Where You At? Wish Bone

WISH, READY FOR SPRING

Why did we pick Wish Bone of all people for a feature? Let me answer that for you:

If Bone Thugs ‘N Harmony was a family, Bone would be their last name, right? We have Layzie, Krayzie, Flesh ‘N, Bizzy, and Wish. So Wish Bone’s first thug name is Wish. A RAPPER NAMED WISH. HAHAHAHHAHAH! That’s the worst rap name ever, seriously, if not the worst one of the worst. But Flesh ‘N is really, really bad as well. So what’s up with Wish lately? What have you been doing since your glory days when you and your team was going six times platinum? Hopefully not playing shows in the middle of Missouri, but instead living it up, big time. So Wish, where u at?

Let me back up for a second, I was (at one point) a huge fan of Bone. First, because of their association with Eazy-E, then because of their amazingly unique sound and dedication to it. I still kind of like it, but I don't play it or buy it or listen to it ever. For me, Wish was the most memorable harmonizing thug. He was the one guy whose voice I could actually pick out, so he was an early standout. I was a fan. That all changed when the Mo Thugs Family dropped though, I just couldn’t bring myself to buy that album (the cover is WACK and the radio track was awful). By the time “The Art Of War” dropped, I was done with the whole package. I bought it, spun it, and put it in long term storage. I never looked back and never bought anything else. Truth. We all remember 1^st of tha Month and Tha Crossroads, but here is an example of really good early Bone track featuring our man with the correctly spelled name, Wish:

Those were the days.

Let's move on. So what happened to our boy? Well, he isn’t in Bone anymore, I guess. But that’s probably temporary since he is cousins with two of the main guys: Steve and Stan (a/k/a Layzie and Flesh ‘N). So he’s kind of a permanent member by blood. Even if he’s out, HE’S IN. Ya dig? I’m sure we all remember that he also had a son named Lil’ Wish, so he’s gotta keep working. So let’s check the craft.

Chuck, Steve, Stan, Tony, and Bryon

Well, after their dozens of industry awards, huge album sales, and the album “Art of War”, Bone (along with Wish) went on to record two more albums for Ruthless Records. 2000’s “BTNHResurrection” (great title?), and 2002’s “Thug World Order” (featuring Phil Collins, LOL). Nobody heard a single song from these albums. In between these albums everybody released solo albums except for Wish. Not long after that, their contract with Ruthless ended and things got shook up: Bizzy was kicked out of the group for mental health issues (I guess). This was right around the time he was on “America’s Most Wanted” talking about his very bad childhood. Very weird. Oh, and also Flesh 'N pistol whipped his own mom. Yikes. What do you expect? They are thugs after all. Mo thugs.

At some point Bone started skipping around from record company to record company, members came and went, and they managed to release four more albums (!) and also reassembled with all five members and formed their own record company for the last release. In addition, tons of solo and group side projects were released, but nothing made even the tiniest dent in the music world. So think about this: there are probably three hundred Bone songs that you have never heard. Collect ‘em all!

The greatest generation.

Wish was along for the ride all the way through, sticking with the group and never going solo.  Finally in 2001 he and Krayzie split from the Bone to pursue solo careers after creating their own record company. Anger and bitterness was spread online between the members, things were said. Feelings were hurt. But family is family and amends were made (I guess). So Wish was pretty busy with his record company because they released like eight records that you haven’t heard of. Then they renamed the company “The Life Entertainment” (their blog is here) and created “The Life Clothing”. That’s where we’re at today. Who knows what’s going on? One of the shirts has a Krayzie Bone quote which is just a normal thing that everyone says: "Let's be honest, the industry's now overcrowded with garbage." Good quote. Perfect quote. Perfect grammer ("industry's?" really?). Otherwise, the clothes are Bone themed (meaning 20 years outdated), or Australia themed (whuut?), and Krayzie has a mixtape series called The Fixtape which is the best name (let's be honest).

So the answer to “Where U At?” is that Wish is still in the music biz! Hooray? Is he making money? Probably not. Does he have a solo album yet? NO! What? Dude, it’s been like thirty years (not a joke). Do we have a recent song of his to review? Sure…

“No Mas” by Bone

That sounds like your parent’s Bone! Fine. It’s nothing I want to hear. All the distortion on the voices is taxing. And that last guy, holy cheese, get off of my headphones. That rapping is out of line, son (or should I say "sir" since you’re probably 50). Where was I? Oh, was Wish in there? I guess, I don’t know. The song wasn’t that good. And why is it called “No Mas” instead of “No More”? Nobody knows. Nobody knows anything. Nada.

As a bonus for me, “Tha Crossroads” came on my headphones right after “No Mas” so I’ll go ahead and give it a review as well. It is WAY BETTER than No Mas, literally a million times better. I never really liked Crossroads, but I can’t really knock it. The production is nice. The harmonizing makes sense; the flow is great, the content is pseudo-deep and engaging. Bone sound like champions on this track. Everything just works, good song, even though it’s not really my taste. How many rappers talk about helping people not be lonely? None. Also, this track makes it clear that production is a key for these guys to succeed, I wonder if DJ U-Neek still helps Bone out, or did he get busy with other projects? I think Bone really needs to get him back. Give him an Australia shirt or something. All a thug could do was cry, cry. So tap my forehead and let my eyes disappear, this song is okay still!

You can check out more about Wish on his informative and honest mySpace page!

NO MAS SCORE 1/10
THA CROSSROADS SCORE 7/10

Two more quick notes about Bone: tha Haircuts and the spellings of things. WHAT ARE THOSE ALL ABOUT?




Australia! That's way better than Missouri (I guess).