|
 Following the reconciliation of the original members of seminal hip hop trio NAUGHTY BY NATURE, TREACH and VIN ROCK sit down with TOM HERSEY and explain how you just can’t fight nature.
Emerging from the East Coast hip hop scene in the late ‘80s under the moniker The New Style, Naughty By Nature have maintained a balanced presence as one of the most commercially viable and credible rap acts for over 20 years. Granted massive success with their self-titled 1991 release and follow-ups 19 Naughty III and Poverty’s Paradise, the trio gained a place in rap history with seminal cuts like O.P.P. and Everything’s Going To Be Alright.
From their dizzying success in the ‘90s, the new millennium was not kind to Naughty By Nature. In 2000, DJ Kay Gee left the group. Ten years later however, and Kay Gee has rejoined the group and there are plans to release their first record since 2002’s IIcons.
Talking about Anthem Inc. Vin Rock suggests that when the original trio got together to lay down tracks, the process was incredibly smooth. “It’s crazy. It’s like we haven’t done an album together in years now and it’s like nobody knew how the play would be coming back to it and getting back to it. But as soon as we walked up in there and started laying down it was like we never even stopped. It was like everything was oiled up, the engine was ready, there were no flats and nothing wrong with the vehicle.” Treach interjects to add about the album. “An anthem is something that you use in your personal life, that people would really feel. And that’s what we’ve done, we’ve made an album with a bunch of anthems on it.”
Although the band has shied away from the studio in their latter years, Treach and Vin Rock kept Naughty By Nature alive as a touring band. According to Vin, the decision to make another record came from their time on the road.
“We’ve been playing shows without new records or new music and it was like when we’re out there we get the pulse of the people and they wanted new music. We kind of felt that we’d kind of left our fanbase hanging, we were still touring and still doing the classic material but there were a lot of people out there who wanted new material.”
Returning to Australia, the band sound psyched to play for the Good Vibrations crowds and debut some of Anthems Inc. “Good Vibrations is going to be a chance for us to play to bigger Australian crowds, the masses, y’know? The whole of the Australian core fans we get the chance to get reacquainted with us and it’s going to give new fans a chance to get a whiff of us. We’ll be coming down with new material. And we take pride in that, taking stuff that’s not on the radio, not on the video and debuting it at a live show and having the songs stick. It’s definitely one vibe when people are hearing new material on the internet, but it’s a whole different ball game when people are hearing it live.”
NAUGHTY BY NATURE perform at Good Vibrations on Saturday Feb 20 alongside Armand Van Helden, Z-Trip, Craze, Basement Jaxx, Salt N Pepa and heaps more, and will also be playing a sideshow at Valley venue Mystique on Wednesday Feb 24. For more info, check out www.myspace.com/naughtybynaturecom.
|
| Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Poster's IP addresses are logged. |
|
Be first to comment on this article
