Naughty By Nature pulled off the neat trick of landing big, instantly catchy anthems on the pop charts while maintaining their street-level credibility among the hardcore rap faithful; one of the first groups to successfully perform such a balancing act. The group was formed in East Orange, NJ, in 1986, while all three members -- MCs Treach (born Anthony Criss) and Vinnie (born Vincent Brown), and DJ Kay Gee (born Keir Gist) -- were attending the same high school. Initially called New Style, they began performing at talent shows and were discovered by Queen Latifah a few years later; she signed the group to her management company and helped them land a deal with Tommy Boy Records. Naughty By Nature's self-titled debut was released in 1991 and produced an inescapable Top Ten hit in "O.P.P." (which supposedly stood for "other people's property," though a close listen to the lyrics revealed that the second P represented male or female genitals). "O.P.P." made Naughty By Nature crossover stars, yet their ghetto sensibility and gritty street funk (not to mention Treach's nimble rhyming technique) made them popular in the hip-hop underground as well. Treach began a secondary acting career in 1992, appearing in Juice; he would go on to supporting roles in The Meteor Man, Who's the Man?, and Jason's Lyric, among others.

Naughty By Nature repeated their success with the 1993 follow-up album, 19 Naughty III, which produced another ubiquitous crossover smash in the "hey! ho!" chant of "Hip Hop Hooray"; the album hit the Top Five and, like its predecessor, went platinum. 1995's Poverty's Paradise was the group's final album for Tommy Boy; though it didn't spawn any major hits, it went on to win a Grammy for Best Rap Album. A recording hiatus of several years followed; during that time, Treach pursued his acting career, most notably landing a recurring role on the HBO prison drama Oz; and Kay Gee greatly expanded his outside production work, helming records for Zhan

Digital Underground is the wacky P-Funk troup that consists of Shock-G, Money-B and D.J. Fuze (of Raw Fusion fame), wacky characters like Peanut-Hakeem Humpty-Hump and M.C. Blowfish, and revolving group members D.J. DOT, Jay-Z and Saafir (of Hobo Junction), Esenchill, Dungeon Squad, Pee-Wee and Big Money Otis (of Gold Money). And believe me, there are many more people that that! They were the first on the scene in the '90's with the "family type' thing going on that Wu-Tang does now, the group consisting of many peeps with many side projects, literally having a hand in everything. They first arived on the bland hip-hop scene around 1988 with they're single "Underwater Rhymes" that was put out independantly and were signed under Tommy Boy Records in 1988, releasing the hit album titled "Sex Packets" in 1990. That album set the hip-hop world on fire and totally changed the outlook on music in general. Taking Parliament/Funkadelic, Jimmy Hendrix, and Bootsy Collins samples, Shock and Co. created a batch of gravy that included the singles "The Humpty Dance" and "Doowutchyalike!". The entire album became classic and the group was up for a Grammy nomination. The next album entitled "This is an E.P. Release" was a hit too, with the single "The Same Song" that let the world know that D.U. had indeed "been all around the world". It was this album that introduced us to the gifted individual Tupac Shakur. D.U. was strong, and appeared in the Dan Akroyd movie originally called Valkenvania but later changed to "Nothing But Trouble". Dan Akroyd wanted Digital Underground in the film because he like Shock's "Humpty" character with his fake nose like his own character in the movie. In 1991 Digital let the world know that they were indeed the inheritors of carrying the torch of the P. They ARE the Sons of the P as the title of the album says. Tracks off this are No Nose Job, Kiss You Back that were videos, and the whole album is classic. The 3 years inbetween spawned the hip-hop classic album "The Body Hat Syndrome" along with side projects by members Raw Fusion, Gold Money, and Tupac Shakur, who had Shock on his single "Trapped" and the D-Flow produced "I Get Around" that was D-Flo produced track that was an instant hit. A few years later digital came through on a new label called Critique Records with and album that heads slept on called "Future Rythm". The singles off it are "Walk Real Kool" and "Oregano Flow". This album is a mix of different flavors, setting D.U. up for they're 5th album "Who Got The Gravy" on Jake Records. Shock introduces the world to another character Peanut-Hakeem Anafu Washington, and Mon lets loose on tracks and lets the world know that we need more Man's Girls around. So go pick up a copy of "Who Got the Gravy"..Digital's 5th album. Money B's solo album is out now, go to www.moneyb.com and buy it..and while your there pick up a copy of D.U.'s "The Lost Files" too! Digital Underground...carrying the way through the millenium.