Bone Thugs-n-Harmony came out of Cleveland, Ohio, and sounded like nothing else in mid-nineties rap: rapid-fire, half-sung verses, layered harmonies and an almost churchlike melancholy. The group is Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Bizzy Bone, Wish Bone and Flesh-n-Bone. Their link to Tupac comes down mostly to one song, but it is a song that matters.
Discovered by Eazy-E
In November 1993 four of them (without Flesh-n-Bone) auditioned for Eazy-E, who signed them to Ruthless Records and served as their executive producer until he died of AIDS-related complications on March 26, 1995. Their album E. 1999 Eternal came out that summer; the title pointed both to a Cleveland street corner (East 99th Street) and to Eazy-E’s album Eternal E. The single Tha Crossroads, a mourning song that also honoured their mentor, spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Grammy in 1997.
“Thug Luv”
In 1996 Tupac recorded Thug Luv with the group. Fan lore has it that, as Bizzy Bone remembered it, Tupac wrote his verse in under two minutes; no reliable source for the anecdote could be found. The track only came out after his death, on the double album The Art of War in July 1997. MTV News announced the posthumous feature in May 1997, noting that it would give the “Tupac is alive” crowd more to talk about. Released to radio in August 1997, Thug Luv reached No. 60 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. Entertainment Weekly’s review singled it out as the hard counterweight to the smooth lead single Look Into My Eyes.
Further recordings and rumours
Further recordings that were unreleased at the time are often mentioned, such as AK-47, Confessions with Bizzy Bone and They Tryin’ 2 Murder Me with Krayzie Bone. These circulated among fans as bootlegs; no official release could be confirmed, so they are not detailed here.
The rumour that the Outlawz and Bone Thugs planned to team up as “Thug Brothers” had substance: joint projects did follow over the years, including Thug Brothers 2 by Krayzie Bone and Young Noble in 2017, whose track Both Worlds even used a Tupac verse. The claim that Mopreme Shakur signed with Bizzy Bone’s label in 2003 could not be verified.
Why it matters
Bone Thugs were not part of Tupac’s inner circle the way Snoop Dogg or the Outlawz were. Their place in his story is as a bridge between Eazy-E’s Ruthless legacy and Death Row, between the Midwest and the West Coast. Thug Luv is one of the few features Tupac recorded outside the Death Row camp in his final year. More collaborations are listed under guest appearances and features.