The group returned in 1997 with their next album "The Art Of War", which was a 2 disc album and had some great hits, but if it were a single disc album would have been rated better by the critics, as some tracks lacked something that others had. In the late 90's, the group concentrated on developing artists signed to their own Mo Thug Records label. Bizzy, Krayzie, Layzie and Flesh also released commercially and critically successful solo albums.
Not only do Bone speak about their hard times on this double CD release, they choose to tell the positive as well on 'The Art Of War'. Songs like "If I Could Teach The World" finds Bone delivering a message of upliftment to kids all over the planet. Here's a verse from the bomb hit 'If I could Teach World' "To all the little boys and girls all over the world/This ish that we say is for the streets/Not for you to go and do or to repeat/Please no more murder/Must I say it if we can no mo murder." On "Friends," a remake of the Whodini classic, Bone pay tribute to those who have remained close and loyal to them. And "Family Tree Bone" is a remarkable personal account that illustrates the highs and lows of each Bone member's lives. On another note, Tupac Shakur features on "Thug Luv", a song which displays the hardcore lyric side of Bone, and by using gun shots as bass lines, gives a slightly more 'Gangster' feel to the album, other tracks such as "Body Rot" again show this more aggressive style of rap from Bone. Read more about Bone Thugs-N-Harmony here.
