AS NAUGHTY AS THEY WANNA BE

Rip It Up, Issue 214, 1 June 1995, Page 27

AS NAUGHTY AS THEY WANNA BE

While many of their contemporaries are landing themselves behind bars, business is booming for Naughty By Nature. Treach, Vinnie and Kay-gee have a new album on the way, and are slowly building a business empire that will make them the most self-contained rap group in the States. Naughty By Nature first came out in 1991, with a self-titled album that featured the anthemic, rough house single ‘OPP’. That song took off like the proverbial rocket, and transformed the three (then) 20 year olds from New Jersey into bona fide hip-hop sensations virtually overnight. From their second album, 19 Naughty 111, came the catchy hit ‘Hip-Hop Hooray’. Now, in 1995, they complete the hattrick with Poverty’s Paradise.

This third record is the first evidence of the fresh approach of Naughty By Nature. Gone are the sing-along party jams, replaced by mellow, rolling stories of life in the hood and personal hardships. But far from coming across as another crew of angry gangstas intent on revenge, Naughty By Nature display an opti-

mism that belies their youth. Rapper Treach (aka Treacherous T) explains. ‘‘We’re entertainers first. We go to make records that will entertain our fans. But we’re getting older, we’re maturing, so we are seeing things in a different light. We know a lot of people listen to our music, and a lot of people respect us for what we do, so we feel as though we owe them to give them as much as we can, intelligently, to let them know what’s going on. Our people need some guidance, so we needed to take it to the next level. There are a lot of problems out there, so we are just trying to help as much as we possibly can." Helping out has included getting their hands dirty. In the down time since 19 Naughty 111, the trio have formed three companies, based in or around their immediate neighbourhood. Kaygee is heading liltown Records, fostering the young rap groups Rotten Razkals, the Road Dawgs, and the Cruddy Clique. Vinny oversees Naughty Gear, a merchandising store in nearby Newark. More recently, liltown Films was conceived, to produce music videos and movie pro-

jects. The point, says Treach, was to provide employment for young kids in the local community. ‘‘They don’t provide a lot of jobs as far as how many we need to really help all the people that we want t 0... but it’s a start. As time goes on, It just seems like things get worse. Our kids are getting into crime and drugs at a younger age, so we really are concerned. These kids have to wisen up and learn off of other people’s mistakes, and make sure they don’t fall into the same situations. When you wind up getting incarcerated you see your dreams destroyed, and that’s the worst thing." Naughty By Nature have come a long way since the threesome first joined forces as the New Style in 1987, and even further from the days when a young Treach used to run with a gang on the same streets he’s now attempting to clean up. “Hip-hop kept me outta jail, so now I’ve gotta give something back. I gotta take care of my own.”

JOHN RUSSELL