Eternal

UNBREAKABLE

With a shiny new deal with Interscope and the platinum touch of Swizz Beatz crafting their sounds, it looks like Bone Thugs-N-Harmony has again achieved the impossible, But they’ve been doing that for years.

Cleveland’s tough, Santa Monica is not, which is where both Ohio cats (one, this writer, the other, Bone member Layzie), convened here in a waiting room at Interscope Records, are chillin’, having a conversation that seems to be brought to you by Seagram’s Gin. The reason we’re here, just minutes from the mighty Pacific, at the powerhouse label’s HQ, is because Bone Thugs-N-Harmony are now joined with producer Swizz Beatz—a move that initially didn’t make a lot of sense to everyone in the music biz. But like Try Smith on draft day, these Bukeyes are just happy to be in the mix.

Wishbone has entered the room via speakerphone, linking from Cleveland. He just returned from Hollywood to his tough and magnetizing town the day before, after a semi-autobiographical Bone Thugs movie wrapped shooting. And this reporter is trying to get Wish to open up about acting.
“Have I acted before?” he answers, disbelieving. “I act every day. ‘Cuz I be angry about a lot of shit, Like, when they be doing ‘The Greatest of All Time’ and they don’t mention Eazy-E or Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. That’s fucked up. So I’m acting every day.”

Acting like it doesn’t bother him. Even when he’s still stuck in a city dominated by high birth rates and low income and all the grime that follows, acting is a relatively easy hustle. Life is good; he still gets to shine. Even before the new deal, Bone Thugs were doing shows everywhere. In fact, they just did a tour of the Middle East. (Krayzie Bone is major in Dubai.) And yet, for years the only way to hear one of the Greatest Hip-Hop Groups of All Time on the radio was during an old school set.

For 2007, Wish might wanna get ready to hit some award shows and act like he wasn’t expecting to win. Because Bone Thugs-N-Harmony is once again in the building. After years of grinding out raw but effective indie songs and tours that energized the group’s core audience, the gangsta pioneers are again positioned to sell a lot of their brand of melodic street music. Props and publicity hang above them as if they were ripe fruit. Once again it seems their party is about to get started.

“It’s crazy,” says Krayzie Bone, also phoning in to label HQ. Krayzie got an early taste of the return to favor in 2006 with his feature on Chamillionaire’s crossover hit “Ridin’ Dirty”. “For us to just get up on a Greyhound and come out to California—with no plan, nowhere to live—and for us to end up where we are? That’s crazy.”

“They brought a whole new sound to the industry,” notes producer Swizz Beatz. He had always noted BTNH’s lilting, gospel-informed harmonies, no to mention the groups’s innovations in sped up delivery. “Plus, they had songs that touched the world, like ‘First of the Month.’ Like a bunch of songs. It was the craziest shit I’d ever seen.”
Crazy, like the multi-platinum consistency BTNH showed from 1994’s Creepin’ on ah Come up to 1997’s E. 1999 Eternal. Since 2000, despite personnel and label difficulties, the group has struggled but, apparently, survived. Layzie Bone has no doubt about what props up the perseverance. “A lot of people can rap and sound good,” opines Layzie, who’s kickin’ it on some Interscope exec’s couch, next to his wife, Felicia of Mo’ Thugs. Layzie remains a skinny, light skinned canvas tricked out in immaculate braids, bling and body art. “You wonder why they shit don’t really appeal. That’s because they ain’t really that, what they portrayin’. It’s like, niggas say be real, stay true to what you do. Bone Thugs is proof. It’s proven on every continent we go on. It’s a documented truth that we walk that walk and talk that talk. That’s why it appeals to muthafuckas. They know it ain’t no propaganda. It ain’t gonna get you sent up a river.”

That would be Layzie’s brother Flesh-N-Bone, whom every member says is always with the group in spirit, and is locked up now—on gun charges—but he’s a representation of why the Bone ethos must exist. Flesh hustled to help the group get on but received little of the catharsis a music career can bring. His troubles go back to before there was a Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and his contributions really just began to peak with the group’s last full blown LP with Ruthless Record, BTNHRessurection. But trouble follows this group around.

In case you don’t remember, BTNH turned out 1994 with their debut album Creepin’ On Ah Come Up. Eazy-E put the group on after they auditioned for him over the phone. They came out to Los Angeles on that previously mentioned Greyhound. They sold a ton of records and then shit got crazy. Eazy died soon after Bone hit, which put the group’s career in constant upheaval. Bizzy—a fan favorite and the group’s standout—started missing shows, according to band members, and eventually became to erratic to remain in the group. Flesh-N-Bone, who was never under contract with Ruthless, began serving his long stretch in 2000. With a subsequent exit from the late eric Wright’s faltering Ruthless Records and the bitter separation from Bizzy Bone, it could have been curtains for the quintet-turned trio.

Bone has sold albums, but life was never what you’d call good. So, now, Layzie’s posted like he’s carefree because he’s rollon’ with Interscope. He’s just happy to still be here so he takes any and all questions. Yes, Flesh is still in the group when he gets out of that Coalinga prison, which is due to happen in the near future. No, they aren’t fucking with Bizzy. Well, maybe. And, yes, the start of Bone’s Interscope relationship feels way better than even the height of the Ruthless Era, a time when the musicians sold millions of albums.
Bone had put out an album with Koch but was making its, uh, bones by touring in 2005 when Cassidy was charged with a shooting and Swizz Beatz lost his project of the moment. Like an NFL GM in desperate need of talent, he checked to see who was on the board. “I wanted somebody I could just jump start, something that could be major again,” Swizz Beats said, “and here was Bone.”

