Cleveland’s Bone Thugs have restored harmony
in their ranks and have moved forward with a new single with an unlikely ally
– 80’s rock icon Phil Collins.
The collaboration, “Home,” the current single from their Thug World Order set,
almost didn’t happen due to early apprehension. The song is a play on Collins
1985 hit, “Take Me Home.”
“We weren’t even going to try [to sample Phil Collins] because we didn’t think
it would get cleared, but somebody said just try it at least,” Krayzie told
AllHipHop.com. The rapper compared the effort to his “Hard Time Hustlin'” where
he sampled jazzy-diva Sade in 2001.
Furthermore, Collins was actually eager to work with the Thugs after hearing
the song and other songs the group previously recorded.
“He wanted to do it, but he was busy, he was on tour, he was doing Disney –
basically, we had to go out to Switzerland to get it going,” Layzie added. “We
hopped on a flight and put it down.”
And when they got to Switzerland, the newly formed trio said Collins was gracious
not displaying any of the arrogance, pompousness typically associated with a
rock legend.
“Nobody was trippin’. He brought his own clothes, drove himself to the video
and he kicked it like us. We show up with our own clothes to videos too,” Wish
Bone said.
And the crew re-confirmed they have permanently ousted founding member Bizzy
Bone, who they charge cause unnecessary tension within the quartet. Last year,
the group kicked him out and then brought him back hoping to iron out their
differences. But, most recently, they decided to part ways amicably so all parties
can remain friends.
“With Bizzy it came to a point where we had to make a decision about how we
wanted to move forward with our future,” Layzie Bone stated. “He chose his way
and we choose our way.”