OFTEN, a hit record explodes overnight and disappears just as quickly. but for Bone, his song “Homegurl” had to marinate before hitting the charts. Circulating in the Texas region for nearly six months, “Homegurl” got a major push after being discovered by THE CORE DJs CEO Tony Neal during the Texas Summer Music Conference last year. Bone, a student at Prairie View University, was signed to Citi USA Ent/Def Jam and the song was eventually added to radio rotation. NOW OVER A YEAR SINCE HE ORIGINALLY releasED the single, Bone and his label ARE DROPPING the video and introducing him to the rest of the country, starting with the patrons of All Star Weekend. Here he explains how a small town kid from east Texas landed a big break. How did you get the “Homegurl” song so hot out there in Dallas? It’s been out for a little while now. It got popular after Definition DJ Tuss broke it in the club, and then it spread to the other Definition DJs. Michael Watts put it on his I45 2K8 mixtape. Then more DJs started pickin’ up on it. After the Texas Summer Music Conference with the CORE DJs and Definition DJs, Tony Neal heard the song and liked it. He put the CORE DJs on it and that’s how it all came about. Are you originally from Dallas? No, I’m from East Texas. It’s not too far though – Dallas is the closest metropolitan area to where I’m from. I don’t say I’m from Dallas though. When I graduated high school I went straight to Prairie View where I met my
producer, and he was from Ft. Worth. I wanted to continue doing music, so after that I moved to Dallas/Ft. Worth. I had family that stayed in Arlington so I decided to move there to be closer to the music scene. What did you go to college for? Did you finish? I’m actually still in school right now. I’m a history major. Did your song start poppin’ and that’s when you decided to pursue music, or were you always serious about rapping? It was something I always did since I was little. It’s just that being from a small town, there really wasn’t an opportunity. I knew I’d have to leave eventually – that’s why I came to Prairie View and moved to Ft. Worth. Were you known in the area before “Homegurl” blew up? Nah, actually I was part of a group. When I met my producer we established a group but things weren’t moving completely the way we wanted. I always had this idea for “Homegurl” but I never made it because I was trying to do the group thang. But after I got out of the group and we did the record, it came out the way it did and that’s how it happened. Do you have any mixtapes out right now? At school we did group mixtapes. Freshman year we did Kings of the Yard mixtape, we did another one junior year. We were just trying to get ourselves out there. So you were going to school at Prairie View and staying in Ft. Worth during your off time – where did the song get hot at first? In school or in the Dallas area? It got hot at Prairie View, and then it got hot in Dallas at the same time. How long did it take for “Homegurl” to get in radio rotation? The amazing thing is, the first time it was played on radio was by Michael Watts. Watts played it on radio in December 2008 and the radio spins picked up after that. It was getting like two or three spins a week, nothing major, then it took off. So when did you sign to Def Jam?
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