all the facts and then it’s like “Ohhh that’s where that came from!” Then you gotta see where we got 1st of The Month from.  That song was a sample from an Anita Baker and Marvin Gaye record.  So yeah it comes as a surprise and it was meant to happen to make our fan base quite larger."



With the amount of individual success each of you have had,  What can we expect from Bone Thugs on this new album?



Krayzie Bone: Well first of all we gotta give them that original sound that our core fans are going to want to hear.  We just gotta talk about celebrating life, being happy, being alive, and just a more relaxed album you know what I mean? We are not going to be be so much mad and angry like on the previous albums.  This album is going to be more of a celebration.  A much more positive album.



Looking back at your career over the past twenty years, would you have done anything differently?



Wi$h:  We probably would have done business differently but other then that;  Every thing happens for a reason.



Bizzy: We could have saved $20 here and $20 there.  Stashed a bag of weed here, stashed a bag of weed there.  Keep some records here, make a deal there. All is said, but what matters is that we are here now. We are at this photo shoot and we are enjoying life.  Naw I wouldn’t change not one thing.



You guys get a lot of love out here in the West Coast and The Bay. So tell us about your Cleveland and Cali connection.



Krayzie Bone: We’ve been out in Cali for a long time. For over 20 years. It’s just like home; it’s like a second home for us.  Everybody is good to us down here, that bond with us will never end.



Layzie: We’ve been doing this for twenty years and Cali almost feels like our first home.  I see Kid Cudi out here; I see all these young cats out here really doing their thing man.  You gotta at one point in your career, if you’re a Cleveland rapper, get out to California and spread your wings.



Y’all got any shout outs?



Wi$h: My family, my babies. Much love to the Bone fans who have stuck with us through out the years.



Layzie: I wanna shout out anybody that helped keep Bone alive, and the ones that appreciated our music.  Shout out to my wife and Cleavland in general.  Just shout out to everybody man we in a celebration mode right now.  There is all love spreading around Bone Thugz-N-Harmony.



Bizzy: Much love to you guys at Go Der, and being a part at what we are doing.  And giving us the opportunity to speak to the people, and show that we are not drugged up and we sobered up and we not fucked up and not bitter in the game or stuck up. So I would like to thank God, and thank every one else.



Flesh:  Shout out to my group Ducttape gang, their single is on iTunes right now, make sure you get that.  They are some young talented individuals and I am real proud of the things that they got going right now.  And of course the fans that supported Bone Thugs for the past twenty years. I look forward to showing y’all what we got in store for you guys.  We working full time!



Krayzie Bone:  Man what up to everybody in the Bay.  We always gets love out there no matter how many times we go out there.  Gotta have a shout out to the fans.  We gotta thank them for being down with us for so long and we ain’t done we got more to say.

~~Mr. Busby~~

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Macklemore, Kendrick Lamar, WWE, And More Random Thoughts..

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Haven’t written on here for a minute, was too busy doing some things.  But now I got some time to spare, I feel like I should express some things that have been on my mind lately.  From the Macklemore backlash, to Kendrick Lamar getting snubbed, to Bieber being a criminal, to the WWE just fucking up and other random things that I feel that needs to be addressed.

 
First off, y’all need to lay the fuck off of Macklemore.  I have never seen this much backlash off of one rapper.  Yes, rather y’all like it or not, Macklemore IS a rapper, and he most certainly not a TERRIBLE rapper by any means.  The Heist is not a bad album at all.  Everything about the album is dope.  From the lyrics all the way down to Ryan Lewis’s production.  It’s not their fault that their music crossed over and managed to sell all them units.  I mean it’s not their fault Can’t Hold Us was being played in every commercial, movie trailer, radio station, and every media outlet you can think of.

