RECORDINGS : A Quick Spin
RECORDINGS : A Quick Spin
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STRENGTH & LOYALTY
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
No act in pop music has ever melded sorrow with speed quite like Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
On their Grammy-winning 1996 hit, "Tha Crossroads," the lightning-tongued rappers mourned the loss of mentor Eazy-E in a thunderstorm of syllables. Weaving soulful melodies into those dizzying rhymes, the Cleveland-born troupe became hugely influential, but its music proved too morose to survive the feel-good ghetto-fabulous aesthetic of the late '90s.
Bone's comeback album, "Strength & Loyalty," stays true to the group's heavy-hearted roots without making sorrow feel like an aesthetic crutch. Up against the dance floor-friendly jams that dominate latter-day hip-hop, this disc feels like a breath of fresh, forlorn air.
From the speaker-thumping "Flow Motion" to the Bible-thumping "Order My Steps (Dear Lord)," Krayzie Bone, Wish Bone and Layzie Bone sound as nimble as ever -- albeit less melodic without the croon of on-again/off-again member Bizzy Bone.
They compensate with an impressive guest list, including cameos from the Game, Mariah Carey and Will.I.Am, as well as the omnipresent Akon, who seems to be meeting his quota of appearing on every pop album released this quarter.
Akon lends his croon to "I Tried," a radio single that takes big cues -- even its title -- from a 2005 Geto Boys song about becoming a repentant Geto Man.
The rappers' take on that same theme doesn't pull quite as many heartstrings, but can you blame them for trying?
DOWNLOAD THESE: "Flow Motion," "Streets," "Candy Paint"
-- Chris Richards
