Naughty By Nature – Interview with Kay Gee and Vinnie

How’s the mastering of the album coming along?

Kay Gee: Good. We are at the Hit Factory in New York right now and the album is coming along.

How’s your label, Divine Mill, going?

Everything is going good on that end. I have two albums right now that are basically in the cut and ready to come out in this summer. I got one called Coffee Brown which is a male/female duet, and then I got my first rap act which is a solo artist by the name of Castro.

What do you think of your online site? Are you as involved?

Not really. I think it helps the group as a whole, though, mostly because it helps to get rid of the bulk mail. I just really just got into the computer end of it. Vin has been into it for a while, but I check it out every once in a while and check the fan mail, but I’m not heavily into it as much as Vin is. I guess I don’t really appreciate it yet as much as he does. Another reason is that I am in the studio all day and all night and by the time I come home I just want to go to bed.

How was the four-year layoff for you?

It wasn’t really a layoff for me because I was doing things with other artists such as Next, and now with a lot of other artists. I just managed to stay real busy over that time period.

I know that you are really into producing, but are you as passionate about performing?

Oh yes. I love performing, actually. And I also love producing. I mean, there is nothing like it in the world to me. Being in the studio and making those records is like creating a child or having a child. And it’s exciting to watch everything develop and to see everybody out there and the fans take to it as well as you think that they would. There isn’t anything like that.

How different do you feel NBN is now as opposed to the first album?

It’s the same. There is nothing different. It’s just like the new label, which you are going to see a lot more of us now. But it is the same thing, the same energy, the same hunger and attitude. Nothing is different.

How do you feel about the evolution of rap music?

It’s all good. You need a variety of different styles of music. You don’t want everything to be monotonous and sounding the same. As long as it translates and reaches out, it’s all good, because if it wasn’t reaching out and it wasn’t selling, then it wouldn’t work. So whether it is gangster or commercial, it is selling and someone is wanting to hear it. That’s why it is selling.

Do you think that is why hip-hop is so huge right now?

Exactly. That is why it is so big right now, because you have so many diverse sounds.

What will you be doing to usher in the new millennium?

Hiding somewhere. (laughs) No, just in the house, really. I will probably be observing, watching TV to see what is going on. That’s it. I’m not trying to be out anywhere.

vinny with the 411….

How’s the album coming along?

Really good. We’re mastering it right now.

The group had a four-year layoff. Has that effected you at all in terms of the music? Was it difficult to get back in the swing of things?

Yes, we did have a long layoff, but it wasn’t hard to get back to where we were because we were pretty much recording and coming up with ideas through it all, through the transitions and through the down time of it all. So, we pretty much stayed busy musically.

I was listening to the advance of the album. How did you guys hook up with Master P. to do the track “Live And Die” that featured him along with Mystikal and Silkk The Shocker?

Treach went to L.A. to do a video for Master P. and he kicked it to him about working with him. And we wanted to get Mystikal on our album, so Treach approached P about getting Mystikal on our album. So, they made a handshake basically, and next thing you know he went down to Baton Rouge and hooked up with him. And we did a song on Mystikal’s album, so we like swapped records. We’re on a song on Mystikal’s album called “Dirty South, Dirty Jerz” and then Mystikal and Silkk The Shocker got on our record and Master P did the introduction and we just finished the video and just got back one of the final cuts of it right now. And it’s going to be hot.

NBN has a real knack for writing anthems such as “O.P.P.” and “Hip Hop Hooray”. Do you have any party songs such as that on the album?

A joint called “Jamboree” is like that, “Jamboree” and a song called “Holiday”. Those are like our typical party tracks from NBN.

You guys are now signed to Arista Records. What happened between you and Tommy Boy Records?

It was just time to move on. We think that the rap game got too expensive for them as an independent label. We really needed someone who could compete with the major labels. But overall, it was just time to move on.

I checked out the web site yesterday. How involved are you guys with maintaining it and working with it?

Very involved. Actually, I am working with my web masters right now. They are upgrading it right now. We have an old remote page which is older, and then if you click on the Shockwave it will take you to a new second page. But they are busy working on it and upgrading the site. I work with it and keep them up to date and let them interview us and just upgrade it.

I also noticed that you have an online talent search. What’s the deal with that?

It’s all about trying to find people from all over the place and give them a chance to send us their work and demos, and to even give us a shout, and to see what kind of talent is out there. If we can’t help them at the moment, at least we can encourage them to keep on doing what they are doing, or critique their work. But we have been getting a lot of responses from that and a lot of e-mail. I mean, we get bombarded with that stuff.

You also have the Naughty Gear. Are you coming out with a new line for the spring season?

Yes. We have a spring line coming, but actually we’re in the middle of a transition with that also. We have a licensing and we are going to take the licensing deal from the one company and get a new license. So we are in transition with that right now, but we still have the retail store in Jersey. So, we are still doing stuff with that while we are making the transition.

Everyone in NBN seems to have other things going besides the music. Was music viewed from the beginning as a way to venture out into other elements?

Definitely. The music is your chance to get you independently financed so a lot of other projects that you might be interested in you can invest, or you have the power to get someone else to invest.

How’s the television show “The Block” doing? Do you enjoy interacting with the community?

The show is actually something that we are developing right now. It’s just a concept right now. So, we are going to shop it around and we’re going to work with the local school district, to let the high school students help out a little. We like to be close with the community to show people that they can make it just like us. Especially our people around our way. Now, we have nieces and nephews and kids of our own, and what we do is directly affecting our kids that live with us everyday, so we definitely want to put a positive vibe out for them.

I read that you spoke at Harvard. What was the topic?

Yes I did. About two years ago, I went to this hip-hop seminar or something like that and I was on the panel discussion. And actually I am going back there on April 29th for another seminar type of thing that they have going on about hip-hop culture. They were discussing marketing opportunities and direct fan relations as well.

How do you feel about the evolution of rap music, especially how it went from party music to either gangster rap or commercial radio hits?

I think that since now it is generating a lot of money, you will have a lot of people trying to exploit it to whichever extreme. But there is a lot of music that is in the middle. I think the music is cyclical, though. First it was gangster, then it was more party or commercial, and maybe the next time around it will be more political or conscience. So I just think that there are different times.

How different do you think NBN is today from the earlier days?

We learned a lot. We got to go to a lot of regions. I think that hip-hop now is more regional. Primarily, it was the East Coast, and then the West Coast blew up. Now Master P in the South are blowing up, and a few years ago the Mid-West was hot with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. So now it’s a more regional sound. We learned that and I think a lot of other kids in the industry have learned that too. And you will hear hip-hop with a lot of different sounds blended into one. For example, we are from Jersey, and we are taking all these different sounds and regurgitating them in our New Jersey way, and that is what will keep us different and unique.

What can people expect for 1999 and the year 2000?

I think that the people will feel a lot of energy on this album. You have to hear this album in its entirety; two or three songs is not enough. We have fifteen songs on the album, and you need to hear the whole album to feel it. And when the people get a whiff, they will appreciate it. It’s a good solid diverse album.

What will you be doing to bring in the new millennium?

I am going to stay close to home and bring in the new year with family and friends. And make sure that I stock up on extra cash and stuff in case of the Y2K thing.

Is that a concern for you?

Yes, and it’s a concern for everybody. I’m not an extremist, but I will take heed just as if a hurricane was coming or something like they said. Just in case if things happen for a day or two or even a week.

Any other plans?

We have a lot of touring to do, a lot of ground to cover, and a lot of people to make up to after this four-year layoff.

+ sam conjerti & charlie craine