Whether De La Soul, Run-DMC or Westside Connection, Hip Hop has produced some memorable trios. Among of all of the greats, few had the contrast in the three parts of East Orange, New Jersey's Naughty By Nature.

Treach, Vin Rock and Kay Gee are just as memorable for bat mitzvah-accessible anthems like "O.P.P." as they were for open-palmed lyrical slaps like "Uptown Anthem" or "Dirt All By My Lonely." Treach's soldier persona, Vin's charm and Kay's ability to walk the line between street and pop led to a debut 1989 album as The New Style before four successful and acclaimed Naughty By Nature albums, followed by an asterix iiconz effort without the group's producer and deejay in 2002. Always independent, always consistent to the formula and showered with Grammy and American Music Awards, this group arguably bridged the gap between rap in the '80s and '00s.

According to Treach however, the greatest accolade may be next week's Vh1 Hip Hop Honor. In the studio recording a yet to be titled 2009 album that returns Kay Gee to the mix. The vocal duo tells HipHopDX about the journey, Eazy-E confiding in them, and why 50 Cent might have some liner notes a bit misconstrued.

HipHopDX: What does receiving a Hip Hop Honor mean to a group that already has so many awards and accomplishments?
Vin Rock: I know, it’s kind of crazy! Me, [Kay Gee] and Treach have been talking about doing this album for maybe two or three summers now. We’ve started and stopped, started and stopped, started and stopped. Then, this summer, we got super-serious about it, and started going hard with the album. And then the call came in for the Honors. I was kinda thinking, “God don’t work in wrong ways.” This was the best time, perfect opportunity, perfect timing for us to do this new album, and this honor will kinda set everything off for us.

As far as the honor, we were getting pressure from our boys like, “Yo, what’s up man? They forgot about y’all! They doin’ all these other, different groups, y’all impacted more than these guys!” [Laughs] I’m like, “Look, you can argue both sides. I’m sure there’s a lot of artists who deserve to come before us. We put in work. It is what it is. Eventually, they’ll get to us.” I guess this was our year.
Treach: There’s no words for it. It’s an honor. That’s the perfect word for it – it’s a Hip Hop honor for us, as we’re just fans of Hip Hop first. You get awards through the years. You get your Grammys, your AMAs, but when your own home honors you and gives you props, that’s like comin’ to the hood and gettin’ what you get in Hollywood.

DX: Well-deserved. All three of you had such a knack for being accepted in the mainstream, but regardless of that, still being one of the grimiest, street-respected groups in Hip Hop history. Can you put that method of balance to words?
Vin Rock: I think it’s just the different personalities. When you work as a group, the finished product is representation of all three personalities. If you didn’t have Treach in the mix, you definitely wouldn’t have that street mix. If you didn’t have me or Kay Gee in the mix, you wouldn’t have the marketing and the music there – as guys know us to be Naughty By Nature. It’s just a perfect balance. When you put different people together, I guess that collective input equates to one. You get the merge. It is a mixture, and we have been able to ride that fine line between street and Pop.

DX: Treach, the way that you deliver words on the microphone, I think so many guys today learned from that. You, Tim Dog and Freddie Foxxx were the first angry, passionate emcees pushing words into the mic. Where did that come from for you?
Treach: It came…passion. A love for what I was saying. It’s a different type of things when you actually be goin’ through something and put it through an outlet, like actual feelings; there’s not a writer behind you. It’s not just a story you’re making up.

I always had a strong voice, as far as projection. I always was a good projector, but I didn’t want to be yelly or preachy, anything like that. You’ll see the difference from an “Uptown Anthem” [click to read] or a “Ghetto Bastard” or a “O.P.P.” and “Jamboree” [click to read]. I feel as though, like how singers have different ranges and notes, I feel as though, me as a Hip Hoppers, I wanted to bring different tones and levels of my note, into the fold. Projection, because I was rhyming so quick, I had to be clear enough so people would know what the hell I was saying.

DX: You said quick. You have an interesting syncopated timing to your flows. It’s almost like verbal percussion. Tell me, before you rapped, did you play the drums?
Treach: If you were in Hip Hop back in the days, if there wasn’t a beat-box there, you’d take over and play the beat on the table in the cafeteria. Or me, a lot of times, I wasn’t writing to any beat. Or I’d write to any type of beat. My mom had me in different stuff – I took a couple of guitar classes and things like that. My moms had me modeling and stuff when I was younger. I was into music, entertainment, the facet of that from a young upbringing. It came more naturally to me. In the cipher, you don’t have no beat; you just gotta be on beat. Continued on page 2 »