Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

Like Bone Thugs' best songs, "I Tried" is a study in struggle. Isolation seems impenetrable, defeat inevitable, and the choice of either surrendering or soldiering on is complicated by street games. When Layzie Bone claims, "I'm so used to this hustlin' money/ that I don't understand how 9-to-5 work," it's a lament rather than a boast. Hookslinger Akon provides a memorable chorus over a slow piano line.