Jungle Brothers

New York rap group Jungle Brothers are a highly influential force in hip-hop, their innovative amalgam of jazzy samples, genre-bending beats, and socially conscious lyricism pre-dating some of the most successful acts of hip-hop’s Golden Age in the ‘90s. The group was ahead of the curve with a fusion of hip-hop, dance music elements, and an early adoption of the deep funkiness of James Brown breakbeats on their 1988 debut Straight Out the Jungle resulting in groundbreaking tracks like their hip-hop/house hybrid track “I’ll House You.” The group’s drive to expand the parameters of hip-hop continued as they went on, with later albums finding them collaborating with techno act the Propellerheads, issuing collections of remixes and instrumental renderings of their music, and keeping their experimental impulses alive even while embracing Old School styles on albums like 2020’s Keep It Jungle.