Today in 1970 in “Illtown” New Jersey, the king of “OPP”, better known as Treach, was born. Treach is the frontman for the New Jersey rap collective Naughty By Nature. Born Anthony Criss in East Orange, New Jersey, Treach got his musical start in his hometown. He, Vin Rock, and DJ Kay Gee came together as the group New Style and released an album called Independent Leaders in 1989. Treach and Naughty by Nature saw the majority of their success with their 1991 single “O.P.P”. This song featured a sample from The Jackson 5’s “ABC” and debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200 chart making it one of the most popular crossover songs in rap history. The success of this single opened the doors for Treach to venture into other elements of Hip Hop culture in the 90s. Starting with a guest appearance in the 1992 cult classic Juice, Treach began the next wave of his career as an actor. His biggest role came in 194 when he starred as “A-1” in Jason’s Lyric. Looking back at his career, Treach was certainly a top tier lyricist, who also crafted hit records! His pen was enlisted for plenty of groups on the come up, making him one of the greatest ghostwriters of our generation. In the words of my brother, Dart Adams: "Treach achieved LEGENDARY ghostwriter status when he wrote "Jump" for Kriss Kross then turned around and wrote Da Youngstas track "Crewz Pop" DISSING Kriss Kross while referencing the song he wrote for them. Hall Of Fame status." Amen. It's no wonder Eminem lists him as one of his early influences and why he's still so revered to this day - among other rappers. The average listener, however, might need to run back through the catalog and do some more research. On his born day, I intended to make a playlist of his joints, but ended up just watching him and Bushwick Bill fight backstage on their "I Love the 90s" tour - this is before he ended up pushing Bushwick Bill off stage... Rest In Peace, Bushwick Bill, who does pull a sneaky leg trip to at least make it entertaining. Check out the full clip below... and I'll update this post with a playlist eventually... if I don't forget. Who could NBN battle in a Verzuz??