For The 50th Anniversary Of Hip-Hop, Cleveland Is Renaming The Iconic E. 99 St. & St. Clair Intersection "Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Way"

It's almost impossible to create your own sound in hip-hop music and it not be immediately copied. Most of the shit you hear on the radio sounds like the same guy making the same crappy song with slightly different crappy lyrics. It pays to blend in with the crowd because the empty suits - who wouldn't know cool if it sat on their face - have a track record of that exact style of sound making them money. They love to rinse and repeat.

Because of that, you can count on one hand the artists who have monopolized a unique sound all their own that no one could ever duplicate. Outkast, Kendrick Lamar, and Tech N9ne all come to mind. But maybe no one more so than Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

And for the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop on August 11th Cleveland is renaming the iconic E. 99th & St. Clair intersection after the rap group. The street signs were featured in their music video "Foe The Love of Money" which also featured rap legend Eazy E. 

It's a well deserved honor for a group that has a ton of bangers that not only stand the test of time but actually seem to get better with age. First of the Month, Crossroads, Thuggish Ruggish Bone, Notorious Thugs...you can throw on any one of those songs while you're hanging with the boys and it'll get the party going. And we all have that one buddy who swears he knows every word but ends up mumbling 70% of the song and then saying the last word loudly like he was on track the entire time. 

Relax Derek. 

I remember as a kid my buddy Dom had the cassette tape for Thuggish Ruggish Bone and we listened to that thing so much we warped it. I also remember the night Crossroads premiered on Yo! MTV Raps. That was monumentous day in Cleveland. A group from our town with their own distinct style was on top of the rap world. 

But nothing makes me prouder than the fact Bone made perhaps the most ridiculous song of all time and somehow people still love it nearly a quarter century later. Sure Lil Nas X make country/rap crossovers cool with Old Town Road, but that shit is just the Disney reboot of Ghetto Cowboy.

It's easily one of the most absurd songs ever created but it still somehow slaps to this day. I don't know how high these guys were when they thought to make this but I'm sure glad the weed man had a solid stash. I dare you to listen to Ghetto Cowboy and not belt out, "WITH MY SAWED OFF SHOTGUN!" 

You can't not do it. 

So congrats to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony on the honor. And congrats to all those random people who were featured in Ghetto Cowboy with Bone. You'll always be a little part of music history, as absolutely ridiculous as it is.