Harmony...

Bone Bone Bone Boooone
written by 4bars

I’m riding through Jersey the other day and “Moments in Love” comes on the radio. I probably should’ve been thinking about, well, moments in love, but my mind IMMEDIATELY jumped to one of the most heralded rap music groups of our time: Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

From “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” to the commercial smash “Tha Crossroads”, BTNH revolutionized the game. BTNH was the hottest thing in rap for a while delivering soundtrack classics “Everyday Thang” (The Show) and the ridiculous “Days of our Lives” (Set it Off). Even the Mo Thugs album was pretty good. BTNH is arguably one of the greatest rap groups ever. While clearly I wouldn’t put them with the pioneers of the game I certainly think their name should be mentioned with the Wu-Tangs.

Their flow was infectious and influenced a lot of the singing/rapping/harmonizing we hear from today’s hip-hop artists. While their lyrics weren’t always decipherable, their flow and song composition was undeniably incredible.

One of the highlights of my hip-hop experience was a trip to Los Angeles when I was 14. I was exposed to not one, but two of the most historic songs BTNH ever recorded: Notorious Thugs and Thug Love. I remember riding with my cousin and he popped in Life After Death. Of course the first track he went to was “Going Back to Cali”, but right after, he went back to track 1 and that opening “its Bone and Biggie Biggie…” along with the piano still gives me goose bumps just thinking about it. Needless to say we zoned out for the majority of that car ride. Later on in my trip, I remember listening to the radio and hearing a DJ talk about the song that Bone recorded with Pac and they actually played it, gunshots and all on the radio. My mind was blown, completely, and that was probably the most gangster or “thug” I had ever felt at that point in my life.

I could go on and on about BTNH but their track record speaks for itself. They remind me of Terrell Davis or Hakeem Olajuwon. Both had great careers but for about 2 years they were the best and Bone can lay stake to that same claim. The protégés of Eazy-E stuck through unstable group members (“UH HUUHHHH, aint nuttin like money in a zip lock bag…”) to remain a one of a kind group who pushed the rapid fire flow like no crew before them had. Combined with the melodious harmonies they perfected and pioneered, they remain one of my all time favorite rap groups.