Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Albums (9)
'Still Creepin on Ah Come Up'
Release Date 3/18/2008
Tracks 14
Label Real Talk
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The "13 new songs" on Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's T.H.U.G.S. will for the most part be familiar to Bone-loving message-board trollers and Internet traders, although the beats changed somewhere along the way from leak to official release. Most everything seems to come from 2003 or so, two years before unpredictable member Bizzy was dismissed from the group. Although there's an overall feeling that the music is unfinished, or maybe even finished years later by someone outside the Bone organization, hearing Bizzy's free-form rhyming and strange delivery during this turbulent time is interesting, and a handful of cuts feature memorable lyrics and/or that prime Bone interplay. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
'Strength & Loyalty'
Release Date 5/8/2007
Tracks 14
Label Interscope
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The title to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's 2007 comeback album, Strength & Loyalty, must be a reference to their fans. Despite handing in some forgettable efforts, emptying fans' wallets with too many solo and side projects, and promising new product and not delivering repeatedly, Bone always got a pass from faithful. Strength & Loyalty is also too heavy a title for an album so light and slick. Big names like Mariah Carey, Akon, the Game, Swizz Beatz, and Twista all command their tracks, unknowingly stealing from a group that used to be instantly identifiable because of their unique sound and style. This 2007 edition of Bone is missing members Flesh-N-Bone (thanks to incarceration) and Bizzy Bone (thanks to his being Bizzy Bone) and it shows. As a trio Krayzie, Layzie, and distant third Wish are a solid crew, able to deliver good weekend numbers like "Bump in the Trunk," "Lil Love," and "C-Town" (they never forget Cleveland) along with polished gangsta tracks like "I Tried." In the big picture, Bizzy and Flesh are missed, but what's remarkable about Strength & Loyalty is how it makes the listener forget they're missing while in the moment. Numerous melodious hooks in the easy-rolling Bone tradition fog the memory, and guest stars are brought in at just the right moments. Mariah speaks to the commercial possibilities Bone always had, while the Game speaks to how they seemed to never leave the streets. Every song is at least solid and the album flows very well, making it one of the better-built efforts from the house of Bone in nearly a decade. Problem is, this album could have twice the star power and it wouldn't make up for how important Bizzy's strange voice was for the overall chemistry. Strength & Loyalty doesn't overcome its challenges; it just sidesteps them and works hard to reward fans for a decade of patience. It's as good as it can be, and better than expected. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony are a good example of a group that has become little more than a brand name as its various members devote more of their time to solo projects. Thug World Order is only their fourth proper album in seven years, although many solo albums and recordings by other configurations have emerged during the period. By now, however, every album by the group seems like a reunion effort, their last one being dubbed BTNHResurrection, while, on this album, one of the members mutters, "I ain't gonna say we back, 'cause we never left...." The group's musical approach hasn't changed much, its raps offset by vocal harmonies and its musical beds anchored by samples as surprising as Phil Collins' "Take Me Home." Lyrically, their concerns are also much the same, extending from boasting and reflections on life in the 'hood to complaints about low-quality drugs ("Bad Weed Blues") and the duplicitousness of women with whom they have had sex ("Not My Baby"). ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Almost three years after the epic-length Art of War album and following solo albums by group members Krayzie Bone (Thug Mentality 1999) and Bizzy Bone (Heaven'z Movie), Bone Thugs-N-Harmony returned with a comeback album fittingly named BTNHResurrection. Much has changed in the rap game in just a few short years, however. Bone Thugs were on top of the world between 1995 and 1996, though now they're merely trying to fit in during an era when weed-smoking gangsters have been replaced by champagne-sipping players, and any hint of vocal harmony will get you labeled an R&B act. Over the course of the 16 tracks here, the core trio work to their strengths, constructing dense rhymes and trading off with a smooth flow. It's difficult to escape the feeling that time has passed them by, however, and BTNHResurrection isn't quite the return to old glories that fans must wish it could have been. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The double-disc album was occasionally the standard for mid-'90s hip-hop. Following releases by 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G., Bone Thugs-N-Harmony entered the ring with Art of War. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Following the surprise success of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's summer 1994 anthem "Thuggish Ruggish Bone," the group returned a year later with E 1999 Eternal, an impressive debut full-length that dismisses any notion that the group was merely a one-hit wonder. From beginning to end, the album maintains a consistent tone, one that's menacing and somber, produced entirely by DJ U-Neek, a Los Angeles-based producer who frames the songs with dark, smoked-out G-funk beats and synth melodies. The Bone Thugs interweave their voices well, trading off verses and harmonizing on the choruses. There are a few standout moments, most notably the Grammy-winning ballad "Tha Crossroads" and the feel-good welfare ode "1st of the Month," as well as, of course, some obligatory blaze-some-to-this tracks, "Budsmokers Only" and "Buddah Lovaz." The intermittent tracks are good old-fashioned gangsta rap about murder, drugs, and money. In the end, E 1999 Eternal stands as one of the most accomplished, unique hardcore rap albums of the '90s, one that's often unfairly overlooked, if not dismissed entirely, because of the group's subsequent unraveling. [The original release featured a different version of "Tha Crossroads" titled simply "Crossroad" that was quickly replaced by the radio-aired, Grammy-winning "Mo Thug" remix.] ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
