At the end of the 80s some friends decided to form a musical trio: Nathaniel "Afrika Baby Bam" Hall, Michael "Mike Gee" Small and Sammy "DJ Sammy B" Burwell formed Jungle Brothers. In 1987, the youngstaz sign with Idlers, subsidiary label of Warlock Records, and release "Jimbrowski".
The following year the group reached an agreement with Warlock to release a full-length LP: the effort was entirely self-produced with the help of Tony D., head of Idlers, scratches by Sweet Daddy and was unique in its genre, because much of the album was recorded without a sampler, replaced by direct recording over the records chosen to create the rhythm and looped around by Afrika Baby Bam for enough minutes to have enough time to spit some verses on them.
Jungles Brothers debut album, first also of the Native Tongues crew. It retains its own influence in the forging of political jazz rap and hip hop conscious, as well as being among the first examples of afrocentric effort. At the expense of versatile lyrics more or less average, not excellent, which are balanced between the conscious ("Black Is Black"), some experimental ("I'm House You" is among the first hip house cuts, sampling "Can You Party "by Royal House; inserted in the subsequent editions of the album, it's not present in the original one) and decidedly more easy-going songs focused on sex ("Jimbrowski"), delivered with a simple rapping and a style that's immediately fresh and playful, the production is excellent: minimal, fresh, it gives a peaceful and serene soundscape, strongly supported by funky and jazzy songs (Tom Browne, The Meters, Bill Whiters, Manu Dibango, Madrill, Gil Scott-Heron, Prince, Isaac Hayes, Grover Washington, Jr., Marvin Gaye, Kool & the Gang, Pointer Sisters, and Jimmy Castor Bunch, as well as some hip hop cuts) that return an Africa-oriented sound. The group offers a raw and light-hearted performance, interpreting the album with a simple and relaxed delivery style born to have fun, they're easy-going and everything is easy: it's a record even too relaxed to end up among the supreme of '88, however it's a good album.
Distributed by Warlock, the effort did not climb the charts, stopping just inside the top 40 among R&B releases, but it proved to be appreciated by the public both in its homeland and in Europe, where it received copious distribution supported by UK label Gee Street — a cassette also arrived in Turkey, including the bonus tracks "I'll House You" and "The Promo". The latter, together with "Black is Black", represents the first (uncredited) appearance of Q-Tip, while "I'll House You" became known as the first non-Chicago hip-house track to be a club hit. In retrospect, the album is considered a cult among hip-hop records by both fans and specialized critics and in 2022 Rolling Stone magazine included it among the 200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time.
Highlights: "Straight Out the Jungle", "Black Is Black", "I'm House You", "On the Run", "Because I Got It Like That".
Rating: 8/10.
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