Bizzy Bone talks about the classic song “Thug Luv” featuring Tupac Shakur. Bizzy also reveals how initially the song was meant as his own solo featuring Tupac, JamTV.
Although Bone Thugs-n-Harmony third studio album dropped in 1997, one of Hip Hop’s iconic group already had a song in the stash with the great Tupac Shakur. Produced by U-Neek, ‘Thug Luv’ became an instant classic.
Shedding some light on how the song came about for the very first time is Bizzy Bone, who initially was working on a solo song that would feature Tupac. “For this new record, The Art of War, we all decided we all gon do solo songs. So, we wanted to do a couple of solo songs a piece, just to give the Art of War a different feel,” Bizzy Bone said via his YouTube channel JamTV.
“I called up my people. I said, ‘I need to get in touch with Pac,” Bizzy explained. “I want my solo song with to be with Tupac.” Sylk-E Fyne, an artist who was brought up by Eazy-E and remained in contact with Bizzy, was able to contact Suge Knight. Fyne was able to relate the message on behalf of Bizzy Bone.
Accepting the feature, didn’t come as a surprise. Bone Thugs and Shakur had ran into each other at various events and award shows. Tupac had made it clear to Bone Thugs-n-Harmony of his intentions to one day record music with them.
Tupac would arrives in a Rolls-Royce along with the Outlawz. Seconds after hearing the gun-shot beat produced by U-Neek, Tupac immediately begins writing his verse. “He in the corner, writing his s–t,” Bizzy said. “I’m tighten my s–t up. He’s like, ‘I’m done. I’m ready’.
“I’ll probably be punished for hard livin’, blind to the facts:
Thugs is convicts, in God’s prison, hands on the strap
Prayin’ so Father please forgive me!
Police be rushin’ when they see me
I flaunt it: America’s Most Wanted, live on TV
Life: pleasure and pain, stuck in this game, holler my name!
We all gon’ die, we bleed through similar veins,”
Tupac kicks off his verse on Thug Luv.
“It took him as long as it took for the rap in order to finish it. One take, two take, three take, four take, I’m done. Man he was out of the studio so goddamn fast.” Inspired by Tupac’s nonsense work ethic, from that moment forward, Bizzy Bone was all business. “That s–t changed me completely.”
According to Bizzy Bone, the original song for ‘Thug Luv’ also featured Sylk-E Fyne, the South Central native. “When it first happen. It was Sylk-E Fyne on the record. I did two verses and Pac did a verse. Then on my other verse, Pac did my triple-ups,” Bizzy recalls. “So, he came behind me. Its an exclusive version. I only think Sylk-E Fyne, the only one that got that version.”
The final version of ‘Thug Luv’ would feature the entire group, as Bizzy’s solo version was replaced. For Bizzy Bone he did not find out until the ‘Art of War’ album was released. “So, I listened to it. It was no longer my solo song. It became a Bone song,” Bizzy said.
Understanding it was a smart business move to feature the entire group, the only thing that bothered Bizzy was Sylk-E Fyne being left out of the song. The ‘Art of War’ went on to become a huge success. The double album went on to become 4x platinum less than a year later.
