Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Are Now Boneless Thugs-N-Harmony For Buffalo Wild Wings
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony has a new — or at least altered — name. The rap group made the announcement on Wednesday (Feb. 19) that their new name is Boneless Thugs-N-Harmony, which is to pay homage to the popular chicken wing restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings, as Rolling Stone reports.
Not only has the rap group’s name changed, but some of the group’s members have also changed their individual names. Krayzie Bone, Flesh-N-Bone, and Wish Bone now go by the monikers Krayzie Boneless, Flesh-N-Boneless, and Wish Boneless.
The marketing materials provided by Buffalo Wild Wings suggests that Layzie Bone isn’t in agreement with the new name change, however. “I ain’t changing [expletive],” Layzie said in a spoof video that was released to accompany the announcement. “Bone Thugs-N-Harmony changes their name to Boneless. It’s preposterous.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=113&v=jqMZgMJ2Ajk&feature=emb_title
Seth Freeman, the CMO of Buffalo Wild Wings said that there’s a complicated reason for the group’s name change and it doesn’t involve money. “These boneless wings are so good, what if they made Bone Thugs-N-Harmony have an identity crisis,” Freeman wrote in a statement.
The rap group’s longtime manager Steve Lobel said that he was approached by a marketing agency regarding the campaign a few months ago. “Three of the four were down with it,” Lobel said.
“Layzie Bone was hesitant, and he’s still hesitant about it. He wasn’t with it, but the other three gentlemen were.” Lobel has managed the rappers since 1994, after meeting them through the late Eazy-E.
The “1st of Tha Month” rappers will sell merchandise that features their new moniker, including hats, t-shirts, and a golden boneless chicken chain. When Lobel was asked if the group is going to change their social media handles or release music under their new name he couldn’t give a direct answer. “It’s a lot of things they’re working on,” he said. “We have a lot of things that we can’t discuss at the moment.”
This isn’t the first time that the Cleveland rappers have changed their name during their quarter-century as a rap group. Bone was initially The Band Aid Boys, and then B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e before the rappers decided on being Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
