Naughty by Nature is a Grammy Award-winning American Hip hop group that at the time of its formation in 1989 consisted of Treach, Vin Rock, and the DJ Kay Gee. The group formed in East Orange, New Jersey (colloquially referred to as "Illtown" in the 1980s). The group first appeared on the music scene in 1989 releasing an album called The Independent Leaders, under their then name The New Style. The album generated the minor hit "Scuffin' Those Knees". After the release of their first album, the group was mentored by fellow New Jersey native Queen Latifah, and subsequently changed their name.
Their first hit as Naughty by Nature was a track called "O.P.P", which sampled the Jackson 5's hit "ABC" and was released in 1991 on their self-titled album Naughty by Nature. The song peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of the most successful rap songs in history to that point in terms of crossover success on the pop charts. The song also has become well known in pop culture, being mentioned in TV shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Malibu's Most Wanted, Monk, and The Office. "O.P.P." also gained critical acclaim, being named one of the top 100 rap singles of all time in 1998 by The Source magazine, and being ranked the 20th best single of the 90s by Spin magazine.
The album also generated another hit called "Ghetto Bastard" (the track is often referred to as "Everything's Gonna Be Alright"). That song detailed the experiences of Treach growing up in poverty, and now rising up to live a better life. Fellow New Jersey native Tony D, accused Naughty by Nature of stealing a sample from his breakbeat album Music Makes You Move and using it on their track "O.P.P." The matter was settled out of court. Later they had multiple hits from their third and fourth albums, called 19 Naughty III and Poverty's Paradise respectively. Poverty's Paradise won the Grammy Award in 1996 for Best Rap Album.
"Hip Hop Hooray" was a success from the album 19 Naughty III. Its video was directed by Spike Lee and featured other hip-hop artists popular in the early 1990s, including Queen Latifah, Eazy-E, Run-D.M.C., and Kris Kross.
The group also scored a major hit with the track "Uptown Anthem", from the soundtrack to the 1992 film Juice.
Naughty by Nature is ranked the 793rd best musical artist of all time by Acclaimedmusic.net.
