No. 9: Treach

Yes, Anthony Criss is ahead of Chris Wallace. And no, I'm not totally crossed out.

It might be considered sacrilege to say so, but here it is — Treach was a better rapper than Biggie was. The only reasons you probably don't think so are that a) Treach wasn't a solo artist, so he doesn't have the same name recognition; and b) Treach is still alive.

(Yeah, I said it. Sorry, but it's true.)

Treach, better known as the voice who handled about 95 percent of the rhyming for Naughty By Nature, is often forgotten because he didn't go solo or dismissed as a pop rapper because of the group's two massive-beyond-massive crossover anthems, "O.P.P." and "Hip Hop Hooray." But neither is a legitimate reason for keeping him out of the top 10.

For starters, Treach effectively was a solo artist. Remember when we said that (okay, you don't remember) that Brand Nubian's debut album was pretty much a Grand Puba solo project? That goes double for almost every Naughty record. Vinny was always credited with being the group's "backbone," which is all well and good, but on wax, Treach was the group. Vinny was Robin to Treach's Batman.

I wouldn't cut it for...wait, never mind.

Secondly, Naughty By Nature didn't sell out. They just happened to blow up. Both Biggie (thanks to Puffy) and post-prison Tupac (thanks to Suge) made more blatant efforts to sell out than Treach and his crew did. Naughty knew how to rock a party, sure — but Treach always came with hard verses even on his most crossover'ish songs (something only a handful of emcees can claim). Besides, listen again to the hard-edged flow and verses on songs like "Yoke The Joker" and "Uptown Anthem" (hey, look, there's Tupac in the video!) and you'll notice that not only could Treach come as rough as Biggie could, but his rhymes were just as tight and his delivery was sharper.

His peers recognized it, too — Treach may have made appearances on R&B tracks with the likes of Michael Jackson, Boyz II Men, Aaliyah and Monica, but he also was tabbed for collaborations with the likes of 2Pac, Redman and Guru as well as numerous Flavor Unit tracks. In nearly every case, Treach was the show-stealer...because unlike many of his peers, he rarely, if ever, mailed a verse in.

Some of Naughty's records were more well-received than others. Their self-titled 1991 LP (which was really the second album, since they released one as The New Style in 1989) was a classic, but each subsequent LP seemed to get less and less shine as the group faded from the limelight in the late 1990s. Still, there wasn't really much dropoff in Treach.

He's limited himself to a handful of cameo appearances in recent years, focusing most of his energy on his acting career, but what Treach and Naughty By Nature accomplished during their salad days (1991 through 1995) is more than enough to warrant him a spot among the elite.

Even if you don't recognize his name, you'll never forget Treach's verses.