Bone Thugs N Harmony – East 1999
Description
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony (formerly known as B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e and also known as Bone Thugs) is an American hip hop group composed of rappers Bizzy Bone, Wish Bone, Layzie Bone, Krayzie Bone, and Flesh-n-Bone. Formed in 1991 in Cleveland, Ohio, the group signed to fellow American rapper Eazy-E‘s Ruthless Records in late 1993, on which they debuted with their EP Creepin on ah Come Up the next year. The EP included their breakout hit single “Thuggish Ruggish Bone“. In 1995, the group released its second album E. 1999 Eternal, which included hits “1st of tha Month” and “East 1999“. Their hit song “Tha Crossroads“, a tribute to then-recently deceased mentor Eazy-E, won a Grammy Award in 1997.
The Art of War, the group’s third album, was released in 1997. In 2000, BTNHResurrection reached platinum status in the US in one month, while 2002’s Thug World Order received more moderate sales and promotion, going platinum and peaking at No. 3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Following that album, the group went on hiatus from their label and released their sixth studio album, Thug Stories, independently in 2006. In 2007, they had another major-label release, Strength & Loyalty, on American producer Swizz Beatz‘s label Full Surface Records and Interscope Records. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony returned with their 2010 album Uni5: The World’s Enemy, released by their own record label, BTNH Worldwide, with distribution by Warner Bros.
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony are the only group that has worked with renowned American rappers Tupac Shakur, the Notorious B.I.G., Eazy-E, and Big Pun while they were all still alive. About.com ranked them No. 12 on its list of the 25 Best Rap Groups of All Time, and MTV called them “the most melodic hip-hop group of all time”.
Krayzie Bone and Wish Bone briefly stepped away from the group in April 2011 to work with their independent label The Life Entertainment. But would both soon return reuniting with the rest of the group. In August 2013 Layzie Bone announced that he also would briefly step away from the group to work more on his independent label Harmony Howse Entertainment. He too would also reunite with the rest of the group shortly after. In the same month, BTNH signed with eOne Music (formerly known as Koch Records), with whom they had previously partnered to release 2006’s Thug Stories.
