Anthony Shawn Criss, born December 2, 1970, in East Orange, New Jersey, formed the group that became Naughty by Nature with Vin Rock and DJ Kay Gee in 1986. O.P.P. was a worldwide hit in 1991, Hip Hop Hooray followed in 1993. Treach was the group’s rapper, fast, hard-edged, with a taste for drama that he shared with Tupac.
Friends since “Juice”
The two met around the making of Juice (1992), the film that launched Tupac’s acting career. Treach and Tupac’s friend Stretch worked on set as extras. When jewellery was stolen from Tupac’s trailer, accounts of the shoot say the pair dealt with the thief personally. Treach later looked back on those days in song, the tours, the nights between New Jersey and the projects. Their first meeting is sometimes placed on a Public Enemy tour; what is documented is their time together around Juice.
Songs and videos together
- 5 Deadly Venomz on Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. (1993), with Apache and Live Squad, produced by Stretch;
- Loyal to the Game with Treach and Riddler, a bonus track on the cassette edition of the Above the Rim soundtrack (1994).
In 1995, while Tupac was in prison, Treach appeared in the videos for So Many Tears and Temptations. The Los Angeles Times named him among the friends who came together for the Tupac-less shoot (see Coolio).
“Mourn You Til I Join You”
After Tupac’s death Treach recorded Mourn You Til I Join You with Naughty by Nature; it appeared on Nineteen Naughty Nine: Nature’s Fury in 1999. The song tells of two “skinny and broke” young men, of Tupac’s restlessness and his love for New York. For copyright reasons only the reference to the lyrics appears here. That Treach gave a moving speech about Tupac in the documentary Thug Angel rests on a single account.
Treach stands for a side of Tupac’s life that the East-West story tends to bury: many of his closest friends in his early career came from New York and New Jersey.