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'Tha Crossroads' is a song written and performed by hip hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, taken from their album E. 1999 Eternal and released in 1996. The song is dedicated to the group's mentor, the late gangsta rap icon Eazy-E, and other family members. The song was the highest-debuting rap single when it debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.^[1] It is their biggest selling single, reaching number one on the Hot 100, and in 1997, the song won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.^[2]

• 3Track listings
• 4Charts and sales
• 5Blazin' Squad version

Background[edit]

'Crossroad' originally debuted in 1995 on the E. 1999 Eternal album. It was dedicated to Bone's dead friend Wallace (Wally) Laird III, but after the death of Eazy-E they decided to remake it as 'Tha Crossroads'.

The original song appears on the edited version of the album, though the European release has the original as track number 8 and the remix as track 18. The song is performed by four of the group's members, (Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Bizzy Bone and Wish Bone). After receiving high praise for their song the group decided to make it their third single for their already released album, E. 1999 Eternal.

The song was a smash hit worldwide and reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100. It has been certified 2x platinum in the United States.

In 2008, 'Tha Crossroads' was ranked number 33 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop. ^[3]

Music video[edit]

The music video was filmed on February 27–28, 1996. It opens with the female vocal group Tre' (Kimberly Cromartie, Rebecca Forsha and Maniko Williams) singing the traditional spiritual 'Mary Don't You Weep' in a church funeral setting, followed by the members of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony singing the main song in several settings, such as a church and a mountain top.

The main focus of the video is an imposing man with sunglasses and a trench coat, akin to a Reaper. Bone are among the few who can see the man, and watch him as he gathers souls of various individuals who are marked for death, such as a young man who leaves his distraught mother behind (presumably have died after entering life as a gang member), Bone's friend Mike G, Wish Bone's uncle Charles, Eazy-E, and a newborn baby (possibly to have died from a childbirth complication). The Reaper then leads the souls, with the baby in his arms, up a mountain where he reveals himself to be an angel, then takes the dead to Heaven.

'Tha Crossroads' was nominated for the Best Rap Video at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1996, although it lost to Coolio's 'Gangsta's Paradise.'

Track listings[edit]

Australian CD single[edit]

1. 'Tha Crossroads' (D.J. U-Neek's Mo Thug remix) – 3:50
2. 'Tha Crossroads' (D.J. U-Neek's remix instrumental) – 3:48
3. 'Crossroad' (LP version – radio edit) – 3:33
4. '1st of tha Month' (The Kruder and Dorfmeister remix) – 6:15
5. 'Thuggish Ruggish Bone' – 4:42

Charts and sales[edit]

Blazin' Squad version[edit]

'Crossroads', a retitled and reworked version of 'Tha Crossroads', was released by British ten-piece hip-hop group Blazin' Squad as their first single in August 2002.

Background[edit]

The group's cover version of 'Crossroads' was recorded for inclusion on their first studio album, In the Beginning. The decision to record and release 'Crossroads' came about during the final stages of the album production: until June 2002, the song 'Standard Flow' was planned for release as the group's first single, with a promotional version of the 'Standard Flow' even made available on August 5. Despite being labelled as a cover version, only the chorus from the original version remains, with the verses replaced by new lyrics written by the band. Despite being the only 'cover version' the group ever recorded, it became the band's only number one single, staying at the top of the UK Singles Chart for one week in August 2002.^[24] Two versions of the song exist: the main version, which features in the music video and on In the Beginning, and the full version, which contains two extra verses, which appears on the second physical release of the single.

Music video[edit]

The music video for 'Crossroads' directed by Vaughan Arnell was premiered in July 2002. The video runs for a total length of three minutes and forty-eight seconds^[25] and shows the band performing the song on top of an unfinished flyover in the centre of Cape Town. The video also shows scenes of an underpass where a number of homeless people are living, and individual shots of each band member. The video was filmed with the phantom effect, which provides a 'shadow' type movement for each member of the band.

