Mysteries of Rap: What Does B.O.N.E. Stand For?



Before the Harmony



First class, leaving mics in a cast. Causing ruckus like the aftermath when guns blast.

Welcome to something HUGE. Well, not that big! Very small, in fact. All we're going to do is see what BONE stands for.

In case you didn't know, sometimes when I see the name of "Bone Thugs-n-Harmony", the word Bone is an acronym, you know: B.O.N.E.? What is that all about? And why didn't we answer this question during the five million words we published during "1st of tha Month" week (what a stupid name by us).

Okay. So for a while there EVERYONE in the hip hop world was making their name into an acronym.

KRS-ONE: Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone (Duuumb)
NWA: Everyone knows this one
Notorious B.I.G.: either "Books Instead of Guns" or "Business Instead of Game" (I'm pretty sure it's the second one) but I think he elaborated or changed it or something on Life After Death.
Junior M.A.F.I.A.: Junior Masters At Finding Intelligent Attitudes (Good Grief)
Fat Joe: Uh, Fat Jealous One's Envy (very stupid, jealously and envy are different things)
Memphis Bleek: Waaaay too dumb to look up
Wu Tang Clan: Witty Unpredictable Talent and Natural Game (sigh)
Beastie Boys: Boys Entering something something whatever
Ja Rule: Jeffrey Atkins Represents Unconditional Love’s Existence (You've got to be kidding me)

You get it, right? Each letter stands for something really stupid.

We're not even the first ones to notice this, it's a thing. It's called a backronym, when you tack on meaning to each letter after the fact (or sometimes before the fact). It's all quite dumb, tisk-tisk. So, I don't think that I've ever heard what B.O.N.E. stands for and I was listening to them a lot longer than several of those guys listed above. Internet, can you help me?

Well, when they started out BONE was called "The Band-Aid Boys", could it have something to do with that? Maybe. Wasn't Nelly a Band-Aid Boy? Probably not the same thing (hopefully).

Then, suddenly, they became B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e when they released their first small time album called "Faces of Death" (which I bought after they signed with Ruthless, and it sucked). Anyway...Bingo! SEE, THERE IS THE ACRONYM. So what is B.O.N.E.?

I don't know! It doesn't say, and once they signed with Eazy they just became Bone. WTFF? I know Eazy named them "Thugs-n-Harmony" and they insisted on keeping the name Bone, but they dropped the acronym. Why? Eventually they started using BTNH. That makes sense. Then they came out with an album called T.H.U.G.S., or Trues Humbly United Gathering Souls, which doesn't make sense, and I hate it, but it had something to do with the Mo Thugs family WHICH I ALSO HATE. Haters gon' hate. Also, I forgot they called each other trues? LOL, kind of. Then they had a album called UNI-5 which is so freaking dumb. BUT WHAT IS B.O.N.E.?

Why is the Grim Reaper saying that?
 Hey death, WTF does BONE stand for?

This is really hard to track down. BUT WAIT BINGO! I MIGHT HAVE FOUND IT? I might have found part of it. In Google, the little summary under this link says "...stands for Blood Only..." but that's it. I can't access the site. What's the rest, GOOGLE? Blood Only What? The site looks really shady, but I seem to recall that B.O.N.E. might stand for Blood Only, No Enemys. Is that right? NO? Yes? I don't think so.

Ah, I really found it, and I can prove it! Check out the very small text in the liner notes from "Faces of Death":



THANK YOU RAP MUSIC GUIDE AND THE INTERNET

Did you catch it? B.O.N.E. stands for Beating On N----z Everyday. NO DUH. That is so simple. Here is what it says in the "thanks" section of the notes: "To tha Cops: STOP! Beating On N----z Everyday!!! - B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e". I guess I could be reading that wrong, but I'm just going to live with it. It's so perfect for 1974 or whenever this came out. Bone. Never Forget.

Now that the mystery is solved, let's examine the rest of this artifact. Holy crap, they were already calling themselves the Mo Thug organization in 1993. I thought that they had invented that much later just to make money.

I'm going to go a step deeper. How many people listed in these cover notes went on to become performers in the Mo Thugs Family?

I see Boogie Nikke listed, he was in the Poetic Hustla'z (who eventually released an album). There is someone named "Tonya Tone" listed, and the Poetic Hustla'z had a guy named either Tony Tone or Touch Tone. I guess that could be the same guy. That's about it.

There is a guy named Stew Bone. I like that.

There is a threat of a "whipping" for unlawful reproduction. Funny.

