Earlier this month, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony received their well-deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Famealongside hundreds of fans, who crowded Hollywood Boulevard to witness the monumental event.
Special guests Big Boy of Big Boy’s Neighborhood, Ice-T, and Fat Joe took the podium to reflect on Bone Thugs’ career and the personal impact Bizzy, Krayzie, Layzie, Flesh and Wish had on them. The decision to invite Ice-T, who established gangsta rap on the West Coast, and Fat Joe, who hails from the East Coast, was by design. Bone Thugs’ Cleveland roots put them in the middle and the trifecta illustrated hip-hop’s unifying power.
One of Layzie Bone’s friends from New Zealand made the arduous trek to be there in person, while others flew in from Ohio and several other states. That kind of reception was a shock to him, too.
“I knew it was going to be a turnout, but I didn’t expect that myself,” Layzie Bone tells VIBE. “But yeah, that thing was jumping, wasn’t it?”
Fat Joe certainly picked up on that. During his speech, he noted, “What if I told you I’ve been to 10 of these and I’ve never seen people out in the street like they out here for Bone Thugs-N-Harmony?”
Layzie laughs as he recalled that comment. “They think Joey Crack be lying, but he ain’t lying. He be keeping it 100 for real.”
Even more special was to have several members of Bone Thugs’ family there. Layzie Bone’s children, his wife and Wish Bone’s mother, who is also Layzie’s aunt, looked on with pride as the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce CEO Ron Frierson unveiled the star outside of the Fonda Theater.
“Our families came out as well as a lot of our fans,” Krayzie Bone says. “It was crazy, but the turnout was lovely and it was fitting for Bone. We were being pulled in five, 10 different directions. It was hectic, but that’s what it is. It was only right the star be the same exact way.”
Ice-T taking the time to show up and usher Bone Thugs into the prestigious club, one he joined in 2023, was another testament to the group’s impact. Ice-T was one of the first rappers who welcomed Bone Thugs to Los Angeles in the early 1990s, and they’ve remained friends ever since.
“He’s the OG, man,” Layzie says of Ice-T. “It had to be somebody that has been there, done that and seen it all. Ice-T is one of those people. He embraced us very early on in our careers out here on the West Coast, and Fat Joe on the East Coast embraced us the same, so it was a cool thing. The speeches they gave was perfect. Fat Joe came all the way from New York. We appreciate both of those guys.”
Krayzie adds, “Ice-T introduced us on tour before and on different shows. They kept it real during their speeches. It was an honor to have them. That felt good to have our OGs giving us our flowers.”
Layzie attributes Bone Thugs’ longevity to not only their rabid fanbase but also to the way they’ve treated them since day one.
(L-R) Layzie Bone, Krayzie Bone, Bizzy Bone, Flesh-n-Bone, and Wish Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony are honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on July 08, 2026, in Hollywood, California.
“We’re good people, you know what I mean?” Layzie says. “We’re God-fearing people. We treat people with respect who treat us with respect, and we’ve been embraced from the beginning, so it’s easy. We appreciate going platinum out the gate. We was always eager to get out there with our fans and shake a hand, sign the autographs, kiss the babies and give out hugs. That’s just who we are.”
I confess I owe them $10 for stealing E. 1999 Eternal from a record store at the mall, where I worked as a teenager. “Let me find out you really thuggish ruggish over there,” Layzie quips.
He would know. Cleveland is no joke, especially near E. 99th and St. Clair, where they grew up. Bone Thugs’ origins are filled with tales of street violence, systemic poverty and simply learning how to survive in that kind of environment. Armed with a dream, they faithfully pursued N.W.A co-founder and Ruthless Records CEO Eazy-E until they were finally able to play him their music, an intoxicating hybrid of hip-hop and melodic harmonies.
The now-defunct Greyhound bus station on Chester Avenue in downtown Cleveland is the same station where Bone Thugs boarded a bus bound for L.A. in hopes of tracking Eazy-E down.
“We knew we had enough that if somebody heard us, they was going to sign us,” Layzie says. “We didn’t know that it was going to turn into all this, but we knew nobody rapped like us. We knew it so much that when we used to hear stuff that slightly touched on what we was doing, we used to get upset, like, ‘Oh, man, we got to make it for real!’ We knew we had something, but we didn’t know that it would still be taking us places today.”
They never did find Eazy-E on that initial trip to L.A., but he eventually ended up in Cleveland, where they were finally able to meet. The Creepin on ah Come-Up EP arrived soon after via Ruthless Records in 1994, though Eazy-E wouldn’t survive to see the multi-platinum success of their debut album, E. 1999 Eternal, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, sold more than four million copies and was nominated for the inaugural Grammy for Best Rap Album. They dedicated one of their biggest hits, “Tha Crossroads,” to their fallen mentor along with some friends and family members they’d lost.
While Eazy-E was not physically able to be there, he played a prominent role at the ceremony, at least in spirit. His name was mentioned multiple times and several of his children—including Lil Eazy-E and Ebie Wright—were in attendance as was Eazy-E’s mother, Katie Wright.
Next up, Bone Thugs has their sights on getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It’s likely only a matter of time considering their Cleveland roots and groundbreaking career.
“That’s a blessing out of this world,” Layzie says. “Not only is it the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but it’s in Cleveland. That’s like the icing on the cake, the cherry on top and that would solidified our legacy forever. That word ‘eternal’ we use so much, it’s a strong word that actually would have came true.”
Krayzie continues, “You think the star ceremony was crazy? We got so many fans in the Midwest that wanted to come to L.A. and they couldn’t, but they can drive to Cleveland [laughs]. It’s gonna be crazy!”
Layzie adds, “We might need to take a helicopter to that mug.”
For now, Layzie Bone is promoting his latest solo album, D.A.S.H. (Daring Acts Shape Humanity). He explains, “I call it a ‘Dash Dash’ because the dash is the day you was born and the day you died, that’s the line in the middle, the legacy that you create. I’m leaving my legacy, telling my story and the only way that I could tell it is now. It’s the journey of life.”
The fellas are also working on finishing up the upcoming Bone Thugs-N-Harmony album, but that one is proving to take a little more time than originally anticipated.
“We’re touching so many different things right now, but our Bone album is in full effect,” Layzie says. “There’s got to be a certain amount of perfection to that thing before we decide that it’s really going to drop like that. It’s got to trump everything.”
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony will perform at the LEGENDS OF THE WEST II concert on July 18 before hitting the road on August 27 as specials guest of the Wu-Tang Clan: The Final Chamber Tour. It ends October 4.