Track listing[edit]

• Digital single^[26]

1. 'Crossroads' (radio edit) – 3:10
2. 'Uproar' – 3:25

• UK CD #1

1. 'Crossroads' (radio edit) – 3:10
2. 'Uproar' – 3:25
3. 'Crossroads' (CD-ROM video) – 3:45

• UK CD #2

1. 'Crossroads' (full version) – 3:50
2. 'Offering' – 3:20
3. 'Crossroads' (T.N.T Remix) – 3:50

• Cassette

1. 'Crossroads' (radio edit) – 3:10
2. 'Crossroads' (full version) – 3:50

Chart positions[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^CUDA, HEIDI SIEGMUND (1996-06-15). 'Seeking a Path After 'Tha Crossroads''. Los Angeles Times. ISSN0458-3035. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
2. ^'Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Biography & History AllMusic'. AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
3. ^'VH1's 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs'.
4. ^'Australian-charts.com – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – Tha Crossroads'. ARIA Top 50 Singles.
5. ^'Austriancharts.at – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – Tha Crossroads' (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
6. ^'Ultratop.be – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – Tha Crossroads' (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
7. ^'Ultratop.be – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – Tha Crossroads' (in French). Ultratop 50.
8. ^'Lescharts.com – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – Tha Crossroads' (in French). Les classement single.
9. ^'Musicline.de – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Single-Chartverfolgung' (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
10. ^'The Irish Charts – Search Results – Tha Crossroads'. Irish Singles Chart.
11. ^'Dutchcharts.nl – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – Tha Crossroads' (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
12. ^'Charts.nz – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – Tha Crossroads'. Top 40 Singles.
13. ^'Swedishcharts.com – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – Tha Crossroads'. Singles Top 100.
14. ^'Swisscharts.com – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – Tha Crossroads'. Swiss Singles Chart.
15. ^'Official Singles Chart Top 100'. Official Charts Company.
16. ^'Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Chart History (Hot 100)'. Billboard.
17. ^'Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)'. Billboard.
18. ^'Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Chart History (Hot Rap Songs)'. Billboard.
19. ^'Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Chart History (Pop Songs)'. Billboard.
20. ^'New Zealand End of Year Chart 1996'. THE OFFICIAL NZ MUSIC CHART. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
21. ^'Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts' (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
22. ^'Billboard Top 100 – 1996'. Longboredsurfer.com. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
23. ^Geoff Mayfield (December 25, 1999). 1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade – The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s. Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
24. ^ ^abRoberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 676. ISBN1-904994-10-5.
25. ^Video on YouTube
26. ^'iTunes – Music – Crossroads – Single by Blazin' Squad'. Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 2014-04-02.

External links[edit]

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

Harry potter chamber of secrets full movie. This is part of Complex's The 1996 Project: Looking Back at the Year Hip-Hop Embraced Success.

It was at a—*groan*—crossroads in their career when Bone Thugs-n-Harmony released their most famous song.

But let’s rewind a bit. My initial recollection of Bone is from the summer of 1994, when “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” first landed on the Box, the long-gone video channel that allowed people to call a 1-900 number to request songs. And those dedicated Box viewers, from all over the country, requested Bone Thugs—a lot.

But who the eff were these guys, anyway? Trapped in an East Coast bubble, my friends and I viewed the group as a total curiosity—a weird joke, even, with their braids and blowouts and that strange sing-songy style that nobody had ever heard before (sorry, Freestyle Fellowship fans). On the Box, the “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” video would pop up in between “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” and “I Got Cha Opin,” and we’d all groan and cringe and crack jokes at the TV. Remember, this is months after Illmatic dropped, when singing was considered antithetical to “real hip-hop” and the battle lines between rap and non-rap were fully drawn.

The following year, as those lines began to blur, a new division consumed hip-hop. With East-West tensions heating up, the Cleveland boys occupied, literally and figuratively, the hazy middle. (It’s no mistake that Bone was one of the very few to record with both Biggie and 2Pac while they were still alive.) In July of 1995, Bone dropped their full-length debut, E. 1999 Eternal, which sold an impressive 300,000 copies in its first week. In fact it was “1st of tha Month,” the ode to welfare checks that was the album’s first single, that turned me into a fan. It was trademark Bone: joy and pathos and celebration and melancholy all wrapped up in a melodic stew that, while pleasing to the ear, had a dash of menace.

With East-West tensions heating up, the Cleveland boys occupied, literally and figuratively, the hazy middle.

