Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony is a U.S. rap group from Cleveland, Ohio. Their career took off in 1993 after heading to Los Angeles on a Greyhound bus in search of Eazy-E. They auditioned over the phone but he did not respond. They then found out that Eazy-E was doing a show in Cleveland and came back to audition in person. Backstage live on The Box, they rapped for Eazy and were signed to Ruthless Records on the spot. Their first EP, "Creepin on ah Come Up", featured production by Yella of NWA fame and was released in 1994. The album sold over two million copies and contained the hit singles Thuggish Ruggish Bone and Foe Tha Love of $. Upon the release of their second album E. 1999 Eternal, their mentor Eazy-E died of AIDS. A new track was dedicated to Eazy-E called Tha Crossroads, which earned the group a Grammy Award and broke The Beatles' 32-year record for fastest rising single. Since then, E. 1999 Eternal has sold over 5 million copies domestically.

Perhaps the group's most important contribution to rap is their speedy, harmonizing flow. While fast rapping has always had a niche in the culture, Bone certainly brought the style to the forefront. In addition, the group's ability to harmonize whilst flowing at top speeds is truly remarkable. Not before nor since has a rapper or rap group sung an a cappella tune without loss of street cred. Although 1996 was definitely the peak of their popular appeal, Bone still has a fairly large cult following. There always seems to be rumors of a breakup, yet every two or three years they release an album. Since E. 1999 Eternal, this includes 1997's The Art of War, 2000's BTNHResurrection, and 2002's Thug World Order, in addition to a number of successful solo albums. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony are the only group ever to have collaborated with the late rappers Eazy-E, Tupac Shakur, and the Notorious BIG.

Since late 2002, members Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone and Wish Bone have been touring virtually nonstop, averaging around 100 dates a year, mainly in their hot spots of the Midwest, California, Arizona and Texas. Former member Bizzy Bone has appeared at a number of these tour dates, leading the group to believe that he was back with the group (in fact, Bizzy Bone had made a number of conflicting statements as to whether he had returned to the group, even appearing on the Bone Brothers album with the rest of the group). In early 2005, Bizzy refused to sign a deal with Full Surface Records with the group after originally showing an interest, leading the group to cut ties with him.

In December 2002, one of their songs was admitted as evidence in a Missouri murder trial. This was to show the mindset of the defendant, Michael Tisius who was accused of killing two prison guards in 2000. The track was "Mo Murda" from Bone's 1995 release E. 1999 Eternal. Prosecutors insisted that while the track did not make Tisius commit crimes, he used the music to put him in the psychological state where he could act violently. Tisius's lawyer claimed that entering the track into evidence was a tactic to associate her client with negative media perceptions of rap music. Tisius was convicted on two counts of first degree murder.

Contents

1 The group 1.1 Members 1.2 Former members 2 Discography 2.1 Main albums 2.2 Compiliation albums 3 Hit singles 4 External links

The group

Members

• Krayzie Bone
• Layzie Bone
• Wish Bone
• Flesh-N-Bone

Former members

• Bizzy Bone

Discography

Main albums

• Faces Of Death (1993)
• Creepin' on ah Come Up (1994) #12 US, 3x Platinum
• E. 1999 Eternal (1995) #1 US, 5x Platinum
• The Art of War (2-Disc Set) (1997) #1 US, 4x Platinum
• BTNHResurrection (2000) #2 US, Platinum
• Thug World Order (2002) #12 US, 338,000 copies as of March 2003
• The Bone Thug Story (TBA)

Compiliation albums

• The Collection Volume One (1998) #25 US, Platinum
• The Collection Volume Two (2000) #42 US
• Greatest Hits (2004) (2-Disc Set) #95 US, 497,298 copies as of June 2005

(All sales numbers are U.S only).

Hit singles

• From "Creepin On Ah Come Up"
  • 1994 "Foe Tha Love Of $" #41 US
  • 1994 "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" #22 US
• From "E. 1999 Eternal"
  • 1995 "1st of Tha Month" #14 US
  • 1996 "Tha Crossroads" #1 US
• From "The Art Of War"
  • 1997 "Look Into My Eyes" #4 US
• From "Thug World Order"
  • 2003 "Home" #19 UK

External links

• BTNHBoard.com (http://www.btnhboard.com/index.php)
• BTNH Central - #1 Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Site (http://btnhcentral.com/)
• ThaWasteland (http://www.thawasteland.com/)
• Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Lyrics (http://www.geocities.com/hayziebone/bonethuggin.html)
• www.ThaBoneCollector.com
• Official Bone site (http://www.bonethugsnharmony.com/)de:Bone Thugs-n-Harmony