Flesh-n-Bone wasn't a member of the group yet (I don't think he joined until E. 1999 Eternal).
What else? The members of Bone have alternate names! That's something!

Layzie Bone - #1 Assassin
Bizzy Bone - Rest In Peace
Krayzie Bone - Leather Face
Wish Bone - Strate Jacket

I see that Layzie wasn't signed with his team at this point but was appearing through his own talent group or something, and the boys hadn't met DJ U-Neek yet.

In Conclusion: Memory Lane. So fun.

MYSTERY SCORE 7/10




Your best friends are ready for a picnic!



Track Checker: Nino Bless "Tribute to Bone Thugs"

AHOY BOZOS! You look about as weird as an elderly man on a cell phone. That being said, it's time to continue "1st of tha Month Week" by changing things up and looking at a recent Bone Thugs-N-Harmony tribute song from Brooklyn native and Slaughterhouse reject Nino Bless. Just what the world has been waiting for!

Nino Bless. That guy. The Latin Gunner. NY Native. Something about Slaughterhouse. Something about Kool G Rap. Who cares? He's a new generation rapper with a decent recent mixtape. THE DECENT RECENT! AIRHORN!!! I can't believe that came up out my head. Sluuurreed! 

So what does this young guy have to do with the baby boomer group BONE THUGS N HARMONY? I'm glad you asked. You're very curious.

His latest mixtape "The Latin Marksman" has a track called "Tribute to Bone Thugs"! That's the same thing we're trying to do with this week kind of! I always knew that Nino Bless and the Tortoise General would agree on something BIG, I just didn't know what. Now I do: tributes to BONE! Also, I don't think I've ever heard a str8 up tribute song before on a hip hop album. Maybe that one Puffy song for BIG? Or something for Pun. I don't think those are in the same category as this though, because everyone who was in Bone is still living. So this might be a hip hop first? I doubt it. Let's go! Bloggerhouse stylez.



That's a lot of guitars! And what does he mean when he says that he "had" to do a tribute song? Was he forced? Is a forced tribute less of a tribute?

The beat isn't great. It's not bad, but it also doesn't have enough bump. They traded the boom for the epic feel. I can live with that, but it will reduce the spinz.

The vocal levels are way off, the boy needs some mastering. Word. And the flow is a little choppy, maybe that's Nino's style (it is), but it makes some of the lines hard to digest (at the beginning of the song anyway). But as usual with Nino, the shit is decent. Everything is going along just like a normal song (not having much to do with Bone) and then BAM! It starts having to do with Bone. A lot. I'm hearing a legitimate Bone flow. It almost sounds like a guy from Bone is rapping. GOOD JOB? I can't understand the raps, just like the real Bone! I like that. This song really picks up.

The song goes from normal to great. I definitely prefer this to recent work from the real BONE! Nino Bless out boned Bone! Very nice job indeed.

IN CONCLUSION: Let's just wrap up 1st of tha Month week with the words Nino Bless uses to close out his tribute...

"Shout out to Bone Thugs N Harmony

One of the most original...groups - artists

of our time...probably ever

in any realm. Yeh!"

Also shout to Nino Bless. Yeh!

TRIBUTE TO BONE THUGS 8/10

Here's the whole mixtape (if you're interested), it's good. There is some fire on here, Nino is a mad smart rapper (but the vocals could use some more finishing or something, I don't know, ask a producer like DJ U-NEEK).

Download Mixtape | Free Mixtapes Powered by DatPiff.com

Video Review: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony "1st of tha Month"

Heey! Today mas I think it’s a wonderful daaaaaay! We're going to review the world famous music video for Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's  classic song 1st of tha Month. Cleveland! Ohio! We've already checked out the lyrics to this song too many times, and we honestly have no idea what anyone is saying. So today we'll see if we can get a clue by watching the hit music video. FUSE.

Before we should begin I guess we should put the obvious foot forward and guess what this video will be about (I have seen it a million times, but not in the last decade, so I can't really remember it at all). So I think we all know that welfare checks are paid on the first of the month (well, we might not ALL know that...some people are rich). So this video will probably be about spending the little bit of get-by money on big things (and narcotics)!


