Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Creepin on Ah Come Up (1994) [MP3]

Back in 1994, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony came out of nowhere, at least from my perspective (a kid growing up in the U.K.). In terms of chronology, the previously named “B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e” did have an album titled Faces Of Death a year prior to this, but I only saw that cassette and CD in U.S. stores following the success of the rebranded “Bone Thugs-N-Harmony”. Creepin On Ah Come Up is therefore, the group’s proper debut, although it is a little short, coming in at under 30 minutes in length. This is why many people refer to it as an EP. I personally look at EP’s as extended singles and the fact that there’s an intro and a skit here, it’s not exactly an expanded single in the traditional sense. The liner notes do state that these songs are taken from an upcoming album titled “Thugs N Harmony” (which of course never happened) but this does give legitimacy to the fact that this is an EP. Hey, if this is an EP, in my opinion it’s the best EP ever made.

On paper, Creepin’ On A Come Up shouldn’t work; there’s two short introductions in quick succession, only five songs, followed by an orgasm set to a Spanish and electric guitar. But none of this matters because right from the start, Krayzie, Bizzy, Lazy, Wish, and Flesh’s unique flavour of singing-slash-rapping is instantly likeable and demands appreciation. Their distinctive and melodious singing in “Intro” (“East 99 is where you find me slinging me’ yayo”) and “Mr. Ouija” (“Dear Mr. Ouija, I want to know my future; will I die of murder? of bloody murder?”) followed by the almost chanting of “murder, murder, mo murder, mo murder, murder, mo murder”, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony introduces listeners to their unique brand of Hip-Hop never really heard before ’94. I know double-time has been going on since the 1980’s and there’s always been an argument about who introduced the masses to speedy raps in the 1990’s (Bone, Twista or even The Jaz) but it’s obvious who was the most listenable, simply because this quinumvirate had an almost magical ingredient beyond just being able to rap slightly fast. Bone were indeed in a class by themselves.

The first full-length track in this EP is “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” (with a hook by an uncredited Shatasha Williams who sings her name in the shoutouts towards the end of the song). In “Thuggish”, Bone prove their collective talents. Each member was individual yet somehow matched and complemented everyone else.

The summery weather wasn’t just contained within this music video, I remember the sun out in full-force in the UK when I got a copy of this album. This was around the time when my family first got cable television and Yo! MTV Raps was eye-opening for a young Hip-Hop fan like me. I used to record music videos I liked off that show onto VHS and this was one of my favourites. Speaking of recordings, back then, school kids used to buy one album and record it for their friends who would in turn buy a different album and copy that. To stretch their modest amount of money, every child owned a couple of studio-mastered cassettes but also several duplications (although every copied tape I ever had I eventually bought an official copy of – sometimes in multiple formats – because these golden era albums were undeniable classics). When it comes to this EP specifically, I remember convincing my friend who was into Rock music to buy this album and even though his musical tastes were far from mine, he loved Creepin On Ah Come Up nonetheless. This was Bone’s appeal; their soulful, speedy, sing-raps peppered with hardcore and slightly horrorcore lyrical content was highly distinctive and infectious to anyone hearing it. This is how the band managed to crossover without having to sell out. Since Bone Thugs-N-Harmony were part-singing themselves, you couldn’t exactly accuse them of adding R&B vocals to their music to get onto the radio (if you care about sales, their first single went Gold in the US and this EP went 4x Platinum).

I have to reiterate that nobody else sounded like this, sure there were groups like Three 6 Mafia but their delivery wasn’t as slick and their releases weren’t as polished as this. Take the next track “No Surrender”, it serves as an example of how a vocoder effect should be used. The vocoder’s offspring – auto-tune – is used to correct people’s lack of skill whereas this is used as an effect only, a robotic echo, perfect for this kind of hook. With the G-Funk-esque whine and subtle piano playing in the back, this is lyrically an unashamed anti-police song, the kinda track that the right-wing would have a hissy fit over if it were released today (“Puttin’ me on my knees, tellin’ me move and I’m dead, ‘cause I’m killin’ all you bitches, turnin’ them blue suits red”). Incidentally, the amount of “pop, pop, pop’s” by Wish Bone in his verse made one of my friends laugh when he first listened to it; that portion was like a precursor to the cough verse by Nu Brand Flexxx.

