Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Three 6 Mafia Have Been Clashing Stylistically for Decades

There are some beefs in the rap world that have had such staying power that they've lingered around between feuding artists for decades. This is the exact case with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Three 6 Mafia, who have been going at it on and off since the '90s, finally culminating in a real-life altercation during their 2021 Verzuz battle.

So, why exactly do Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Three 6 Mafia have beef, and what went down during their head-to-head rap battle that caused things to get physical? Keep reading for a complete breakdown of the bad blood between the two hip-hop groups.

The issues between Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Three 6 Mafia can be traced back to the '90s and focus mainly on the groups discussing overlapping concepts in their raps, which caused friction between their members.

In a 2015 interview with Blurred Culture, DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia opened up about how it all went down.

"It wasn’t a real beef," DJ Paul said of the tension between the two acts. "It was more of a misunderstanding because we was rapping about triple six, devil s--t, and tongue-twisting over slow beats."

Paul then said his group had been "doing that since 1989" and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony taking on that identity as well upset him. "We didn’t know the 'Faces of Death' album because it was their underground stuff. Just like they probably didn’t know our underground stuff."

However, Paul said that the release of "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" is what made him realize that the group was using the same style as them. "We were like, 'Damn these dudes done stole our style!' [Laughs] That’s why we got mad about it."

On if things escalated any further, Paul said: "We ran into each other a couple of times and there was a push or something. But there was never no fight or nothing like that."

In a 2013 interview with HipHopDX, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony member Krayzie Bones shared his take on the beef and its evolution over the years as well. According to him, the notion of beef between the two groups came to his attention because of fan mail.

"We went to the office at Ruthless Records and opened up the fan mail … I had read it and some chick from Memphis was telling me, 'There’s this group out here. They made an album that’s on the radio and they dissin’ y’all, saying that y’all stole they style… They call themselves Three 6 Mafia,'" Krayzie recalled of the situation.

The tension between the two groups existed for quite some time, but eventually, it was squashed in the interest of making good music. Krayzie noted that one particular conference call brought the beef to an end at the time.

"It was a conference call with Relativity Records or Live Records or something," he said. "And they was like, 'We just want y’all know to know it ain’t no beef, it ain’t no nothing.' All that stuff was stupid. We was young. Everybody was young … So when the opportunity came to work with Gangsta Boo [of Three 6 Mafia], I was like, 'Man, let’s make it happen. Let’s squash some of this beef that’s out there. Let’s do this. It’s about business, for real.'"

Given the fact that both groups managed to work through their issues from the '90s, it may seem hard to believe that tension still exists so many years later. However, the past bad blood between both legendary acts came to the forefront when they both took the same stage on Dec. 2, 2021.

Apparently, Bizzy Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony didn't take too kindly to the heckling that normally goes on between Verzuz acts, saying after a few rounds, "Hey yo, hey. Before we even get started, you ugly motherf-----s ain’t fit to be mocking me while I’m on the motherf-----g stage. Like straight the f--k up." He then chucked a bottle at the group, raising tensions further.

Over the next few minutes, more NSFW words and bottles were thrown back and forth between the groups before Juicy J felt fed up and launched at his opponents.

Gangsta Boo told Bizzy, "Bizzy Bone, you a hater. You must not have taken your pills," right as the groups and their security details collided on stage.

After their brawl, the two groups returned to stage a few minutes later, minus Bizzy, and continued to perform their tracks.

Later on in the show, however, Bizzy returned and ended up hugging it out with Juicy J, saying, "I want to apologize to everybody the f--k out there, on both sides. I’m not trying to f--k this s--t up,” Bizzy Bone said. “Pardon me. Let’s keep the party motherf-----g going."