You can never go back, and it’s been 13 years since Bone Thugs N’Harmony emerged from the streets of Cleveland to scorch the game with their rapid-fire lyrical release. Their latest album, Strength and Loyalty, is the Bone Thug’s effort to reclaim their heavyweight status (minus the incarcerated Flesh-n-Bone and the exiled Bizzy) after a decade of solid but relatively unsuccessful efforts.
Bone Thug’s album E. 1999 Eternal achieved instant classic status for its jaw breaking verbal delivery and intelligently hard edge; it’s the album all their other work is judged against. Allow me to elaborate: “The new Bone Thugs track is dope” means “that sounds like 1st of Tha Month,” and “that’s a wack Bone Thugs cut,” translates to “that’s not nearly as good as Tha Crossroads.” So with ’99 Eternal firmly in the rearview mirror, Strength and Loyalty emerges as a hard hitting but sometimes confusing album that proves the Bone Thugs ain’t no joke, but they’ll probably never be as good as they were in ’95.
Swizz Beatz (it’s me snitches!) produced much of the album, and though he struggles at times to match his rappers style (on Candy Paint he forgets they’re from Cleveland, not Houston), for the most part he delivers. His beats are sonically full but leave enough space for Krayzie, Layzie, and Wish to put down their trademark lyrical onslaught. Bump In the Trunk opens with a vocal harmony and then bursts into a full out rider for the Thugs to expertly flow over. It’s not a bangin’ sound system that’s bumpin in their trunk, it’s automatic weapons, and guns are a theme throughout the album. Gun Blast is exactly the type of track you want from the Bone Thugs, a repeating synth and stuttering drum echoes the violently melodic lyrics and demands to be played at full volume (though Swizz goes overboard with the gunshot sound effects).
Akon also shows up on two tracks, and they’re surprisingly some of the best on the album. Akon’s irresistibly melodic production lets the Bone Thugs speak on some deeper subjects than gun calibers, and the success of Strength and Loyalty’s lead single I Tried shows how successful that kind of intelligent vision can be. Never Forget Me is the other Akon track, and despite the cheesy synth hook underlying the track (think the Rocky theme song) the Bone Thugs dope verbal cadence turns it into something memorable. In some ways Akon proves a better production partner for the Bone Thugs than Swizz, except he can’t do thug as well as he does harmony.
There are a few songs on Strength and Loyalty that makes you wonder what the Bone Thugs were thinking. Order My Steps (dear lord) is as close to a straight out gospel song as you’re going to find on a major label hip-hop album, it even brings on gospel legend Yolanda Adams for some soulful vocals, yet the very next track is the brazenly violent Streets featuring The Game. I’m not a religious man, but I find it hard to believe the Lord endorses “wet @*#$! and the bomb ass chronic.”
The album also starts off with the track Wind Blow, which has the Bone Thugs rhyming over Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 rock hit The Chain. I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s strange for a group that reps the streets so hard to rhyme over an essentially unchanged version of a song by the whitest band in history. Watch this video and tell me I’m wrong:
Ultimately, mistakes like Wind Blow and the catchy but painfully soft Lil’ Love are not nearly enough to bring down the Bone Thugs. Strength and Loyalty has enough ridin’ percussion and rapid fire rhymes to keep fans happy, even if it’s not as good as their old-school offerings. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go download Thuggish Ruggish Bone.
DJBooth.net Rating:
4 Spins - Solid
Nathan S.'s Picks
Sounds The Same
Flowmotion
Ready for Radio
Lil' Love (ft. Mariah Carey & Bow Wow)
Never Forget Me (ft. Akon)
overall a good cd but a couple track dont sound like their styles at all and a couple beats sound the same gun blast and 9mm but other then dat a good cd bone is back
This cd is the best cd Bone has come out with since East 1999. I completely disagree with some of the things stated in the review. I would agree that the Order My Steps song is a little weird but the review makes it sound like people from the “Streets” who smoke “bomb ass chronic” and like “wet @*#$!” cannot have religious beliefs at the same time? Bone Thugs N Harmony has always had a reputation of believing in Christ. Also, the song Wind Blow reveals a new side of Bone that most people have never seen. Is it really a big deal that they used a song from one of the whitest bands in history? If anything, it shows their creativity and respect for other genres of music.
I didn’t know Bone thugs n harmony before this, so don’t expect any kind of prejudice… and then I hear Flow Motion… what the f**k?! WOW!!! Can you get better than this?! I mean, these guys didn’t give me a choice: I had to love the album or I’d be one miserable dull.
This is what we can call music; it’s not artificial at all: you have an amazing guitar solo on Wind Blow (a mind blowing track), a beautiful production on “I tried” (I imagine what they can do on stage using an orchestra, like Kanye does), “Lil Love” has a feel good beat, it doesn’t matter if they went soft or not, as long as they still have a good delivery (Bow Wow surprised me), “Order my steps” is a brave track, talking about God (“the Lord” is there to help people who sin, so they have the right to ask his guidance as well as anyone), “Streets” features TheGame, so, enough said about that; these are one of my favorites but the energetic drums, all over the album, the fast minded production makes this one a must have!
I don´t understand how this review speaks so badly about the album and then gives it an 8/10? Well I guess you already have the answer: despite any flaws, this is an excellent album, because it’s not about little things, but a great achievement as a whole!
I love all types of music so I happen to be a Fleetwood Mac fan. I was happy to hear Bone Thugs sample “The Chain” since I love them too. I don’t see anything wrong with them sampling the song. Like another member said, it just shows their appreiciate for other genres. However, you obviously know nothing about FM as a whole. The band has a long history starting from the 60’s. They started off as a rock/blues band and their music has been heavily influenced by blues. One of the female singers Christine Mcvie was influenced by blues and R & B. If you ever heard her sing you could tell. Their sound did change over the years, but I think it’s an insult to call them the whitest band in history. And that video you posted of “The Chain” is not a good representation of the song because the original singer was not performing. One of the original singer’s of “The Chain” Lindsey Buckingham left the group and was replaced by Rick Vito and Billy Burnette. I respect those guys, but that performance in no way shows the greatness of “The Chain” when Lindsey was with the group.
For the record, Mary J Blige loves their song “Dreams” and Stevie Nick’s voice. Chaka Kahn used to hang out with them back in the 70’s when they were recording “Rumours” and she is a huge fan of theirs. She even re-recorded one of their songs “Everywhere” as a tribute to them. Beyonce also likes Stevie Nicks and she sampled Stevie’s “Edge of Seventeen” for the song Bootylicious. B.B King considers one of their original guitar players, Peter Green, to be one of the best guitar players ever.
Damn Layla you really reppin your group Fleetwood Mac. You got me learnin stuff over here hehehehe. Anyway I’m really feelin this album. I used to love Bong Thugs back in the day, but haven’t really cared for their recent material. I am liking the lastest tho. I really like I Tired and Candy Paint. I’m still listening to the album so I don’t have a ton of favs yet. I wasn’t feelin Wind Blow at first but it’s growing on me big time. It’s weird they sampled Fleetwood Mac, but it kinda works. I mostly listen to R&B and Hip hop but I have heard some Fleetwood mac songs in one of my music classes once. We were studying the use three-part harmonies. They actually weren’t that bad. To be honest, if anyone is the the whitest band in history it would be the damn Osmonds
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