But even if Bone now had commercial success, to the general Hip-Hop Caucus (read: New York), they remained a novelty act. (Let’s not forget the group’s early obsession with ouija boards, backwards vocals, and vaguely Satanic iconography.) I still remember the crowd reaction (or lack thereof) when Bone took the stage at Madison Square Garden during the infamous 1995 Source Awards, one month after E. 1999’s release. The MSG audience was frozen like my friends and I watching the Box: Who the eff are these guys?

If our story ended here, then Bone’s enduring legacy would likely play out the same as any regional act that had a taste of national fame—something akin to an 8Ball & MJG. In other words, a perfectly acceptable, solid rap career.

But now we reach “Tha Crossroads.” As Bone devotees know, the version of the song that went worldwide didn’t appear on the original LP—instead, it is technically a remix (and, to hear hardcore fans tell it, an inferior version) of the album cut “Crossroad,” for which DJ U-Neek memorably samples the theme of a Sega Genesis game. “Crossroad” was a dedication to a fallen friend named Wally, the group’s neighborhood muscle who was killed before they rose to fame. It’s a good song but hardly one you’d pick to transcend the genre.

As with Bone’s initial origin story, Eazy-E’s shadow looms large on the remix. It was E who famously discovered Bone in 1993; it was his death, two years later, that spurred them on to make the song that turned them into global stars. Toward the end of recording E. 1999, Bone dealt with the crushing losses of not only their mentor but also close family members—Wish’s uncle and Krayzie’s cousin among them. Thus inspired, Bone returned to the studio to record an updated version of their in-memoriam song, profanity-free and over a catchier U-Neek beat (this time sampling the Isley Brothers).

“Tha Crossroads” was released on April 23, 1996 (and later added to reissues of E. 1999 Eternal). It was an immediate hit, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 100, then a record for a rap single. At the time, MTV News labeled the song “a major departure for Bone Thugs”; with the benefit of history, I’d call it less a “departure” and more a crystallization of the elements (you know, thugs and harmony) that made them great in the first place. “Tha Crossroads” is the perfect marriage of content and form; in subject and tone, it was the ideal vehicle to introduce Bone’s style of rapping to the world. Movie fans talk about certain roles that an actor was “born to play.” In that sense, Bone Thugs was born to make “Tha Crossroads.”

If the bulk of the lyrics, in typical Bone fashion, was largely unintelligible (save, of course: “I miss my Uncle Charles, y’all”), the sentiment within was easily relatable —as Layzie later noted, succinctly: “Everybody go through death.” The video, capturing that universality, played an integral role in the song’s commercial rise. It starts, as in Bone’s first video, with female vocals, in this case a rendition of the spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep” by Tre’ (who were later prominent in Bone’s underrated Mo Thugs projects).

From there, each verse is accompanied by vignettes featuring an ominous Grim Reaper figure who claims his victims by turning their eyeballs black. By the end, the Reaper has sprouted wings to lead his new angels (and a digitized Eazy) to salvation. Emotional stuff, and enough to earn Bone Thugs five VMA nominations (though no awards) and a spot on the VMA stage, just over a year after their Source Awards performance. Suffice to say, the Radio City crowd was much more hospitable. It has always been Wish Bone’s simple, plaintive line at the end of “Tha Crossroads” that stuck with me: “I don’t wanna die,” he sings, an about-face from the era’s usual nihilism. The song certainly didn’t die, holding down the No. 1 Billboard spot for eight weeks, the eighth rap song to ever reach the top spot—and definitely the first to actually deserve it. It went on to go platinum twice over, win the group a Grammy, and, in the long run, carve out a new lane for Bone: radio-friendly, inspirational hip-hop, as evidenced by the likes of subsequent collaborations with Phil Collins and Akon.

Eventually—since comedy is tragedy plus time—“Tha Crossroads” become fodder for standup routines and sketch bits. Sad but not sappy, it’s still the best hip-hop R.I.P. song ever (edging out “T.R.O.Y.” and crushing Puff’s maudlin, ghostwritten Biggie tribute), and if you read the dedications in the video’s YouTube comments, it’s as relevant now as it was 20 years ago.

So, then, who the eff are these guys? Legends.

Want more from The 1996 Project? Visit the links below.
'Talkin’ ’Bout Houston: Bun B and ESG Remember the Year the City Broke Out'
'Back Issues: The Real Story Behind ‘VIBE’’s East vs. West Cover'
'The Best Rap Songs of 1996'