You know I find it funny when I ask people how come they don’t like Macklemore and the only response I get is, “HE IS CORNY!” or “HE’S WHITE” or “HE IS JUST TERRIBLE” or my favorite “CAUSE HE JUST IS!” I find it funny because nobody can come up with a logical explanation on why he is “horrible” It just seems like everybody is just following what everybody says and not doing the research for themselves.  In other words, nobody is making up there own damn mind. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not Macklemore’s biggest fan and I don’t go around bumping The Heist on a daily basis.  But please believe, there are a WHOLE lot of rappers out there that are ALOT WORST then him.   There are rappers out there that certain people actually vouch for and defend. Here is something to think about, the same people that are ripping on Macklemore are the same people that defend rappers that rap about absolutely nothing.  I’m talking about rappers that talk about nothing but fucking bitches, popping bottles, popping molly, and other materialistic shit.  If you think a rapper that raps about some positive shit is “corny” then I fucking guess…
 
 
When it comes to K Dot, I am not surprised he left The Grammys empty handed.  The Grammys have a track record of not getting things right, so K. Dot getting snubbed shouldn’t even get y’all upset. It’s a damn shame, but it is what it is, we ALL know that good kid, m.A.A.d city will go down as a classic when enough time passes.   A Grammy award doesn't need to prove that fact and we all know that. Even though he didn’t get an award, K. Dot managed to make sure that the world remembers him.  His performance with Imagine Dragons will go down as one of the greatest moments in Grammy history.  When Kendrick rapped his lyrics with the music building behind him that gave me chills.  Even Taylor Swift was doing her best “white girl” dance.  I bet y’all anything she went backstage asking for K. Dot’s number so she can get with him and then break up with him and then write a hit song about him.


I have a feeling that K. Dot’s follow up album to good kid, m.A.A.d city is going to be just like when Nasir dropped It Was Written.  However I don’t think it’s gonna come this year.  If there is one thing we all know about K. Dot, is that he takes his time to make a complete body of work.  He doesn't rush things, so if I have to make a guess, I can see the album coming early next year.  But hey we still got 11 months to go, so anything can happen…

 

You know, I always knew that Bieber would self-destruct.  But I thought it would have happened when he was in his early 20’s or something like that.  This dude started chilling with niggas and he just lost every ounce of fuck that he once had.  Dude is throwing big ass parties that have every drug in the world.  Beating up limo drivers, throwing eggs at peoples houses, and a whole bunch of other ratchet shit.  The dude jumped on songs called Twerk and Lolly for God’s sake! To be honest it just seems like Bieber is just trying WAY to hard (same goes for Miley Cyrus) to be something he is not.  The only good thing that came from Bieber so far is his music.  His Journals album was Bieber’s most mature album that he has done to date.  One thing I cannot knock from him is that he is very talented.  However lately he has been taking notes from the Chris Brown book of douchebagness.  Hopefully Bieber stays his white ass out of trouble long enough to go back into the studio and make a banging new album.  Oh yeah…America…is Justin Bieber really the problem in America?....

 
 
The WWE needs to get their head out their ass.  I have never seen the E been THIS resentful for change in a long time.   I honestly DO not understand this shit.  It’s damn near becoming comical at this point. Pretty much every smart mark has said everything you have already heard so I’m not gonna get to into it.  All I’m gonna say is that Vince McMahon is the Al Davis of wrestling.  Al Davis ran the Raiders organization into the ground because of his conservative way of thinking and doing things HIS way and no other way.   Vinny Mac is almost doing the same thing.   And it’s pretty sad to see, and hopefully he sees the light…



OH yeah..you damn right I’m excited about the WWE Network…

 
Other random thoughts…

-So how long you think this Lorde wave is gonna be?

-I really hope Chris Brown is taking his rehab serious and drops some dope ass music when he comes back.

-Kanye West had every right in the world to punch that white boy.  Too bad he had to pay that nigga 6 figures..

-Vampire Diaries and The Originals are the best vampire shows on television.

-Do y’all REALLY think that YG and Young Thug the next big thing?  I mean their tracks are cool and all..but you hypebeast boost about ANYTHING soo..

-Stally needs to leave MMG..the dude is rotting over there…

-Wale needs to grow up

-Watch The Throne 2 ain’t gonna happen…

-I see Drake going back into acting..

-AJ Lee will be my GF one day..

~~Mr. Busby~~