| Naughty By Nature pulled
off the neat trick of landing big, instantly catchy anthems
on the pop charts while maintaining their street-level
credibility among the hardcore rap faithful; one of the
first groups to successfully perform such a balancing act.
The group was formed in East Orange, NJ, in 1986, while
all three members -- MCs Treach (born Anthony Criss)
and Vinnie (born Vincent Brown), and DJ Kay
Gee (born Keir Gist) -- were attending the same high
school. Initially called New Style, they began performing
at talent shows and were discovered by Queen Latifah a
few years later; she signed the group to her management
company and helped them land a deal with Tommy Boy Records.
Naughty By Nature's
self-titled debut was released in 1991 and produced an
inescapable Top Ten hit in "O.P.P." (which supposedly
stood for "other people's property," though a
close listen to the lyrics revealed that the second P represented
male or female genitals). "O.P.P." made Naughty
By Nature crossover stars, yet their ghetto sensibility
and gritty street funk (not to mention Treach's nimble
rhyming technique) made them popular in the hip-hop underground
as well. Treach began a secondary acting career in 1992,
appearing in Juice; he would go on to supporting roles
in The Meteor Man, Who's the Man?, and Jason's Lyric,
among
others.
Naughty By Nature repeated
their success with the 1993 follow-up album, 19 Naughty
III, which produced another ubiquitous crossover smash
in the "hey! ho!" chant of "Hip Hop Hooray";
the album hit the Top Five and, like its predecessor, went
platinum. 1995's Poverty's Paradise was the group's final
album for Tommy Boy; though it didn't spawn any major hits,
it went on to win a Grammy for Best Rap Album. A recording
hiatus of several years followed; during that time, Treach
pursued his acting career, most notably landing a recurring
role on the HBO prison drama Oz; and Kay Gee greatly expanded
his outside production work, helming records for Zhan?,
Aaliyah, Krayzie Bone, and Next, among others. Even outside
of music, the group made headlines; in 1997, both Treach
and Vinnie were arrested in Harlem for illegal weapons
possession, and, in 1999, Treach married Pepa, of Salt-N-Pepa
(a union that would dissolve
two years later).
Also in 1999, Naughty
By Nature finally returned with a new album on Arista,
titled 19 Naughty Nine: Nature's Fury. "Jamboree," featuring
Zhan?, was a sizable hit, but though the group looked to
be back on track, Kay Gee departed to concentrate full-time
on his production career. Treach and Vinnie struck a deal
with TVT, and the first Naughty By Nature album as a duo,
IIcons, was released in early 2002. ~ Steve Huey, All Music
Guide
|
NAUGHTY BY NATURE CONCERT
: Naughty By Nature Concert 
