At the beginning of their career, they worked with 2Pac, Big Pun, Notorious B.I.G., and Easy-E. They adopted the contemporary R&B sound, combining it with the thug rap elements, creating a historical piece of music we all love today.
Knowing that they are on tour right now, we decided to share some interesting things about the family band that made history on the music scene.
So, if you are one of the fans who will attend some of the concerts, you can recheck your knowledge with these interesting facts related to the old-school hip-hop scene and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony is one of the most popular old-school hip-hop bands, with a rich musical history that dates back to 1993. Many of those who have Bone Thugs n Harmony tickets, which by the way you can buy here, weren’t even born when the band first appeared on the music scene.
1. They Weren’t Always Named Bone Thugs-n-Harmony
In the beginning, they were named Band Aid Boys, later adopting the name B.O.N.E Enterprise (or usually referred to as Enterpri$e). Originally, the band consisted of four Bone-family members, including Krayzie, Layzie, Bizzy, and Wish.
They were renamed by the popular rapper Eazy-E and have a rich history working with him.
2. They Were Sure They Wanted Eazy-E as their Producer
They were trying so hard to sign up for his label. Back then, Eazy-E was one of the most popular rappers and record label owners, and there are claims that he auditioned them by phone.
Later, they meet with him in his dressing room. He accepted to run an audition immediately, which eventually resulted in a contract with the Ruthless Records label.
Also, Eazy-E ditched the old names, renaming the band to Thugs-n-Harmony, but let them add the word “Bone” first.
3. They Teased Name Change for Commercial Purpose
In 2020 they announced that they would change their name to Boneless Thugs-n-Harmony. Fans weren’t happy with this decision, but the band used to mess with them for months. Later, they announced that it was a campaign to add some hype to a commercial. It was all about Buffalo Wild Wings, and the ad was about the band members deciding to rename themselves after eating their boneless chicken.
4. Eazy-E’s Widow had Relationships With a few of the Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Members
Tomica Woods-Wright married Eazy-E on his deathbed. It was one of the games his former manager played in order to help her keep the ownership over the Ruthless Records.
After Eazy-E passed, she was focused on the label and eventually met the Bone members. There are claims that she was in short-term relationships with Layzie and Bizzy one after another. Surely, none of it really worked. She was bitter with them, but they still managed to diss her behavior in their songs.
5. All the Band Members are Somehow Related
The name Bone isn’t random. The members Layzie, Krayzie, Wish, and Bizzy, are related, and so is the part-time member Flesh-n-Bone to them.
Flesh-n-Bone and Layzie are brothers and Wish Bone is their cousin. Bizzy Bone is their stepbrother, and Krayzie is a childhood friend they consider a brother. But according to their values and family standards, they are all brothers.
6. There Were Internal Conflicts Between the Members
Family values didn’t work their best when it came to inside conflicts between the members. After Flesh-n-Bone was released from jail, he joined his family. Later, Kraziye and Wish left the group to work on their independent label. They returned two years later, but Layzie decided to work on his solo career. A few years later, he came back to his brothers.
Since 2018, the group is still with the original members, and we can see them performing at a few festivals later this month.
They will also join Ice-T and Too Short on the scene on Tuscon and later will perform with Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, and Ying Yang Twins in Lincoln.
One of the most exciting shows is their performance with Three 6 Mafia in September, and we will explain why in the next paragraph.
7. They had a rap Battle With the Biggest Rivals
Three 6 Mafia were a longtime band rival to Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. In 2024, they competed against each other in the Verzuz-battle. At some point, Bizzy threw a bottle at Juicy J and was escorted off the stage. Later he came back to apologize, and that was the end of their edginess.
It eventually resulted in Bone Thugs-n-Harmony being guests on Three 6 Mafia concert later this month.
The best thing is that the band scheduled a few live performances in the USA, especially in Texas and Arizona. So, we can’t wait to see how things will go for them from this moment on.
If you are one of that old-school hip-hop and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony fans, we are sure you enjoyed reading these facts.
8. Audience Expected Them to Diss 2Pac
When Bone Thugs-n-Harmony worked with Eazy-E, many people expected them to make jokes about 2Pac. Instead, they showed how thankful they were because he kept the rap scene alive for years.
Once again, they showed the audience rap is all about brotherhood and respect between the artists. Undoubtedly, the hip-hop scene can be pretty harsh on some artists, but that’s what makes it attractive to the audience.
9. Bizzy was Arrested After Their Legendary MTV Awards Performance
In 1996, during the MTV Music Awards, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony performed their legendary “Crossroads” to pay respects to Eazy-E. But, two years ago Bizzy Bone finally revealed he was arrested right after the historical performance.
After the performance, they were interrupted by the police, but the case was resolved immediately. The whole world was talking about it, but younger fans weren’t aware of this. So, Bizzy decided to openly talk about it in a video published on his family YouTube channel.
10. They’ve won so Many Music Awards
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony was nominated for many awards, eventually winning a few of them. For example, in 1998, they won the AMA’s Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist award, and in 2007 they also won the category Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Band, Duo, or Group.
Their “The Crossroads” brought them a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. The same song won Best Video of the Year at Soul Train Music Awards.
Even though “The Crossroads” was nominated in five categories in the 1996 MTV VMAs, it didn’t win any of them.