For over ten years now, New Jersey's Naughty by Nature (NBN) have never

really turned out an album worthy of the honorific "classic," yet they've

composed a slew of unforgettable hip-hop anthems and thus have left their

stamp indelibly on rap music's memory. These include "O.P.P." (1991),

"Ghetto Bastard (Everything's Gonna Be Alright)" (1991), "Hip Hop Hooray"

(1993) and "Feel Me Flow" (1995).

Silent for nearly four years, NBN return with Nineteen Naughty Nine:

Nature's Fury, an uneven assortment of aspiring anthems and formula

songs that make for a likable, but unremarkable, album. While their lyrics

are not that much worse for the wear, Treach and Kay Gee's charismatic

presence has faded considerably. MC Treach still possesses a fierceness

unmatched by most MCs, especially on the high-powered "On the Run"

(RealAudio excerpt), but now his bark feels more stinging than his bite

while Kay Gee's rhymes (still) come and go without much impact.

The album begins well enough with "Ring the Alarm"

(RealAudio excerpt), a laid-back, mid-tempo track set adrift in soft key,

with basslines and a sharp drum track lifted from Little Feat. Next up

is NBN's first single, "Dirt All by My Lonely," a softened horror-core

tale of murder and mayhem powered by a desolate piano loop. Completing

the intro trio is "Holiday," an obvious crossover attempt with a shiny,

clean sound that barely avoids being trite in its bid for club-play.

The first signs of trouble are when NBN, who brought you the "Uptown

Anthem" (1991), head down south instead. Tracks like "Live or Die"

(featuring Master P, Silkk the Shocker, Mystikal) and "Thugs & Hustlers"

(featuring Mag and Krayzie Bone) seem based more on commercial opportunism

than on actual chemistry between Naughty's Jersey-City kinetics and the

South's slump style.

On the flipside, "Wicked Bounce" might be an overt nod to the bounce

sound pioneered in Atlanta, but credit NBN with an infectious, piano-laden

track that bumps deliciously well.

The rest of the LP is mostly standard fare: "We Could Do It" is the sex

groove, "The Blues" is the obligatory R&B crossover and "Radio" is the

now-common, nostalgia-ridden track. The closest Naughty come to establishing

a solid anthem for 19Naughty9 is "Jamboree"

(RealAudio excerpt), a brightly tuned song of flaring horns and the

sultry singing of Zhane who evens out Treach and Kay Gee's growling flows.