By Pauline Hunt

Date / Venue: Sunday November 15th, 2015 - The Studio, Auckland

The 90's hip hop power house Naughty By Nature; the Grammy Award winning trio consisting of Treach, Vin Rock & DJ Kay Gee, returned to New Zealand to celebrate their 25th anniversary, performing at theStudio on K' Road in Auckland City. It's been four years since they last came to NZ and this was their last show of their tour before heading back to the United States. The trio first got together in 1988 and first appeared in the music scene in 1989 releasing an album called ‘Independent Leaders' under it's then-name the New Style. The group changed their name after being mentored after the release of their first album by fellow New Jersey native ‘Queen Latifah'.

Opening the show before the group jumped on stage was local DJ's Al-Goodie & CXL. Playing records to get the audience hyped up and ready for the party that was about to happen. Atmosphere in the room was excitement and anticipation for one of the greatest hip hop groups to emerge from the 90's. From hip hop classics to new school hits, the audience was definitely ready to party on a Sunday night. After what seemed like hours of waiting patiently, the hip hop trio finally emerged onto the stage to kick off their show.

DJ Kay Gee started off their performance by dropping hits to warm up before the rest of his crew joined him on stage. Vin Rock jumps on the microphone and comes out on stage not long after. Before Treach enters the stage, the beginning of their first hit single as ‘Naughty By Nature', ‘OPP' blasts through the speakers and by this point, the audience are screaming and dancing. They were definitely not short on energy considering that they had just hopped off the plane into our country 3 hours before. They continued on with hits like ‘Dirt All By My Lonely', Everything's Gonna Be Alright' to their better known hits ‘Jamboree' and ‘Holiday'.

The trio also managed a dedication to the late 2Pac with Treach performing his dedication record ‘Mourn You Til I Join You' and then playing some well known hits from the rapper before moving on to remembering Notorious B.I.G. Their concert turned out to be one huge party as they took us down memory lane with huge hip hop records from the 80's and the 90's. In between their ad-libs and shoutouts, they would always be acknowledging their love for NZ as they knew that there was a huge following for hip hop. They even managed to open up a bottle of Hennessey and share it with lucky fans in front. Before the night ended, they finished their concert with one of their most well-known hits ‘Hip Hop Hooray', even allowing fans to join and dance with them on stage.

Considering the hip hop group performed in Brisbane the night before and landing into NZ only a few hours before jumping on stage, they brought everything to the stage to their only NZ show. There was so much energy and excitement in one room and it was all because of ‘Naughty By Nature'. The trio promised that this wasn't going to be their last time hitting our shores, and the audience were going to hold them to it.

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