Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

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Reviews > Album Reviews > Bone Thugs-N-Harmony – “Art Of War: World War III”

Art Of War: World War III

Monday 6th January, 2014 by Scottie D | 0 Comments

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(5 votes, average: 4.60 out of 5)

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15 years…. That’s how long it’s been since Bone Thugs -N- Harmony released their 1997 classic double album “The Art Of War”. Now the sticker on the front of the CD has it listed as “all 5 members” reunited… Let me explain a few things before we go further. Between this release and their last release “UNI-5: The World’s Enemy”, a lot has gone down. Bizzy entered rehab again, Krayzie and Wish left and returned, and recently Layzie announced his departure. Although all 5 members are present on this album. It’s mostly just 2 of the original 5 members: Bizzy and Flesh. Bizzy and Flesh also serve as Concept and Project Cordinators alongside DJ Uneek. With the help of long-time Producer DJ Uneek, BTNH brings you the 3rd chapter in the epic “Art Of War” saga.

For those who didn’t like the poppy style Bone portrayed on their last release, you will be very happy to hear that the poppy/radio friendly BS has been lowered to normal Bone standards. At the helm is the return of the raw/underground/devil-like/harmonic/street raps that got the attention of Eazy-E in the first place.

WWIII – Introduction
Top Notch
Murda On U (featuring: Don Jagwarr)
Born In The Ghetto (feat: Big B)
Bone (feat: Tanieya Weathington)
Bring it Back
Approach 2 Danger
Bitch iz a Bitch
It’s A Bone Thang (feat: Tanieya Weathington)
100-K
Deep End (feat: Por’cha)
Back In Tha Dayz (feat: Tanieya Weathington)
Walk This Way (feat: Big B)
Rapella (feat: Por’cha) – Interlude
Swagged Out
It Will Be Alright (feat: Por’cha)
In Memory of Eazy (feat: Bruce-E-Bee & Phaedra)

Now, here’s a track-by-track breakdown:

The intro has a clip from conspiracy theory documentaries laced with a hidden subliminal message.
The 2nd track is “Top Notch”. At first when I saw the title, it made me think it was a radio song. Hell naw! The second I heard the hook I knew it was for the streets with hardcore vocals from Flesh and Bizzy.
A man by the name of Don Jagwarr joins all 5 thugstaz for “Murda On U” which showcases the tongue-twisted stylistics that put Bone on the map.
“Born in the Ghetto Featuring Big B” (not the Sub Noize artist…we need to clear that up right away.) is a great flashback track about growing up in Cleveland, Ohio courtesy of B.B. Gambini and The Howse Brothers (Bizzy, Layzie, and Flesh). “Born in the Ghetto” could serve as a somewhat sequel to the classic “I Tried” from their 2007 album “Strength & Loyalty”.
“Bone” Ft Tenieya Weathington samples the 2Pac classic “Pain”, but has a completely different concept. Bizzy and Flesh open up about personal issues within their actual personal lives.
“Bring It Back” brings back that mix of feel-good music with memorable harmonies that give the same feeling as Bone’s other classics such as “1st Of Tha Month”, “If I Could Teach The World”, “Change The World” “Get Up And Get It”, “I Tried”, “See Me Shine”, and the list goes on.
“Approach 2 Danger” is a cover of the classic NWA song of the same name, but with new lyrics by Bone. It’s a different twist of the beat as well as a return to a tiny bit of their Horrorcore/Wicked Shit roots signaling a return to a level of Bone Thugs Music that hasn’t been heard since…well….1997!
They cover yet another NWA classic with “Bitch Iz A Bitch”, sampling both the classic title of the same as well as the very rare D.O.C. classic “Bridgette”. The song’s concept? Well, it’s like this: To quote Toonami’s Tom “99 Problems and all these bitches are one”.
Next up is “It’s a Bone Thang” featuring Tenieya Weathington. To me the song sounds like it could be played on the radio but also be cranked up past 11 out on the streets while driving around.
The next track, “100-K”, has actually been getting some mainstream radio play. This track made me cringe the second I heard Bizzy with that annoying/lame/whack/stupid/dumb/cheap excuse of programming known as AutoTune. (Bizzy if you ever read reviews like this…please for for the love of Eazy DON’T EVER FUCKING USE AUTOTUNE AGAIN! PLEASE DON’T!) I find this strange because Bizzy doesn’t even need autotune.
“Deep End” featuring Por’Cha comes next. It has a Dub-step style feel to the mix added with some “real-talk” raps from Bizzy, Layzie, and Flesh.
Next up is “Back In Tha Dayz” Featuring Tenieya Weathington which opens up the truth about members’ falling outs, family disputes, and Bizzy’s battle over drug use.
The next track is a Bizzy solo track called “Walk This Way” featuring Big B (again, not the Sub Noize artist). I feel like this song is one of the more memorable tracks.
The next track is just an interlude called “Rappella” featuring Por’Cha and Gray The Beatboxer. It’s a small solo verse from Layzie Bone.
Next up is “Swagged Out” which although the title is that of a style that I can’t stand, I am a pretty big fan of what is done with the vocals. It’s that midwestern tongue-twisting flows actually calling out the idiots who brag about their “Swag”. If ya hate people talking about their “swag” than this song is just for you!
“It will be Alright” featuring Por’Cha is right afterwards, which has a friendly beat and nice melodic lyrics that’s style is reminiscent of what helped make Bone Thugs a household name. You could call this song here, a sequel to a song from “So good-So Right” from “Strength & Loyalty” with some uplifting messages for those of us who are just a little pessimistic.
The album closes with “In Memory of Eazy” featuring Bruce E. Bee and Phaedra. It does feature all 5 members paying homage to the man who made them famous: the late Eric “Eazy-E” Wright. The boys give one proper heartfelt goodbye to their mentor and friend.

All in all. Art Of War-World War III is not what everybody is gonna expect. There were even rumors claiming that Tech N9ne, Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West wre going to be guests on it. Even though that wasn’t the case, this is as authentic as Bone gets despite all the circumstances surrounding this album. Before I even give out my review I will give you 2 reasons why I gave this album the rating I did. #1: DJ Uneek is back at the helm as producer for almost every song on the record, and that is something that was long-long-long-long overdue. #2: I have to give props to Bizzy Bone and Flesh-N-Bone for keeping the ship afloat during all these major issues and if this is the final Bone album ever, I’m very glad to have bought it. Maybe someday they’ll all make up and stop the fueds that have pretty much decimated Bone Thugs for the last decade. But until than. let’s all just sit back and enjoy this collection of great music.