Synopsis

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony perform their breakthrough track in a stark, street-level portrait of Cleveland. The group gathers around a burning barrel, moves through neighborhood streets, and delivers their rapid-fire verses among vacant lots, cars, and local hangouts. The gritty footage keeps the focus on the members, their surroundings, and their distinctive vocal style, while Eazy-E appears as a mentor-like presence. The video feels less like a polished fantasy than a direct introduction to the group's hometown identity.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed on Cleveland's west side near the Cuyahoga River and the Lakeview Estates public housing units, giving it a strong sense of place rather than presenting a generic rap-video setting.

• A drive-by shooting reportedly interrupted the filming. Nobody on the production was injured, but the incident became one of the video's most notorious behind-the-scenes stories.

• Eazy-E appears in the video, reinforcing the connection between Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Ruthless Records during the group's first major breakthrough.

• The group wanted "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" to be their first single because they felt it represented their identity more clearly than "Foe tha Love of $." They successfully persuaded Eazy-E to release it first.

• Shatasha Williams provides the prominent sung hook. Her involvement has been described differently by Williams and Krayzie Bone, who offered separate accounts of how she first connected with the group.

• The song's appearance in the 2003 video game True Crime: Streets of LA helped introduce it to another generation of listeners.