from the LP Straight Out the Jungle, Warlock Records, 1988“Jungle Brothers on the run ya’ll, JB’s on the run…” Championed by heavy heads & critics alike upon their inception, it’s a mystery to me why the NYC-based Jungle Brothers never managed to parlay that acclaim into a longstanding legacy in the way that other crews from their Native Tongues posse did (see: Tribe or De La), because their rhymes and raps nearly equal the above mentioned crews; that Babe Ruth “Mexican” sample has gone on to become one of the most pinched breaks of all time, and you can never include too much Jimmy Castor Bunch, ever. As with so many of my early musical discoveries, the JBeez came to my ears care of my older nephew David (…my oldest sister, his mom, is 20 years my senior…we put the “fun” in dysfunctional in my family); he lived in California, the epitome of cool to a young Florida beach scrub in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Every summer & Xmas, when our family would try to act like a family, we’d hang out and it was like musicology 101 for me, digging through his tunes and returning home afterwards with a head full of new songs; he had this album on cassette. In fact, he just had a b-day, so happy birthday Dave!
