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"Tha Crossroads"
#1 weeks: 8
weeks: 1996-05-18, 1996-05-25, 1996-06-01, 1996-06-08, 1996-06-15, 1996-06-22, 1996-06-29, 1996-07-06
genre: midwest hip hop, melodic hip hop, r&b, ballad
artist: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
album: E 1999 Eternal
writers: Bryon McCane II, Anthony Henderson, Steven Howse, Charles Scruggs
label:
formats: CD single
lengths: 3:46

"The Crossroads" is a Grammy-award winning song performed by the hip hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, dedicated to the late rap icon Eazy-E and released in 1995. It is one of the group's most popular songs to date, and their biggest selling.

Originally named "Crossroad," it wasn't until the group and their producer, DJ U-Neek, decided to remake the song that the name was changed. The song "Crossroad" was originally dedicated to Bone's deceased friends, but after the death of Eazy-E they decided to remake it as "Tha Crossroads". The song is performed by four of the group's members, (Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Bizzy Bone and Wish Bone). The remake contained the line "And I'm askin' the good Lord 'Why?' and sigh It's I, he told me we lived to die" from the original. Bone's lightning fast rhymes are delivered softer than is usual for the group, without profanities and creating a sad and heartfelt effect. With soft instrumentals revolving around a sample of The Isley Brothers' "Make Me Say It Again Girl (Pts. 1 and 2)," the song has a sad yet quick tone to it. After receiving high praise for their song the group decided to add it to their already launched album, E 1999 Eternal.

The song was a smash hit worldwide and reached the top of the charts in several countries, including the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. It has been certified 2X Platinum in the United States.

The official remix, "Tha Crossroads (Tha Flesh Flip Remix)", features latest member Flesh-n-Bone and new & old verses by the group's members, Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Bizzy Bone and Wish Bone.

The song was accompanied by a music video that opens with the female vocal group Tre singing the traditional spiritual "Mary Don't You Weep" in a church funeral setting, followed by the members of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony singing the main song in several settings, such as a church and a mountaintop. Additionally, an imposing black man with sunglasses and a trench coat, akin to a Reaper, appears throughout the video. Bone are among the few who can see the man, and watch him as he gathers the souls of various individuals who are marked for death, such as a young man who leaves his distraught mother behind, Bone's friend Wally, Wish Bone's Uncle Charles, Eazy-E, and a newborn baby. The Reaper then leads the souls, with the baby in his arms, up a mountain and transforms into an angel, taking the deceased people to Heaven.

Crossroads became the first single for hip-hop/garage band Blazin' Squad. It became the band's only number one single, staying at the top spot for two weeks in August 2002. The track is the first to be taken from their debut album, In the Beginning. There are three versions of the song: a Radio Edit lasting 3:10 (which appears on their album), the Full Version (which includes extra instrumental section) lasting 3:50, and the Extended Cut (which includes two extra verses), lasting 3:48. The Extended Cut only appears on the promotional single.