Next up is “Down Foe My Thang” and it’s even more G-Funk and even more left-coast gangsta rap thanks to the production by Rhythm D. The song is memorable for Bizzy’s uniquely harmonious-yet-violent lyrics and delivery (“Remember the Ripsta, sinister creeper, rippin’ up that set with a street-sweeper, Gotta take a breather from sippin’ me’ litre, Rippin’ that flesh when I sneak with a meat cleaver, When I’m in me’ [?], never the studio thugsta, Buck ’em, buck ’em, motherfuck ’em, Thug never done bluff and fuck them bustas”). Krayzie’s unsurpassed double-time is also present, even though he’s a lot faster in future solo songs.

The title track “Creepin On Ah Come Up” is a slow, G-Funk-sounding joint that conjures-up the warmth around at the time of this EP’s release. Krayzie’s tale of robbery is enjoyable (“I snatched the clerk up by her neck, put the gun in her mouth and said “Bitch, you better move quick back to the safe, If you wanna be killed try some stupid shit”, And pushing that panic switch will get you nowhere but hell, Trail to the back with the money in the sack, Locked ’em all in the vault, time to bail”) and Layzie Bone also showcases his talents here (“I’m sittin’ in my room, and a nigga feelin’ down, Steady thinkin’ ’bout how to get paid, Gotta gauge at my waist that be spellin’ out murder, That’ll get a nigga locked the cage”).

“Foe Tha Love Of $” comes next and it sports a slower-tempo and laid-back vibe with an R’N’B chorus. The only criticism I have is the verse by Eazy-E whose flow and delivery comes across as outdated when compared to the actual members of Bone Thugs (everyone from Wish to Krayzie) but I guess since this EP was released on Eazy’s Ruthless Records in the ’90s, this was a time when the label head had to be all-up in the music in a Puff Daddy kind of way. Even the album cover to Creepin had the text “Featuring Eazy-E” at the top which I assume was marketing to the post-N.W.A. crowd. In my case, I just liked the group’s music regardless who’d signed them. But I digress.

You could argue that the final track “Moe Cheese” is unneeded, especially since the production is merely a duplicate of the previous song (with the exception of the easy-listening guitar) but the whole album is over so quick and so enjoyable while it lasts, that you want to put Creepin On Ah Come Up on again as soon as you finish listening to it.

With the exception of the final none-song, every track on this album is a favourite of mine. If for example, I ever make a “Best Of” playlist, every other joint from this EP would be on there. And that’s my only problem with this release; if “Moe Cheese” would have been replaced by another song or removed entirely, this would be a 10/10 but that’s just a small gripe in an otherwise perfect album.

On a side-note, one question I always had is why Flesh-N-Bone isn’t in the group photo on the cover. I remember reading somewhere that Eazy-E signed the group but not Flesh and always wondered why this was. It’s strange that in the intro, we hear about “Five true thugs from the Double Glock; Bizzy, Wish, Krayzie, Layzie and that nigga Flesh” but one of the members isn’t apparently signed. He was also missing from a huge chunk of the group’s follow-up E. 1999 Eternal and was nowhere to be seen on that LP’s cover. If you have any additional info on this, leave a comment below.

In terms of sounds, DJ U-Neek and DJ Yella are producers for most of the EP and they create a good solid base for the five-piece to lay their lyrical brilliance over. Topics such as criminal violence and the Ouija board delivered with smooth vocals from the Midwest (laid over west coast production) was such an unpredictable combination that it had to be heard to believed. less than a year after the Wu-Tang Clan seamlessly blended Kung-Fu flicks with gritty East Coast Hip-Hop, here we had more juxtaposed originality. This is why this was the “Golden Era” of Hip-Hop music.

Three decades later, Creepin On Ah Come Up sounds as fresh as the day it was released and it’s much more impressive than anything created by more recent copycats from the 2010’s to the present day. So I ask you: when was the last time you heard a truly new style? Not for the last two decades at least. And when was the last time a rapper introduced the masses to their city or state? Not since the 1990’s I reckon.

A print advert for this release promised “phat rhymes, crazy rhythmz [sic] and dope harmonies” and Creepin On Ah Come Up delivered on all its promises. With this and their next album E.1999 Eternal, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony definitely put Cleveland, Ohio on the map, way before Anthony Sowell ever did.

They Came Up.