#21: Jungle Brothers — Done by the Forces of Nature (1989)
New York, NY — Warner Bros.
To begin our 3rd cycle and close off 1989 on a groovier, soulful note, we have Done by the Forces of Nature, the second full-length album from the Jungle Brothers — Afrika Baby Bam and Mike Gee on tha mike & DJ Sammy B on tha wheelz of steel — , our second but by no means last Native Tongues group (the first is De La Soul). I have jammed a bit of the Selvatic Siblings before, mostly due to the production, but I’m by no means familiar with their body of work. As far as I can tell there are two things this stuff is most illustrious for: one, the classic Native Tongues themes of peace, love, heritage and afrocentrism, still somewhat of an outlier to this day in the rap scene, and two, the production here, which is notably influenced by house music and got this album a well-deserved spot among the most illustrious hip-house records.
Now, if I had to choose one word to describe the overall feel of this record, it’d be fun. Fun is what permeates many of the tracks on this, especially the more house-y, disco-ey ones that seem to embrace the heritage of silly late 70s rap, and to me this is where they shine the most. Their flow and rhyming is especially reminiscent of that era, and the sometimes simplistic and goofy rhyming often works toward setting a comfy, groovy vibe that I would say it’s this album’s overall highlight.
Like most of their Native Tongues colleagues, the Forest Fratelli set themselves apart through their less aggressive, more laid-back approach to songwriting, and a strong connection to themes such as african heritage, ancestry and the power of music and poetry as a way to come together as a community. The way these themes are tackled here, however, do come off as more simplistic, superficial, even naïve at times, when compared to the characteristic grandiloquence of acts such as De La Soul and ATCQ. Personal hangups with the whole panafricanism thing aside, most times it comes off like the Woodland Woadies are just mentioning these themes as a matter-of-fact thing, for little more than just the sake of it; the beginning of Acknowledge Your Own History, this album’s song that’s more overtly about that, comes to mind:
My forefather was a king
He wore fat gold chains and fat ruby rings
Nobody believes this to be true
Maybe it’s because my eyes ain’t blue
You ain’t gonna find it in your history book
Come here, young blood, and take a look
And dig down deep inside this hard cover
Don’t you know that you was bought, brother?
Does that come off a little silly to you as well? My point is absolutely not that the theme isn’t relevant or important, far from it; it’s just that it’s treated in such an idealised, simplified, sometimes moralistic way, with so little nuance and depth to it, that it ends up losing part of its relevance and becomes little more than an easy theme. And it does make it a little more ironic when they, for multiple times, resort to, best case scenario, tired tropes about african forest rituals and such. I feel like I might be going a little too hard on them regarding this specific theme, surely the time rift between 1989 and 2023 plays a part in it, and maybe I’m just too cynical and grumpy, but it is what it is.
Anyways, that’s probably my biggest issue with this album by the Jungle Brothers (I’ve ran out of alliterating substitutes for their name by now). It’s an OK experience, especially during the first half, which is where most of the more upbeat, disco-y tracks inhabit (the annoying silly preaching is more of a back half thing), and a considerable part of it, if not all, is honestly fun and light, if lacking in substance somewhat. The tracks where, instead of going into some boorish tangent, they embrace having mindless fun, are consistently better to me, and the simpler rapping actually works best as a revisionist tie-in of sorts to late 70s rap, during the wane of the disco era. I really wish I had liked and been more stimulated by this, but, well, I don’t feel like there’s a whole lot more to say.
Favorite tracks:
“U” Make Me Sweat — Very hyped-up and sincerely fun, maybe where this record’s house heritage comes into the foreground the most. Lyrics and rhymes are simple and straightforward but unpretentious, which in this context is decidedly a quality to me.
Doin’ Our Own Dang — It feels like kind of a dick move to pick the Native Tongues posse cut as one of my favs for this record, but oh well. Counting with Maseo, Posdnuos, Trugoy (R.I.P), Q-Tip, Queen Latifah and Monie Love, the many verses on this one flow almost seamlessly into each other in a very pleasant way, and the increased lyrical diversity is obviously a boon.
Least favorite track:
Black Woman — Erkworthy thirsty ass slavering over the quintessential hypersexual black woman hidden under the pretense of some boolchet pseudo-mystical praising of some essential african feminine energy or whatever. Shitty beat doesn’t help as well.
