If you’re a faithful reader of TimeIsIllmatic, you’re already fully aware of my deep admiration for the Native Tongue collective. From the ladies: Queen Latifah, Monie Love, Shortie No Mas, and the beautiful Ms. Vinia Mojica (if you don’t know who she is, do the knowledge aka Google her). To the fellas: Leaders Of The New School, Black Sheep, the legendary De La Soul, and my favorite hip-hop group of all time, Rock-N-Roll Hall of Famers, A Tribe Called Quest. The Native Tongue has had a big influence on my musical taste, and I’d go as far as to say their music has made a lasting impression on my life. Oh yeah. I couldn’t finish this paragraph without mentioning the patriarchs of the movement. Jungle Brothers.

As much as I adore the Native Tongue collective, I have never been fond of the founders, Jungle Brothers. Plain and simple, their music has never appealed to me. Before starting this blog, I was only familiar with a couple of their singles and their cameo on De La’s classic joint, “Buddy.” I loved “Buddy” (the song and the act) and the extended collective remix, but that love really had nothing to do with the JBs’ contribution to the record. I eventually bought and listened to their first three albums, Straight Out The Jungle, Done By The Forces Of Nature, and J Beez Wit The Remedy. I wasn’t impressed by any of them. They all had a few bright moments, but ultimately, Afrika, Mike Gee, and Sammy B’s rhymes were underwhelming, and their production didn’t pack a potent enough punch to win me over. But when I follow an artist’s catalog, I see it through to the end. In cases like the Jungle Brothers, who didn’t woo me with their first three joints, I don’t necessarily search for the rest of the catalog, but if it finds me during a random search through the used bins and the price is right, I’ll continue my trip through their musical journey. So, when the JB’s fourth release, Raw Deluxe showed up for the low price of one dollar, I had to add it to my collection.

After releasing their previous two albums on Warner Bros., Raw Deluxe would begin the JBs’ new relationship with the London-based label Gee Street (also once the home to PM Dawn and Gravediggaz). This relationship would last as many albums as their stent with Warner Bros. (two). Like their previous three albums, Jungle Brothers would keep most of the production in-house, only occasionally asking for outside help. Raw Deluxe would peak at thirty-seven on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Charts and received poor reviews from the critics.

Raw Deluxe is another first listen for me, and I can’t say I’m excited to go into this deep dive. But for the sake of Native Tongue, I will get through it.

Jungle Brother (True Blue) – The JBs loop up, distort, and bass out the opening frame of The O’Jays “Family Reunion” for the opening track’s instrumental. Mike Gee, Afrika, and Sammy B sound like mature hip-hop veterans, sharing their insight on life, hip-hop, and everything else that comes with being a Jungle Brother in urban North America. This is grown-man hip-hop, and I enjoyed every second of this record.

Changes – Our hosts discuss the inevitable fate of change, which we all will have to deal with at some point: (Mike Gee) “Schooling when we’re all live performing/keep the cats all roaring/throughout the towns that we’re touring/comps that once stood are now heading for the door and/don’t want to see you no more, no more/first I’m hot then cold, first I’m new than old/but still pull out the mic and make the jam explode.” The trio’s rhymes were cool, but I really dug the uber-chill, rainy-day vibes in the instrumental. The liner notes don’t say, but is Vinia Mojica singing the hook?

Black Man On Track – The JBs use this one to speak on staying true to themselves in hip-hop and everyday life: (Afrika) “X-files, I check styles/wreck rappers for miles/detect conspiracies to clear me out the industry files/and it goes deeper/when the world starts to treat you like an obsolete creature/and expect you to come back perpetrating the main feature.” The lively instrumental matches the fellas’ message, and the ill horn break is dripping with perseverance and integrity.

Toe To Toe – Afrika and Mike Gee take turns talking their shit over a vanilla mid-tempo backdrop. This sounds like a leftover from the J. Beez Wit The Remedy sessions and the kind of mediocrity that has placed the JBs so low on my Native Tongue totem pole.

Moving Along – Despite the distractions of shady people and the corrupted music industry, our hosts vow to keep pressing forward. Nice message and I dug the soothingly soulful mid-tempo groove.