One other thing, I don't think that I've actually reviewed this song yet (even though we have two posts already on it). So.......It's a good song! I mean, it's not the best, and it's not even Bone's best. It has an unusual sound and very high quality production. So good job there (I guess). Otherwise I would call this one of Bone's most popular songs that is pretty good. Done in the sun. Except that I would like to make a point on the content. Compare this song, about getting a little tiny bit of money for food, to modern rap songs, like Make it Rain by Fat Joe (not that modern). I am a fan of Joe, but I absolutely cannot relate to Make it Rain. I don't have money! Not only that, if most people found a few bucks laying on the ground they'd be pretty happy. Nobody throws it on the ground. Fucking rich people throwing money on the impoverished crowd is insulting and WAY OUT OF TOUCH. Listen, if I were standing there and some fat cat rich asshole threw a few twenties on the ground for me to pick up, I would (hopefully) break his tennis racket over his head and then shove that cash in his fat mouth along with whatever litter was nearby. On the other hand I CAN RELATE to the Bone song. I live check to check and payday is the best!


Fine. Done. Let's get on with this review. Cash ya checks and come on!



Let us review...


Sunrise. Right off the bat: LOL! Why in the hell are all the BONE boys sleeping in their thrones at church? Why are they around a crystal ball, and why is the crystal ball showing the sunrise outside AND old Eazy-E videos? I mean, if I had a crystal ball, I imagine that at some point I would watch music videos on it and fall asleep. But probably not while hanging out with all of my friends. So weird. Plus, the crystal ball has an alarm clock! Just like my smart phone! Cool.


So now that everyone is up, the Apple iCrystal iBall starts showing them videos of some other people. Uh-oh. That probably means they're going to die! A homeless guy. A little kid. Time's up bozos, for the Thugs of Boneingham hath forseen it! The boys watch intently. But it's not enough for Wish, he picks up a much smaller Crystal Ball (nano?) and watches the music video for First of tha Month! Just like what we're trying to do. That makes perfect sense.

So, now that everyone is on the same page (us and Bone), let us review...



Fun. Like a roller coaster?

Okay! Bone is driving through the neighborhood and someone gets the bright idea to rap on the hood. DEATH RACE! Only super slow. So slow, that I'm wondering if the driver should be pulled over for DUI. Probably.

Meanwhile back at the church (where the boys sleep in their thrones) we have the same guy rapping while the other guys are dancing ghosts. Are they dead? Maybe! That might help to explain the crystal ball stuff. Well this verse plays out switching between rapping in the church and rapping on the car. Easy enough. Eazy E enough. The background changes oddly sometimes, making me wonder if they're really driving...

They look scared.

We have a third location pop in: a family cook out. YUM! Actually, more like a block party! So fun.

Well, these themes continue for the rest of the verse. Block party, church, car hood, repeat.

The next verse starts and the boys are back in the church, only now they're watching the block party on the crystal ball. I would say that the boys feel left out, except that they are also at the block party. Maybe they're watching a home video. OR, DUH, THEY'RE WATCHING THEIR OWN MUSIC VIDEO! How did I forget that? 

Suddenly the image in the crystal ball changes to someone reading a newspaper. What's this? What is that guy reading?

He's not reading! He's watching a video in the paper next to a headline that reads "Abraham Hundreds Participate in 7th Graffiti Cleanup". Interesting news story, I'd say, except the guy looks pretty grumpy about it. Did he make the graffiti? I love graffiti! Leave it alone. It's how gangs mark their turf - they need it!


NOW WAIT A MINUTE! WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON? We get a close up of the newspaper and we can clearly see that the graffiti headline was glued in there. The real headline says :"Redefining U.S. Foreign Policy ... Focusing on the Pacific Rim". That's not relevant news. PLUS, the video is showing a  line for check cashing. That has nothing to do with the Pacific Rim, and probably very little to do with graffiti. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SHOW IN THIS VIDEO BONE THUGS?

Things that make you go hmmm. I guess the dude is mad about the check cashing. That makes the most sense. Actually he doesn't look mad, maybe just disappointed. Fine. Another fat cat looking down on the poor. What else is new?


The next verse is similar to the previous one: church, car hood, block party, gazing into the crystal ball, repeat. I will say that the boys appear riveted by what they see in the ball, but from what I can tell, they're watching really boring shit. People sleeping, people reading the newspaper, people pushing shopping carts. Dudes, change it over to ESPN.


So the fat cat is back in the crystal ball, and he's still reading. BOORRINNGG. But now we see a new angle of the church, and I think Wish is playing a prank on everyone by putting his wig on a skelteon, he's going to give Layzie such a fright...

BEHIND YOU!

Ghost Hunters International. I like how laid back Wish's skeleton is. Str8 Loungin'. I could hang out with those bones. I guess that's why the rest of the team didn't have the corpse removed...it's just too chill. I get it. Plus it's like pure Bone.


