Cleveland, OH · hip-hop

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

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Melodic-rap architects — the first to make harmony singing and double-time flow one seamless thing, with 'Tha Crossroads' still landing like a hymn.

The group formed in Cleveland in the early 1990s, initially calling themselves Band Aid Boys and later B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e. Their first album, Faces of Death, was recorded in the studio of their mentor Kermit Henderson and released on his label Stoney Burke in 1993, built around the same members who would become Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Bizzy Bone and Wish Bone.

Determined to get the attention of Eazy-E, the group scraped together bus fare for a three-day trip to Los Angeles, then spent four months on the streets there trying to reach him, only to learn he was on his way to Cleveland. A promoter eventually introduced them to Eazy-E at a Compton show, where they auditioned in his dressing room on November 2, 1993; he signed the group, renamed them Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, and helped them establish what became known as the chopper rap style, pairing rapid, syncopated verses with close vocal harmony.

"Tha Crossroads," written as a tribute to Eazy-E and other lost friends, spent eight consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the group a Grammy in 1997, cementing E. 1999 Eternal as the album most associated with their sound.

Later releases kept the momentum going: The Art of War arrived in 1997, BTNHResurrection went platinum within a month of its 2000 release, and Thug World Order reached platinum status and number three on the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart in 2002. Across their catalogue the group has sold more than 16 million records.

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