Gettin Money – As the song title suggests, Mike Gee and Afrika discuss…I don’t think I need to finish that sentence. Mike approaches the topic from more of a necessity point of view, while Afrika sounds more like some of their flamboyant younger contemporaries with lines like “Money quench my thirst like Dr. Pepper soda” and “People acting shitty when they see me counting fifties.” Their rhymes weren’t riveting, but I was entertained by the dreamy Quincy Jones loop the instrumental was built around. Rest in peace to the legend.

Where You Wanna Go – Love is in the air over this laidback, bluesy jazz instrumental that finds Afrika and Mike Gee sounding like teenagers freshly in love (so much in love they forgot to put the question mark at the end of the song title). It was nice to hear the lovebirds express their affection without making a bunch of cliche physical/sexual references.

Brain – I believe this was the lead single from Deluxe Raw that I completely forgot existed until this review. The Roots break the JB’s off with one of their signature mid-nineties neo-hip-hop soul grooves that Mike Gee, Afrika, and Sammy B use to attempt to explain some of the funky shit that goes on inside their brains. It would have been nice to hear Black Thought (who adds additional verbal additives to the hook) spit a verse over this smooth backdrop that was custom-made for his flow, but even without a sixteen from the top-tier emcee, this was dope and has aged very well. By the way, the chord progression during Sammy B’s verse was insanely fire.

Handle My Business – As men, we must all handle our B.I. The JBs wrote a song about it. You wanna hear it? Here it goes. By the way, I love the shimmering piano loop used in the backdrop.

How Ya Want It We Got It (Native Tongues Remix) – Afrika and Mike Gee invite Posdnuous, Trugoy, and Q-Tip (Tribe Degrees of Separation: check) to join them on the mic, turning this into a Native Tongue cipher session. All five emcees sound lively and attentive, and while Mike Gee gets off the cleverest line of the entire song (“Don’t front, now I’mma play you like the government and give ya what I think ya want”), it’s Trugoy who sounds looser than usual and outshines his NT bredren. The instrumental is a little dry for my taste buds, but I enjoyed the fun energy exuded by the reunited collective. My only wish is that Phife would have been on the record (continue to rest in peace, Phife and Trugoy). By the way, did they ever release the original mix of this record?

Bring It On – The JB’s resort back to the experimental shit that plagued J Beez Wit The Remedy. Maybe they were going for an Onyx-style mosh pit-type record. Regardless, this was not good.

Jungle Brother (Stereo MC’s Mix) – I prefer the original mix, but I love the grandiose sound of the instrumentation, which is fitting for the album’s grand finale.

I mentioned in the opening of this post that I wasn’t looking forward to this review. While I respect what the Jungle Brothers stand for and essentially created (my favorite hip-hop collective and group of all time), their music never appealed to me. Even after going back and deep-diving into their first three albums, decades after their release, I still was unimpressed. Then I discovered Raw Deluxe.

Raw Deluxe could be the poster child for adult contemporary hip-hop music, and that’s not a dis. Afrika, Mike Gee, and Sammy B keep most of the album’s content on some grown-man shit, discussing love, the ups and downs of life and the music industry, and surviving it all with a slightly jaded but optimistic outlook. Unlike some other seasoned veterans, the JBs don’t try to sound like their younger contemporaries who came up during that era. Instead, they embrace their age, best shown when they use the ancient eighties lingo, cold chillin’, on the hook of “Black Man On Track.” None of the Jungle Brothers are top-notch lyricists, and they never get too complex with the bars on Raw Deluxe, but there’s a sage-like profoundness in their simplicity.

The inconsistent production on the Jungle Brothers’ previous albums was an issue to my ears. On Raw Deluxe, the trio builds a consistently quality collection of musical canvases around savvy soul samples and delectable warm jazzy loops, which helps their words of wisdom stand out more in the crowd. The JBs fall short on a few records, but most of Raw Deluxe is competent bars entangled with delightful hip-hop beats, and what more could one ask for from a hip-hop album?

We’ve all heard the old saying “three times a charm.” or “three is the magic number,” but you rarely hear about the power of four. Since prehistoric times, the number four has represented what is solid or a strong foundation, which is a fitting analogy for the Jungle Brothers’ anthology. Not only was I able to make it through Raw Deluxe, but I thoroughly enjoyed the album. Hopefully, the “homegrown sound” they concocted on Raw Deluxe carries over to the rest of their catalog. But if not, I’ll cherish the lightning the trio captures in a bottle.

-Deedub
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