Source: WE TV / other
Growing Up Hip Hop has returned and has added more hip-hop royalty to the cast for its sixth season.
Layzie Bone joins the cast this season as one of the resident OGs. Along with Treach, Stevie J and Pepa, Layzie Bone will school the hip-hop rookies about the rap game. Besides stepping in as an elder leading the young bucks, Layzie Bone also joined the cast to help Lil’ Eazy E carry on the legacy of Eazy E, who introduced Layzie Bone and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony in 1993.
“[Upholding Eazy E’s legacy] absolutely played a role in my decision to join the show,” he said. “Lil Eazy E is like a little brother to me, you know what I’m saying? So, it was a natural fit. And any time that I get to keep Eazy E Sr.’s legacy alive, that’s what I’ll do. The loyalty has been there from the beginning.”
Layzie Bone proudly steps in and lends a helping hand with assisting the cast members who are working on new music select songs and is the resident A&R to the up and coming artists. While he’s teaching them, they are also rubbing off on him as well.
“That hunger that they bring to the table is what keeps me inspired, keep me motivated,” the Cleveland rep said. “That’s why I do music with the kids because I like to consider myself forever young, you know? It’s really a state of mind.”
One of the rookies keeping him on his toes is Sakoya Wynter, who came in at the end of last season but her first impression was hard to forget. During our chat, she said she brings the excitement that the shows been missing.
“I’m gonna be honest, I’m bringing a little bit of drama,” she said. “You need that for entertainment. It was a little bit dry until I showed up honestly. I’m shaking things up.”
Wynter said her feisty demeanor is a result of her not always being the outspoken one. After staying silent for so long, not saying what was really on her mind is no longer an option.
“I was one of those people like, dang, I should have said this. Why didn’t I say that? Why didn’t I address this and I kept filling a type of way?” she explained over Zoom. “So moving forward and learning from that I was like I’m gonna just be me. And I’m gonna say how I feel in that moment. Everybody’s not gonna like you. Everybody’s not gonna agree with what you say what you do. But as long as you are comfortable in the skin that you’re in, that’s all that matters.
Wynter is looking to be a heavyweight in R&B, similar to her father Jo-Jo Hailey of the legendary R&B group Jodeci. Her sound is strikingly different from her father’s. Jo-Jo Hailey and her uncle K-Ci Hailey relied more on the soulfulness of their voice while Wynter enhances her beautiful vocals with auto-tune, something she and her father have a generational clash about at times.
“My uncle, my dad, they’re more soulful and give straight vocals. So it’s a completely different feeling,” she said. “I have a lot of criticism from my dad about [using auto tune] sometimes, but I feel like we just butt heads because we’re from two different generations of music, you know, but overall, he’s very supportive.”
This season, we watch as the veterans are bridging the gap with the new generation of artists as they usher in a new sound while trying to stay out of their own way and learn from those who paved the way for them.
Growing Up Hip Hop airs every Thursday at 9 p.m on WeTV.
