NEWS
EVENTS
Naughty By Nature Interview
RnB/Hip Hop | Monday 28th November 2011 | Osh
Hello!
Hello!
How you guys doing?
Alright, thanks
You’ve got a new album coming out, can you tell us about the concept for that?
Um the concept, well it started off originally it was gunna be called ‘Anthem A’, kinda like a collectors edition it was gunna be half and half, there was gunna be 6 new songs and 6 of the classics remade because we own the masters of the classics now, so we gunna re make them now, since then its been changed so instead of being 12 songs its about 17 songs with 12…no 18 songs actually, with 12 originals and 6 of the classics remade as a bonus
Oh cool so we get to hear a bit more of you guys which is good!
Yeah, Yeah more original, more new songs
Yeah that’s good, that’s good
As we went in the record label said we’ve been putting the feelers out and can you guys add some new songs to it so we had to go back in and do that
What was it like going back in the studio?
Same old, same old, everybody’s been working both collectively and individually so there wasn’t no big issues
What have you guys been doing since taking a break from Naughty By nature?
On the road mostly, and we’ve been working, for us its kinda like, we’ve been working, and we’ve been working ever since the early 90’s but the thing is we, and I always quote this, we do a good clean quiet business, we’re not out there fighting in the clubs getting shot at, shooting people doing all of this nonsense that your average artists get exposed for. In the media that’s the way it works you know? You could do something stupid and get all the free publicity on earth but if you stay a straight and narrow path and do a lot of positive stuff you know that’s boring to the press so you never really get on the radar, personally id rather do a good clean quiet business
That’s good be a true artist not somebody hats just out there trying to make money, cus its not about money, its about the music
Exactly!
What was it like growing up in New Jersey?
Um, for me it was fun, you know, I grew up the youngest of 7, my mother was a crossing guard she made like $200 which is like £100 every two weeks feeding 7 kids! But the block that I grew up on, there were a lot of kids there at all times so if I left my house, I lived on one end of the block, and if I just walked up the street, there’d be kids jumping rope, playing football, baseball, the water fountain be going so I didn’t realise like, if I was poor or whatever, I just had a good, robust childhood and when I fell into hip hop, you know it was again one of those hobby things where we would flip on the dirty mattresses and watch the Bruce Lee karate flicks, but then when hip hop came the mattresses went away and the cardboard came out for break dancing and all of that stuff and then beat boxing and all of that so that’s pretty much what my childhood was like
That’s nice, nice to hear! So where do you see the future of hip-hop?
I see the future of hip hop just continue to grow and diversify I think, like you see now so many different genres of music, are merging, and you have a lot of hip hop based tracks, or hip hop flavour, and pop music and club music so its just gunna be fusing you know, and even hip hop is a fusion of classic rock music, classic jazz, classic R’n’B, so all its gunna do is keep reciprocating.
Yeah I agree, so tell us about back in the day, some of the artists you worked with, or hung out with, or still hang out with?
Our biggest influence has been Queen Latifah, because we’re all from the same home town of East Orange New Jersey, and we got together in high school as the new style, and we were taking it serious trying to get a record label, Queen Latifah and her crew the Flavour Unit was around our way so she was always there and she came out a year of two before us so she had success before us and we looked at everything she was doing, we were looking at magazines and be like wow, she gets a lot of press, and she makes hot music and she has Mark the 45 King producing her, and we know about the Flavour Unit MC’s, that’s a crew we would like to get down with and basically we pursued them till we ended up getting down with them.
Nice, so it was pretty cool back in the day, hanging out with Queen Latifah!
Yeah definitely!
If you weren’t superstars what would you be doing today?
Um, I would be a college graduate; I was going into college for computer sciences so I was always interested in that, so no telling what I would have done but you know I guess with my DNA I would have went hard and been successful at something! Perhaps I would have created Facebook, or Myspace, or Twitter you know!
So you’d be superstars anyway!
Exactly! Probably a lot richer too (laughs)
What inspires you when you write music? Is it just something that comes naturally or is it something you have to think about?
