Growing up in the same neighborhood, Treach,

Vinnie and Kay Gee attended the same

high school. Before graduating they came

together for a talent contest. Originally called the

new style, the trio met with usual resistance and

roadblocks facing young hip hop artists. However,

Queen Latifah took notice and eventually helped

them get the break they needed. Naughty By

Nature has been delivering hits ever since.

To date, Naughty By Nature has recorded

four LP's. Their albums, Naughty By Nature,

19Naughty3 and 19 Naughty IX: Nature Fury all

came on strong, creating hip hop anthems

where there were none. As a result, the multi-platinum

selling Naughty By Nature has won numerous

awards including an American Music Award for

Best New Rap Group, A Source Award for New

Artist of the year ('91) and a Grammy for

Best Rap Album (Poverty's Paradise). Now,

poised for the new millennium, Naughty By Nature's

music continues to grow as their visions of becoming

community based business mogul's become reality

(Naughty Gear, Divine Mills, Illtown Films). You see,

East Orange inspired and nurtured all the members

of the group and while Vinnie, Treach and Kay

Gee come from limited means, they posses

unlimited talent and drive which will

keep them churning out hits for years to come.

Naughty By Nature are a rap troupe utilizing the

funkier rather than darker aspects of gangsta hip-hop.

Heavily influenced by the patronage of Queen

Latifah, the language was blue but not always

in the overtly sexual sense. 'Ghetto Bastard',

for example, was a master stroke, pickled in

the atmosphere of the street and exact in its

execution of ghetto vernacular. Unlike many

other hardcore outfits, Naughty By Nature were not

afraid of injecting a touch of soul into the mix (once

more, a la Queen Latifah), which makes the best

of their work all the more endearing. They

gave Tommy Boy Records their biggest ever hit

with the 12-inch 'O.P.P.', the largest-grossing authentic

rap single in the USA in 1990, selling over a

million copies ('O.P.P.' stands for 'Other People's Pussy',

though that did not prevent several generations

enthusiastically singing along to 'I'm down with O.P.P.',

making the record an American equivalent

to the Shamen 's notorious 'Ebeneezer Goode').

A second album upped the sleaze factor with

some lyrics, but still maintained the crew's

best traditions elsewhere. The single lifted

from 19NaughtyIII, 'Hip Hop Hooray', became

another US Top 10 hit, helped in no small part

by a Spike Lee-filmed video. Treach himself

was to be found in Houston acting in the movie

Jason's Lyric, though he had appeared

previously in the widely ridiculed

The Meteor Man. He has written his own

film treatments, in-between bungee jumping

sessions in Daytona with future wife Pepa of

Salt-N-Pepa. He also launched the Naughty

Gear clothing line. Kay Gee, meanwhile,

earned a production deal with Motown Records,

initial fruit from which was characterized by

Zhane's debut album and hit single, 'Hey Mr DJ'.

Poverty's Paradise was a mature and coherent

set that earned the trio critical plaudits and

serious respect from fellow hip hop artists.

A subsequent recording hiatus was broken

in 1999 by the trio's debut set for Arista Records,

which featured the raucous Top 10 collaboration

with Zhane, 'Jamboree'.

 

Click on the links below to find out more about each member of the group:

Treach, Vinnie, Kay Gee