herb alpert | Its Hip Hop

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony dominated the mid-1990s with a unique style of Rap music. Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Wish Bone, Bizzy Bone, and Flesh-N-Bone put Ohio on the global Rap map with a harmonic sound that pulled from the church and the street alike. While 1994’s Creepin’ On Ah Come Up achieved gold-certification just a few months after its release, the quintet burst to the top of the charts just months after their mentor and employer, Eazy-E died (24 years ago this week). That ascent led to Grammy Awards, world tours, and more.

Creepin’…, 1995’s E. 1999 Eternal, and 1997’s The Art Of War all achieved quadruple-platinum status during the 1990s. Even with solo efforts, label woes, and Flesh’s incarceration, the group seemingly could not be stopped. During the crew’s meteoric rise, they started tightening the reigns on what music released where. The crew participated in an incredible collaboration with Biggie on the eventually-diamond-certified Life After Death. However, apart from quick-strikes on The Show and Great White Hype soundtracks, the collective unleashed one of the biggest and most enduring songs on the musical companion to Set It Off.

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“Days Of Our Livez” embodies the most polished side of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. While the crew is very prolific in the independent era, 1996 was a slow and strategic period. This song was a major look for the F. Gary Gray film starring Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett-Smith. “Days…” sees Layzie, Krayzie, Wish and Bizzy pass the ball with each of their verses, with the group delivering a melodic hook that dabbles in their current hardships, even if the song was released in the midst of their greatest success.

Layzie opens the track with a quick-fire verse: “Eternally thugs, here I come tellin’ them soldier stories, Been daily collectin’ my lessons, without any questions / Without any questions, stressin’ no restin’, we journey this blessin’ / Shiftin’ the game rearranging thangs, ’cause once the world was bringin’ me down / Mesmerized controlled by the other side, but the devil was in my town.” Wish catches the verse to deliver a few bars of his own: “But he won’t get me in time, f*cking with Bone, and he liking these rhymes / We rhyme better believe it all the time, ni**a, we live / We straight up soldiers, Bet a ni**a done told ya, told ya / We rob before we go broke, ni**a we robbin’ y’all, all of y’all, all y’all.” Krayzie ends the song’s first set of verses, closing out with a statement on brotherhood: “Y’all my dogs, if you call or you fall / You can bet on that, ni**a, whenever that I will be there, lean on me / But let us get rid of the enemies.” After Eazy-E’s passing, the group’s respective heartfelt pain is still heard and felt in “Days Of Our Livez.”

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The track reached the Top 10 of the Rap charts, as well as the overall Top 20. Thoughtfully, the Grammy Award-winner DJ U-Neek samples two mid-1980s sings. This includes “Tender Love” by Force MDs, produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. It also pulls from “Making Love In The Rain” by Herb Alpert, Janet Jackson and Lisa Keith, which Jam and Lewis also produced.

Although the soundtrack (also involving En Vogue, Organized Konfusion, Queen Latifah, and Goodie Mob) arrived on Sylvia Rhone’s EastWest Records, Ruthless also got involved. The song landed on the first installment of Bone’s The Collection two years later.

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In 2017, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony released New Waves. Notably, it marked a break from 20 years of work with U-Neek. In recent years, he has worked with Meyhem Lauren and Troy Ave. At the top of 2019, Layzie Bone released several diss records aimed at Migos, taking umbrage with the Atlanta, Georgia trio’s claim that they are the greatest group of all time.