Yeah, for me it’s definitely something I have to think about, I always tell Kay and Treach, being a writer is a gift and Treach is our lead writer so this guy if you see him he’s constantly writing! We just posted a Youtube clip that catches Treach at so many different times just writing, writing, writing, for me I have to really think and get tracks and really get into what I’m doing but for a guy like him he just walks down the street writing (laughs)
Are there any artists from back in the day that you’d like to hear now? Anybody you’d like to hear do new stuff or some of their old stuff, kinda like what you guys are doing?
I want my girl Janae back, I want them back out, but if you wanna take it way way back then Marvin Gaye,
I would like to see this R’n’B group called The Whispers, I remember my sisters used to love them and the style and the sounds of their voices I always said if a younger group came up with that style, flavour and that voice tone I think they would be really successful
If the Guestlist Network came to visit your hometown where would you take us to party?
Hmm, I would take you to a few spots in Jersey, we have central Jersey, we have a few good clubs there, downtown where we’re from they have a few good clubs there, and then were 15 minutes outside of New York city so I’d have to take you to New York city, and make sure you have your ID and we’d have a great time there as well!
I got ID so I’ll be there! I wrote a rap for you guys, I was gunna do it but I’m a bit shy…
Go on do it do it!
Okay alright…
Its been long time you shouldn't have left us
so we wrote a few bars to make you lot laugh
Here at the guestlist its all about the music
interviewing you guys is big so let's do this
That’s not a rap that’s a poem!
I know but I can’t rap!
It’s a poem!
Yeah it’s a poem then, okay…
Naughty by nature is in the building
true legends right here got me blushing and gigglin
Guestlist down with the O.P.P
Our swaggers on point as you can see
NBN meets GNTV
Our ryhmes so dope didn't know I had it in me
Thank you, that it time to rap this up
Thank you that was nice! I’m shedding a tear right now!
Thanks! You guys are big legends and we listen to your music all the time in the office so it was cool to chat to you guys, it’s good you’re back and we’re sure the albums gunna be big over here!
Thanks, we realise people in the UK take their music very seriously so hopefully it’ll be a success!
Hello!
How you guys doing?
Alright, thanks
You’ve got a new album coming out, can you tell us about the concept for that?
Um the concept, well it started off originally it was gunna be called ‘Anthem A’, kinda like a collectors edition it was gunna be half and half, there was gunna be 6 new songs and 6 of the classics remade because we own the masters of the classics now, so we gunna re make them now, since then its been changed so instead of being 12 songs its about 17 songs with 12…no 18 songs actually, with 12 originals and 6 of the classics remade as a bonus
Oh cool so we get to hear a bit more of you guys which is good!
Yeah, Yeah more original, more new songs
Yeah that’s good, that’s good
As we went in the record label said we’ve been putting the feelers out and can you guys add some new songs to it so we had to go back in and do that
What was it like going back in the studio?
Same old, same old, everybody’s been working both collectively and individually so there wasn’t no big issues
What have you guys been doing since taking a break from Naughty By nature?
On the road mostly, and we’ve been working, for us its kinda like, we’ve been working, and we’ve been working ever since the early 90’s but the thing is we, and I always quote this, we do a good clean quiet business, we’re not out there fighting in the clubs getting shot at, shooting people doing all of this nonsense that your average artists get exposed for. In the media that’s the way it works you know? You could do something stupid and get all the free publicity on earth but if you stay a straight and narrow path and do a lot of positive stuff you know that’s boring to the press so you never really get on the radar, personally id rather do a good clean quiet business
That’s good be a true artist not somebody hats just out there trying to make money, cus its not about money, its about the music
Exactly!
What was it like growing up in New Jersey?
