Educating the Masses on Musical Meaning: Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

June 26, 2018 8:08 am

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony has been a staple group in the hip hop and rap music industry for decades. Twenty-five years into their tenure as a group writing and performing music, they are still touring around the nation. For member Krayzie Bone, music will always be his first love. However, he’s entered into another arena as well: podcasting.

Krayzie Bone has been hosting his podcast, The After Hours, for maybe a year now, he said. It encompasses his passion for music and gives him an opportunity to dig a little deeper into what message each song holds. Krayzie Bone said the podcast mostly focuses on songs by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

“I’ve been doing music ever since I was in the third grade,” said Bone. “Since third or fourth grade when I saw Michael Jackson perform on TV. It was a motown special and I heard him on TV. I told my mom, ‘that’s what I want to do when I grow up’.”

He started getting into hip hop listening to Run DMC and LL Cool J.

“I started writing down the lyrics because I wanted to be able to sing the songs,” said Bone. “And when I was writing down these lyrics, I started to recognize the pattern of writing a rhyme.”

That’s when he started writing music, and he hasn’t stopped since. He also began talking about music on his radio show, “The Quick Fix Show”, in 2013. However, the podcast allows him to take the discussion to another level.

“The message is sometimes distracted by the music and the mood you get caught up in listening to the music,” said Krayzie Bone. “So I was like, I can come on the radio and we integrate the messages we put in our songs.”

He calls himself a “walking encyclopedia” of musical knowledge and podcasting is the perfect medium through which to spread his knowledge. And it gives him a space to explain musical meaning as well. The podcast gives him the opportunity to break down and explain what they are saying on each track. In addition to music, The After Hours cover global issues, religion and other issues.

“There are a lot of things that we need to talk about and that’s what made me want to start doing this podcast,” said Krayzie Bone.

The After Hours is co-hosted by Keef G.

“He’s a friend I’ve known for over 10 years,” said Krayzie Bone. “He used to be one of my artists at The Life Ent. He was more into doing this once I brought him over here [to podcasting] with me. Because of his personality, I was like ‘you’re the only person I see doing this with me right now.’”

At this point, the podcast is a passion project for Krayzie Bone. They have had some sponsors and have received some interest from potential future sponsors but that’s not his focus or goal. It’s not about turning a profit for him.

“I’m doing this because I’m just trying to wake people up from what’s going on in the world,” said Krayzie Bone. “I’m not trying to get paid for everything that I do because that’s not what it’s all about. Giving people knowledge and understanding, you can’t put a price on that. I will do that for free, always.”

Music is at the core of his heart, and forever will be. However, the podcast has given him another outlet to express his knowledge.

“I enjoy being able to dip away from doing something I love to doing something else I love. It’s a wonderful thing,” said Krayzie Bone. “I really get more pleasure out of doing the podcast because I get to talk to people and break things down for people and educate people.”

The After Hours podcast has been a part of the Digital Soapbox Network since its conception– their first show launched in February 2018.