Time after time, everywhere I look
Everywhere I turn, n***as talkin’ ’bout death
Like a n***a can’t dream of nothin’ else
But a little bit of wealth, tryin’ to help they self
And I really can’t blame you, ’cause I do the same too
Man do what you gotta do
But what I’ma do is keep protectin’ my cheddar fool
Ain’t none of y’all n***as do it better, ooh
And I’m ahead of you and y’all hate it
Only the real thugs keepin’ it raw
Grippin’ that heat tight, livin’ that street life
N***a I’ma let it fool ’round and get war
N***as is plottin’ that 211
That’s why I got heat for armageddon
Picture Lay on his knees and I’m beggin’
N***a better shoot me and send me to heaven
Fuck all the drama, I’ma just blast
Hollow point tips off in that ass
Tha slicka the n***a that’s pullin’ the trigga
Is the n***a that’s standin’ up last
Countin’ this cash, still doin’ this mash
Blowin’ much weed as we watch you bleed
N***a got killed for the love of the cheese
Now you can’t do shit ’cause you’re six feet deep….
(Layzie Bone; “Resurrection (Paper, Paper)”)
Wake up, wake up, it’s the first of the month (at least where I live)….and what better way to celebrate than with a throwback review for the 18th anniversary of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s platinum-selling fourth full-length studio album, BTNHResurrection? To be fair, this joint dropped on Leap Day in 2000, but such tiny details aren’t important at this time. Having already enjoyed back-to-back quadruple-platinum success with the respective landmark albums E. 1999 Eternal (1995) and The Art Of War (1997) as well as several solo albums and side projects (including platinum plaques for the solo debuts of members Bizzy and Krayzie and platinum and gold ones for the extended Mo Thugs family), Cleveland, OH’s tenacious tongue-twisting talents (whew!) returned to proper form amid rumors of a breakup and a three-year loss of collective momentum. This time around, often overlooked part-time fifth member Flesh-N-Bone appears with the original quartet (consisting of Layzie Bone and Wi$h Bone in addition to Bizzy and Krayzie) on almost all of the tracks, though he is curiously not pictured anywhere in the liner notes with the others; Flesh would serve eight years in prison on weapons charges shortly after and wouldn’t officially rejoin the group on an album until 2010’s Uni5: The World’s Enemy.
Much like Bone’s previous work, BTNHResurrection offers a solid balance of hardcore and mellow tracks, as underrated longtime Bone producer DJ U-Neek returns to the fold alongside additional contributors LT Hutton, Jimmy “JT” Thomas and Darren Vegas. The two songs that best convey Bone’s comeback and demonstrate the hard/smooth trade-off are the opening track “Show ‘Em” (an explosive, hard-hitting smack in the face to all the haters and naysayers, ensuring that the group was indeed back with a vengeance) and the lead single “Resurrection (Paper, Paper)” (a lush, melodic and less confrontational welcoming back of the five Bone brothers, this time incorporating their signature singing vocals (the harmony, if you will) into the mix; seeing the group perform the latter song live back in January of 2016 was a particularly special moment for me, as they proved it was still relevant so many years after the fact. Through all the trials and tribulations that Bone has endured as a group over the years, it’s quite a beautiful thing to see them still coming together and touring extensively with all members present to this day.
Other highlights on BTNHResurrection include the laid-back, drugged-out groove of “Ecstasy”, the duality of the gentle-yet-sinister bells on “2 Glocks”, the thunderous banger “Murder One”, the unapologetic crack rap of “Servin’ Tha Fiends” and the blissful, feel-good vibes of “Don’t Worry” and the creatively titled obligatory marijuana ode “Weed Song”. Also, “Battlezone” contains one of Krayzie Bone’s most relentlessly rapid flows ever. With the exception of a couple duds here and there (most notably, the well-intentioned but otherwise awful “Change The World” as well as the forgettable Bizzy Bone bonus solo cut “One Night Stand”), this album is certainly a high point in Bone’s long and tumultuous career and a hell of a comeback at the time. I consume so much music that I don’t always have a story for my first time hearing certain albums, but I can remember being a freshman in high school copping BTNHResurrection at The Wherehouse the day it came out; being a huge fan of Bone at the time, I was eager with anticipation and my thirst was only intensified after hearing some of the songs playing there the previous day. For those who don’t know or are too young to remember, The Wherehouse, in a nutshell, was a popular chain of music stores that specialized in new and used CDs (which, looking back, were often ridiculously overpriced). There was one just a couple blocks away from my high school, and it served as my after-school sanctuary on most days. I think it’s a BevMo! now or some shit.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGdZva9S6w4]
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StretchCorleone
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