Um, for me it was fun, you know, I grew up the youngest of 7, my mother was a crossing guard she made like $200 which is like £100 every two weeks feeding 7 kids! But the block that I grew up on, there were a lot of kids there at all times so if I left my house, I lived on one end of the block, and if I just walked up the street, there’d be kids jumping rope, playing football, baseball, the water fountain be going so I didn’t realise like, if I was poor or whatever, I just had a good, robust childhood and when I fell into hip hop, you know it was again one of those hobby things where we would flip on the dirty mattresses and watch the Bruce Lee karate flicks, but then when hip hop came the mattresses went away and the cardboard came out for break dancing and all of that stuff and then beat boxing and all of that so that’s pretty much what my childhood was like
That’s nice, nice to hear! So where do you see the future of hip-hop?
I see the future of hip hop just continue to grow and diversify I think, like you see now so many different genres of music, are merging, and you have a lot of hip hop based tracks, or hip hop flavour, and pop music and club music so its just gunna be fusing you know, and even hip hop is a fusion of classic rock music, classic jazz, classic R’n’B, so all its gunna do is keep reciprocating.
Yeah I agree, so tell us about back in the day, some of the artists you worked with, or hung out with, or still hang out with?
Our biggest influence has been Queen Latifah, because we’re all from the same home town of East Orange New Jersey, and we got together in high school as the new style, and we were taking it serious trying to get a record label, Queen Latifah and her crew the Flavour Unit was around our way so she was always there and she came out a year of two before us so she had success before us and we looked at everything she was doing, we were looking at magazines and be like wow, she gets a lot of press, and she makes hot music and she has Mark the 45 King producing her, and we know about the Flavour Unit MC’s, that’s a crew we would like to get down with and basically we pursued them till we ended up getting down with them.
Nice, so it was pretty cool back in the day, hanging out with Queen Latifah!
Yeah definitely!
If you weren’t superstars what would you be doing today?
Um, I would be a college graduate; I was going into college for computer sciences so I was always interested in that, so no telling what I would have done but you know I guess with my DNA I would have went hard and been successful at something! Perhaps I would have created Facebook, or Myspace, or Twitter you know!
So you’d be superstars anyway!
Exactly! Probably a lot richer too (laughs)
What inspires you when you write music? Is it just something that comes naturally or is it something you have to think about?
Yeah, for me it’s definitely something I have to think about, I always tell Kay and Treach, being a writer is a gift and Treach is our lead writer so this guy if you see him he’s constantly writing! We just posted a Youtube clip that catches Treach at so many different times just writing, writing, writing, for me I have to really think and get tracks and really get into what I’m doing but for a guy like him he just walks down the street writing (laughs)
Are there any artists from back in the day that you’d like to hear now? Anybody you’d like to hear do new stuff or some of their old stuff, kinda like what you guys are doing?
I want my girl Janae back, I want them back out, but if you wanna take it way way back then Marvin Gaye,
I would like to see this R’n’B group called The Whispers, I remember my sisters used to love them and the style and the sounds of their voices I always said if a younger group came up with that style, flavour and that voice tone I think they would be really successful
If the Guestlist Network came to visit your hometown where would you take us to party?
Hmm, I would take you to a few spots in Jersey, we have central Jersey, we have a few good clubs there, downtown where we’re from they have a few good clubs there, and then were 15 minutes outside of New York city so I’d have to take you to New York city, and make sure you have your ID and we’d have a great time there as well!
I got ID so I’ll be there! I wrote a rap for you guys, I was gunna do it but I’m a bit shy…
Go on do it do it!
Okay alright…
Its been long time you shouldn't have left us
so we wrote a few bars to make you lot laugh
Here at the guestlist its all about the music
interviewing you guys is big so let's do this
That’s not a rap that’s a poem!
I know but I can’t rap!
It’s a poem!
Yeah it’s a poem then, okay…
Naughty by nature is in the building
true legends right here got me blushing and gigglin
Guestlist down with the O.P.P
Our swaggers on point as you can see
NBN meets GNTV
Our ryhmes so dope didn't know I had it in me
Thank you, that it time to rap this up
Thank you that was nice! I’m shedding a tear right now!
Thanks! You guys are big legends and we listen to your music all the time in the office so it was cool to chat to you guys, it’s good you’re back and we’re sure the albums gunna be big over here!
Thanks, we realise people in the UK take their music very seriously so hopefully it’ll be a success!
