Ghostlaced finally makes a pilgrimage to 99th & St. Clair to meet Bone
Japanese rapper travels to Cleveland to meet Bone Thugs, gets stranded & mugged instead
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Japanese rapper and die-hard Bone Thugs-N-Harmony fan Ryo Muranaka traveled to Cleveland, OH in the hopes of meeting his rap “heroes.” After selling his possessions and purchasing a one-way ticket, Muranaka travelled 6,000 miles from Japan with nothing but his luggage and his CD.
”I thought I could get in the US in exchange for my CD,” Muranaka told Cleveland’s Fox 8 through an interpreter app. “No. No plan. One-way ticket.”
However, the rapper’s goal proved to be much more difficult than he had anticipated. Local activists James Norton and Kwas Bibbs found Muranaka struggling with no money and his luggage stolen. Plus, his temporary admission into the U.S. had expired, putting him at risk of being arrested by immigration officials.
“You might have a reputation for a negative neighborhood, but there are good people in the neighborhood,” Norton told Fox 8.
“Cleveland has a reputation of violence and drugs and all this other stuff, but Cleveland has a soul,” Bibbs added.
Bone Thugs heard about the rapper’s story and Layzie Bone briefly put Muranaka up in a hotel. According to HipHopDX, Krayzie Bone saluted Muranaka’s “determination and passion,” but insists there’s a lesson to be learned in his story.
“My initial reaction was I didn’t think too much of it because we’ve had so many fans throughout our careers come from around the world to 99th St. Clair either looking for us or trying to take photos,” Krayzie said. “I thought it was just another fan, but when I heard this dude sold all of his belongings to come to Cleveland I was like, ‘WTH?’”
“I commend him for his determination and passion for what he’s trying to do because I can relate,” he continued. “I’m quite sure he heard our story and how we pursued Eazy-E and this is what inspired him.”
While Krayzie empathized with the rapper, he warned other fans to take precautions when following their “dreams.”
“But I will also say this to other fans and artist that are looking to do the same thing as us or this gentleman did — follow your dreams by all means, but you have to be very careful when you go to places you know nothing about,” he said. “We’re not from the suburbs, we’re from the ghetto. The area we grew up in is not nice by any means, and I’m just thankful all they took from him was his luggage and not his life because it gets real like that. So, be very careful and have some kind of plan.”
According to Fox 8, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Marcia Fudge are currently working on a way to resolve Muranaka’s immigration situation.