So now we see that the fat cat newspaper reader is starting to sweat. What? Why? OH, he sees the homeless guy in a video on his desk (it's hard to explain).

Did he make that guy homeless? Definately. Is he feeling guilty about it? No way. Rich people hate poor people. Run and tell that. But wait, something major changes. The rich guy pulls a giant stack of money out of his jacket, and he starts dropping it on his desk. So of course it falls on the homeless guy who is so happy! No more homelessness! You're cured!

My heart has changed!

My luck has changed!

That's something. Is this some kind of social commentary? If the rich would only share the wealth the homeless would be happy? Or is this some kind of representation of what happens on the 1st of tha month, where people in need get money dropped in their lap by some unseen generous fat cat. Is the fat cat supposed to be god, or maybe the government? I wonder? No I don't. I don't care. This is stupid and rich people are the worst and they would never throw money at a poor person unless it meant that the poor person would be enterend into the Hunger Games or Running Man. You get the idea. Rich people hate you.


So the fat cat does his good deed and looks unsatisfied. Will he give more? Can he hear this Bone song?

NBC Presents: Wish on Wish

Ugh, is this almost over? No. Now the fat cat picks up a mini broom. Time to clean up? Yes. He sweeps the homeless guy (who he just helped) off the screen. That's weird.




Brush Brush Brush

Did the homeless guy get the money or not? I demand answers, but none come. There is a long stretch of Wish rapping and looking like he's having a great time. I wish I was there to have fun too! Wish Bone.


Now the crystal ball tunes back in to the little kid. And GOOD GRIEF, the fat cat is watching them too. Does anyone have any privacy anymore? So is the rich guy going to give them cash, and sweep them away too? Let's find out...

But wait! He's not watching them in a video, they're in his office or somthing, and he shuts the door on them and locks it. What? Maybe he's in their house. I don't know. Maybe it's all symbolic. Nobody will ever know since we never see them again.


Finally the fat cat comes accross Bone in the newspaper, it's a video of them around the ol' crystal ball.

What kind of horror will he bring down on our friends? Giant broom attack? Throw cash at them? I bet he closes the door on them too, I guarantee they are very noisy will all their harmonizing. It would be like living next to a barbershop quartet, only with five people in it. So if he closes the door, I think we'll all understand.

Old fat cat does the unexpected: he just throws away the newspaper. Done. But even with that Bone just keeps on rapping. In fact, they expand to a house party. Life gets better and better for the boys.

Who likes to rock the party?

And that's it. THE END.

IN CONCLUSION: What was any of that about? Maybe this video deserves a deeper analysis, maybe it deserves less. I don't know. I do know that the story part of this video made no sense. The rich guy gives money to the homless guy becasue he knows poverty is a problem, and the money brushes the problem away? He closes the door on famlies? He throws away BONE? Without the story portion of this video I think it would have been fine, but the story is hard to overlook. So is sleeping in church! SO IS THE CRYSTAL BALL. Nothing makes sense. Is the joke on me? Rapping on a blur car is pretty cool though. #respect.

1ST OF THA MONTH VIDEO SCORE 4/10

Freedom of █████████ Act: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony "1st Of Da Month"

Let's face it, yesterday was a disaster. You remember yesterday, right? When we tried to transcribe the lyrics to 1st of tha Month by Bone Thugs N Harmony? You know. Well, we weren't happy with that post and a lot of us felt that since we published grossly inaccurate lyrics, we were doing a disservice to everyone everywhere. So today we are RECTIFING the situation. We're doing the transcription thing again, but this time we're going FULL WIKILEAKS! We're blocking out any text that we're not 100% sure about.

For example. The groups name is "Bone Thugs-N-Harmony" but since I would call them Thugs IN Harmony, I would have to black box it. Like this:

Bone Thugs IN Harmony


It's like a GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT. #WORDUP #FreedomofInformationAct

So, let's do this again...once again with the radio edit and Tre! So fun...

"1st of ███ Month"

by

Bone Thugs ██ Harmony

[Chorus]

Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.

It’s the first of the mooooooonth.

So, get up. Get up. Get up.

So, cash your checks and come ooooooon.

(repeat x4)

[Verse 1]

Heeeeey!

