Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
It wasn't always clear that the members of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony would get a chance to make a comeback, but it was always clear that they deserved one. Everything about their story is implausible: their rapid rise (thanks to the patronage of Eazy-E), their eerie sing-rap style (still being imitated today), their defining hit ("Tha Crossroads", a near-perfect lament that became part of the soundtrack of the 1990s), even their hometown (Cleveland, which wasn't known as hip-hop hotbed and still isn't).
For most of the last 10 years Bone Thugs-n-Harmony has been a cult favorite (does anybody remember "BTNHResurrection", an underappreciated CD from 2000?), not a chart-topper. But last summer Krayzie Bone, the frontman, stole the show on Chamillionaire's No. 1 hit "Ridin'", and now the group is back for real: "I Tried", an addictive collaboration with Akon, is the group's first Top 10 hit in 10 years. It comes from "Strength & Loyalty", which is probably as close as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony will ever get to a Carlos Santana-style all-star makeover.
Most of these songs revolve around the mellow rhymes and tunes of Krayzie Bone; it's almost as if he could rap and hum at the same time. And it's clear that big-budget collaborations serve this group well: Akon returns for the elegiac "Never Forget Me"; Mariah Carey and (much less so) Bow Wow enliven the airy club track "Lil Love"; "Wind Blow" is a bluesy perseverance song based on an unexpected (and, presumably, expensive) sample of "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac.
But Bizzy Bone - he of the startling falsetto and manic energy - is missed: He was expelled from the group during a chaotic 2002 performance in New York. (Talk about a public break-up.) Sing-song and rat-a-tat rhymes from Layzie Bone and Wish Bone, respectively, can't fill the gap, especially since the big-name guests mainly disappear halfway through, as if the budget had suddenly run out. Still, the group's gospel-gangsta fusion sounds as weird and as inevitable as ever. And this album has already succeeded in putting three of hip-hop's most unlikely stars back where they belong: on the radio. (The New York Times)
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