Throwback: Naughty By Nature - "Everything's Gonna Be Alright"

Though I did not grow up in the mean streets of New Jersey or New York, I did grow up without a dad and suffered through hard times as a broke kid who had to start working for money at age 10 for anything I wanted. While I knew I wasn't the only one in the world, the first time I heard this track, before it had a video, I started to realize that it was OK to be angry and that the struggle I faced was more universal than I thought growing up in the south. Treach is still one of my favorite emcee's to this day because of this track and almost the entire first NBN album. His verses spoke to me more so than any other artist I had heard at the time. His mix of trash talk, humor and creativity was impressive to my young, dumb ears. The track managed to keep an upbeat vibe to a sad but common tale about dead bat dads and life decisions we all face at one time or another.