Milk Crate's Top 10 Albums: Kannon #8

I'm pretty sure everyone has at least one artist or group that they really champion. Every time they put out an album, you're first in line to pick it up. When I was younger, that was easily my number 8 group. It didnt matter if it was a new album, or a solo project from any one of the members, I was always first in line to pick up the new album. Any there was a lot of solo work...But they could do no wrong in my eyes...

08. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E. 1999 Eternal

In 1993 I was over at a neighborhood friend's house with my older brother. The three of us were playing around with our friend's camera, making a pretend talk show called the "Slick Nick Show." Unfortunately, our friend's name was also Nick, and I was not the star of this show *sadface*. And for one of the episodes, he decided to play "Foe The Love Of $" (from Creepin On Ah Come Up) as the closing song. That was the first time I'd ever heard Bone. I was already familiar with Eazy Z (as a 7 year old child? I know), so when I heard this it was just a new Eazy song with a couple guys who rap really fast. But that was suuuuuper cool to me.

The next year, they released E. 1999 Eternal. Thats when my fascination really became real. The Crossroads was a HUGE song. They had moderate success with "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" from their last album, but Crossroads gave them the crossover success, where everyone knew the name Bone.


Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Tha Crossroads

I was in elementary school when this album came out, so I wasnt allowed to own it, but I had borrowed a cassette version from a friend of a friend, and listened to it non-stop for a week straight before returning it. My friend and I would act out the album's skits on the playground at recess, and sing their songs for others to enjoy during lunch. Having my best friend be equally into the group only made me like them more. And when 1st Of Tha Month came out, even though I had no idea what it was really about, it quickly became my favorite song. I remember spending the 1994/95 new years evening by my radio, as they were playing the top 102 songs (the station was 102.5) of the year, WAITING for first of the month to come on, so I could record it on my little 60 minute TDK... And when it finally came on, I hit record, and half way through Layzie's verse, side 1 ended... I was soooooooo pissed.


Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - 1st Of Tha Month

I also remember that my favorite pastime was to make up my own words for what they were saying, because I could only ever make out half of the lyrics. So I would sing their songs at the top of my lungs, but half the words were just "ennimunnimis everybody!" But there was just something about their melodies, fast raps and the awesome production by DJ U-Neek that made this album something incredibly original and fresh to me.


Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Crept And We Came

Krayzie has always been my favorite of the group, with Bizzy coming in a close second. But I thought Boone Thugs could do no wrong. I bought every Bizzy solo album, every Krayzie solo album, every Layzie solo album, and even Flesh-N-Bone's solo albums. I had every group album. I had even got on some file sharing site, later in life, to find their demo album, Faces Of Death. It wasnt until Flesh got locked up, and they started having their internal beefs and kicked Bizzy out of the group, that I started to give up hope. The music just wasnt the same without all of them, but especially Bizzy. And yes, I even liked Thug World Order. But to this day, I will at least check out almost every album that the group releases. Bizzy has way too many solo albums to keep up with, but I try to grab one every few years just to see his progression. But whenever I want to hear that real crazy fresh BONE THUGS music that I grew up loving... I throw on E. 1999 Eternal and zone out...


Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Land Of The Heartless

High Point: 1st Of Tha Month. I know what its about now. But that song has always gotten me hype. But I also loooooved the more slept on joint, Mo' Murda.
Low Point: Probably "Die Die Die." Although the skit that leads into the song was one that I used to act out on the playgrounds the most haha.

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Throwback Of The Day: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

As a child, I was quite literally one of the BIGGEST fans of the 4 (sometimes 5) man crew from Cleveland known as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. It all started with "Foe Tha Love Of $." It was the first Bone Thugs song I'd ever heard, but at the time, all I knew was that it was some song by some guys with Eazy E on it... And I loved it. It wasnt until "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" when I really figured out who Bone Thugs were. From there, I couldnt stop listening to their music. I'd tune into my local radio station every night at 8pm, for the "Top 8 At 8" just because I knew "1st Of Tha Month" was always on the list. I borrowed the cassette single for "Tha Crossroads" from a friend in elementary school, and dubbed it on my famous karaoke machine. I taped the episode of New York Undercover because Bone performed at the end. I acted out skits from the albums on the playground at school, and was even sent to the office for singing their songs when I was supposed to be working on a "famous person report" in 4th grade.

Now, As we all know, Bone has had its highs and lows. It's had 5 members, it's had 3 members. But the reason I chose to bring you a Bone Thugs song as today's Throwback of the Day, is because I've heard some terrible news today. After 20 years of music, and just after reuniting the whole crew after Flesh got out of prison, Bone Thugs is done. Krayzie Bone has left the group. Now, I dont know if that means they are going to try to continue the group without him or not. But I dont know if the rest of the Thugs can exist as a group without their ring-leader.



With that out of the way, and the tears all shed... I'd like to bring back one of my favorite Bone Thugs songs of all time. From the album E. 1999 Eternal, here is the oft overlooked gem, "Mo' Murda."

DOWNLOAD: Bone Thugs-N-Hamony - Mo' Murda