Japanese rapper Ryo Muranaka really wanted to meet Bone Thugs-N-Harmony in person. So much so that he sold his possessions before travelling 6,000 miles from Japan to Cleveland.
"I thought I could get in the US in exchange for my CD," Muranaka told Fox 8 Cleveland through an interpreter app on his phone. "No. No plan. One-way ticket." He soon realized that the lofty aspirations of meeting his "heroes" with nothing but his CD, luggage, and a one-way ticket in his pockets was a bad idea.
When local activists James Norton and Kwas Bibbs found Muranaka, he was all alone, broke, and had been robbed of his luggage. To make matters worse, his temporary permission into the United States had already expired, and was at risk of being arrested by immigration officials and subsequently tossed out of the country.
In the meantime, Norton and Bibbs tried to help Muranaka out however they could, and even got him a brief stay in a hotel, thanks to Bone Thugs member Layzie Bone, who also got a chance to meet with the superfan.
While Layzie commends Muranaka for his "determination and passion" in traveling halfway across the world to meet Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, the rap legend wants to use this story as a launching pad in advising other diehard fans that they should be "very careful when you go to places you know nothing about."
"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," Layzie told HipHopDX.
"We’re not from the suburbs, we’re from the ghetto," Layzie continued. "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."
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and Marcia Fudge, Rep. for Ohio's 11th congressional district, are said to be working for a way to resolve Muranaka's immigration situation.
