Eazy-E Tosses You A Bone
He put his double CD album on hold to work with this group and Bone: Thugs N’ Harmony learned a lot from Eazy-E. You can say that they graduated from the Eazy-E School of Economics.
Eazy-E introduced to the world a group
Called Bone: Thugs N’ Harmony, the first street rappers to break out of
Cleveland, Ohio. Bone: Thugs N’ Harmony is exactly what the name implies: thugs
because they’re from the hard part of Cleveland (St. Claire, East 99th)
And
harmony because of the sweet street melodies they combine with their thug (not
gangsta because there is a difference) rap.
Bone: Thugs N’ Harmony have known each
other since they were kids rapping almost as long as they are old. Bone had
just one plan for 1993: put together enough money to get to L.A. and find
Eazy-E. Why Eazy? Well, he owns the label called Ruthless and they thought they
would fit rather well on that label. Plus, Eazy, whostarted the whole Gangsta
movement in rap, would understand where they were coming from. In addition,
Eazy had a rep for signing talent.
Or
Budded Out Niggas Everyday?
Well, they go to L.A. In fact, they spent three months there just trying to survive while living on the streets and for all their efforts, they were finally able to speak and rap to Eazy over the phone. But it wasn’t until Eric Wright came to Cleveland to do a concert that the group was able to meet, greet and rap to him in person. He signed them immediately and they went from there.
So, just what is Bone: Thugs N’ Harmony?
To generalize, Bone is really rap and street corner harmony combined. They rap
and sing about stealin’, hustlin’, and scrapin’ by. Their style is a mixture of
that thug roughness and street resourcefulness. They sing, but not the average
love songs-they harmonize about everyday street life and their surroundings.
Together with staccato freestyle rhymes, the result is a funky strain of hardcore
hip-hop.
By now you must be wondering exactly what
does “Bone” mean? Bone stands for a few things: Brewed Out Niggas Everyday and
Budded Out Niggas Everyday. Then there’s Brothers On Normal Elimination which
tells you something about how they intend to go out.
The group is made up of Lazy Bone, Bizzy Bone and Flesh N’ Bone who admit to being influenced by the likes of Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J and the Fat Boys at a very early age. In fact, they used to mimic their idols during school.
“We used to have a crew back in the day
called Band Aid Boys,” says lazy. “This was right before junior high school.
Rappin’ battlin’ and beat boxin’ in the hallways is what we did.”
But then N.W.A. came along and the
reality that was comin’ outta Compton hit home to the guys in Cleveland, Ohio.
Thus, the drive, the need to meet Eazy-E., the man who started it all.
“We don’t claim to be gangstas,” explains
Krazie Bone. As his partner Wish Bone says: “Cause gangstas get caught up.” And
the only thing they are caught up is in their music. And Eazy-E got caught up
in it, too. He put his own double CD package on hold to work with them and some
people wondered why. Those same people don’t really know Eazy-E. You see, Eric
Wright is about making money. Okay, he’s a rapper too, but a smart one and a
very smart business man. And he knows a good business deal. When he sees one
and hears one.
On Bone: Thugs N’ Harmony’s album there
is a track titled “Foe The Love Of Money” and it features Eazy-E. Lazy says
that the song shows a bit more about the Cleveland rappers attitude. “If it don’t
make dollars, it don’t make sense,” he reports. Sounds like he’s been to the
Eazy-E school of Econmics.