Today ██ I think it’s a wonderful daaaaaay

And I won’t █████ ███ ███ ███

Cuz it’s the first of the moooonth

And now we smoking choking

Rollin █████

And sipping on █████ ██████

Thugginnnn’, comme comme

We got ███ ████ █████ ████
████ ██████

██ ███ ████ we riiiiide

█ ███ ████ to ███

East Ninety-niine

I get with my partner to get me some ███ ██

██████ █████ ██

That’s what you ████

We got █████ to get ██████
Fiend for the green leave

Give it up for the first to ████

Better lay low

Cuz the ███ ███ creep ███ ███ ███ ██

█████ ██ ██ get away

██████ toss that yayo keep your bank roll

Yeeaaahh

We havin’ a ceeeleeeebrationn

Love to stay hiii

███ ███ ██████ ████

When it’s time to grind

I’m down for mine

Criiime after criiiime

████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███
Cuz ████ got a ████ ██ the grill

If we got the ████, ███        

You know it’s the first of the month

███ ██ █████ we thugs for reeal

[Chorus x4]

[Verse 2]

Wake up.

██ █ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████

██ ████ ██ ██ really gon’ get my ██████

████ ███ make sure no one ████████ my █████

███ ████ that’s the ████ ███

████ through the mail ███

Put it ██ ████ ██ pocket

██ ███ ██ ████ to the ninety nine

███ giving it up █ ██████ ██████

█████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ████

███ ██████ ███ ███ ██████
███ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███ █████ ███ ███
Plaaaaya, plaaaaya, holllla, hollllla

Saint Clair got much to offfer

████ ██ my peeps on ninty threeeee

█ ████ ███ glock glock for some dollaaaars

Sooooo, get a bag of yayo and corner ████, ooooh

████ ████ of my ████████ got the same

███ we gonna ███ ██ ██ ███ █████ ███

██ █████ ███ ██████ the hyydroooo

██ █████ █████, ██████████ █ Po-po

██████ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███

████ ███ █████ ██████ ██
Runnin thru the alley in ██ ██ █ ████
Hop ██ the █████ ██ ████████

████ ███ from

January, Novemebr, December

I’m lovin’ the first of the █████

[Chorus x4]

[Verse 3]

It’s the first of the ███Gotta grind gotta get mine
In the hood that I claim
And I slang on the double nine (nine)
Gotta find them ████
████████ █ █████
███ █ thug get love, whuz up████ ███ thug on my corner█████ be a goner
Saint Claire thugs don’t like that
And sellin them dummies, makin that money
Come back automatic slug crack
From the first to the fifteenth █████ ██ ██ █████ ██████
███ █ █████████ gotta come up
put it all in a ███
█████ █ get blowed ██ da corner stow
grab a ████ ███
start a ████ ██ ███ ████
███████ ██ ██████ ███ added to the stassh
Gotta watch my backseeeeat
Play hataz
be out to rob me, foools
But never no shorts or no losses
Dumpin keepin these ███████ up off meee
See, could’ve ████ ██ whole block
Spend a couple bills
Thugs burn a lotta green on the first



[Chorus x2]

[Verse 4]



Wakin' up ██ ███ █████
up ██████ in the mornin'███████ and I'm gone in
lightweight ███ Chug-a-lug-a
Take a ████ to the dome█████ ██ ████ ██ █████
(███ ███ ██████ █████)

so i'm gettin ██ hustle on
Hop on the phone
Callin up Crazy Bone██████ ██, did ya ███ Check Coome?
"She put me doowwnn"

███ ██████ ███ ███ ███ █████ ████
You know lets get drunk
And I'm comin with ████ █ ██ ██
███ ███ ████ ███
█████ ███ ██ ██ ███
Oh God how I love when the first come around
now ██ ████ █ ████ ██
████ ██████ town
cuz see the first get celebrated████ to the block cuz i want to get faded████ ██ ███, cuz ██ ██████ ██ hair braided
Heavy off ██ ██ this game████ to the first
just call me that ███ ████
them ████ on the east to the west coast
makin that money all accross the world maaanee
Saint Claire Trues
and I know their working laate toonight
but they gotta make a livin
so I ask the lord to keep my homeboys allright
███ ██ ███ ██ ███ █████
all about making more
on the first get a ████ but don't flip
██ █ ███ fo the ███████
poetic hustlaz
and the graveyard shift
on the fiiiirst

[Chorus x8]

IN CONCLUSION: WOW! What a ████ idea for a post. I'm sure Bone fans everywhere are ██████. They are probably ████ in their ████! GROSS! And their mom? She's a ████, and she ██████ ██ ████ in her ████████ ██████. ███! That is so disgusting. Your mom is disgusting. █████ #SoNasty #BTNH4EVR.

LYRICAL INTRPRETATION SCORE █/10

1^ST OF THA MONTH SCORE 7/10

Rollin ████