As happy as Swizz was to find Bone, its members were just as happy to find him. “To hear Swizz say ‘I wanna meet these niggas, I got a new situation,’ that was almost as good as meeting Eazy-E again. Almost. Not quite, but almost,” says Layzie.

The Ohio cats were all over. Krayzie was in L.A., Wish was in Cleveland, Layzie was in ATL. They linked up in ATL and made eight tracks in four days. Krayzie did “Ridin’ Dirty” with Chamillionaire and the bidding war was on. Considering both Interscope’s penchant for dealing with artists in personal disarray and the fact that Swizz Beatz’s deal with Eve was throuogh Interscope, landing in the offices of Jimmy Iovine just made sense. In April, Strength and Loyalty brings back BTNH, realistically, for the first time this millennium.

Swizz has tried to reinvent the group with the requisite club banger, “Candy Paint.” Its success will dictate whether the group’s somewhat downcast style meshes with their new producer’s upbeat ways. But the first single, “I Tried,” which shows BTNH doing what it does best, mining the soul out of Hip-Hop shows the group can still be effective. Akon’s melodies replace Bizzy’s and suitably takes his place on the vocal register’s high end. Mariah Carey and Bow Wow guest on “Little L.O.V.E.”, a bow to the pop side for a group that’s always been a little cult-y. The Game and Twista are among the other guests on Strength and Loyalty.

Krayzie Bone got the early bounce, having hopped on a monster track with Chamillionaire. “Our agent called yesterday because he had booked some shows in the Middle East, in Kuwait and Dubai. They were supposed to transport us around in Black Hawk helicopters, and all I could do in look at them like, ‘Nigga, that’s crazy. We’re from the hood.’”

“Honestly?,” continues krayzie It’s a mystery to me how our music stuck so hard in people’s minds, to this day. There are 12-and-13-year-olds at our shows, people who weren’t even born when we actually came out. It’s like, wow, their family members or whatever are still bumpin’ us and just passin’ it down to them.”
Most young MCs can’t know to dream that big. They just know they wanna be large, especially those who might hop the bus out of the steaming cauldron of the ghetto.

“Everybody wants that,” Wish admits. “But to have that happen is a blessing within itself. You gotta catch yourself and say, ‘I thank God for this.’” (S)


RECORD REPORT
BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY
Strength & Loyalty
Full Surface/Interscope
Production: Swizz Beatz, Akon, Jermaine Dupri, will.i.am, The Individuals, Others
(4 MICS)

It’s been several years since Bone Thugs-N-Harmony fans have had something to cheer about. But with outstanding production and stellar variety, their latest endeavor, Strength & Loyalty, is sure to enthuse longtime followers and attract new ones too, as BTNH (sans Bizzy and Flesh) have recaptured the dark magic that helped them garner their multi-platinum success and put Cleveland on the rap map more than a decade ago.

Right out the gate. The now-trio of Layzie, Krayzie, and Wish lace their rapid-fire delivery to explosive beats on “Flow Motion” and “Bumps in the Trunk,” both produced by highly touted newcomers The Individuals. Swizz Beatz lends his golden touch to “Candy Paint,” a rider’s ode to Caddy’s, Impalas, and Cutlasses. Elsewhere, Mariah Carey and Bow Wow help Bone offer a softer, radio-friendly track with “Little Love,” while The Game and will.i.am rekindle the group’s Compton connection on “Streets.”

Although it’s been five years since their last album Thug World Order, BTNH still try to stick to what has worked for them in the past. The group’s first single “I Tried,: features Akon and displays BTNH’s trademark introspective and poignant side, while songs like “9mm” take listeners back to their older, mo’ murderous days. Simply stated, this is probably BTNH’s most mature and complete album. Though some question whether they can succeed without what was thought to be a vital member, Strength & Loyalty should prove that Bone is strong enough to carry the weight as is.

-Mark Anthony Jenkins

Scans available @

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BTNH THE WORLD'S ENEMY DECEMBER 22ND

Scorpio

to much but a propzzz

26shotz

Ok man props

Zhiwai

Props on this

Naturalbornalkaholik

props man.......

_widen

Thanks, props

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U.S. Sales: Creepin On A Come Up 2,766,000/ E. 1999 Eternal 6,120,000/ The Art Of War 1,600,000/ The Collection V.1 1,250,000/ BTNHResurrection 1,515,000/Thug World Order 440,000/ Greatest Hits 880,673/ Thug Stories 95,000/ Strength & Loyalty 465,123

ChUcK C

propzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Drewshady17

I heard some tracks from this album and there are tight.The Source's rating to me doesn't mean shit.I don't agree with any website or magazines ratings all the time.I thought this album was gonna be a classic and May 8th when I buy this shit I will know how good it is.Bone Thugs N Harmony are gonna do big things with this album.

Look At Outlaw Me

Propzzz on the info man...everybody get that new album, def worth it.

Dope Da Damaja

ye the album is hot as fuck

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GMNRecordsCT3

props..............

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myspace.com/bummydavis - soundclick.com/gmnproductions

"The name on my car insurance is YOUR FUKIN FAULT!!"

MC B STREETZ

yo guys go cop bone thugs album this tuesday

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