The Crazy Wisdom Remedy

So, the Jungle Brothers were signed to Warner Brothers. Their first album was in 1988, their second was in 1989, and their third ...wasn't until 1993. Why'd it take so long? Well, the Brothers had actually finished their album, called Crazy Wisdom Masters, and were prepared to release it in 1992. They wanted to shake things up and do something different, and instead of working with any of the big0-time producers you might expect, they worked with rock guys David Williams (of The Vomit Pigs) and Bill Laswell, plus an up and coming rapper/producer named Torture, who became better known shortly after as Sensational. The album was so wild and unorthodox that, when Warner Brothers heard it they said hell no, we can't release that! So they made the JB's re-record the entire album, and that became The J. Beez Wit the Remedy, which was kind of a flop and their last album for Warners. Even personally, I'd recommend picking up the single "40 Below Trooper" but leave the rest for the enthusiasts.

Well, because Sensational rapped on the one well-regarded single, he generated enough of a buzz to get signed to the indie label WordSound, where he released a whole line of budget albums, and even a couple singles on Matador. And in 1999, he and WordSound dropped a little 10" vinyl EP by a group called the Crazy Wisdom Masters on their subsidiary, Black Hoodz. Hey, you might say, isn't that the name of the Jungle Brothers unreleased album? Why, yes! In fact, this was a four-(or five-, depending how you choose to count it; but I'll explain that in a bit) song EP of lost tracks from the shelved Crazy Wisdom Masters album.

Two (or three) of these songs we've heard before, on J. Beez Wit the Remedy, but in a different form. And the other two songs are totally unheard tracks. And why this two/three four/five song count? Well, on the Warner Brothers album, you had two songs in a row, called "JB's Comin' Through" (which was a short minute and a half) and "Spittin' Wicked Randomness;" while, on the Black Hoodz EP, both those songs are combined into one longer song, just called "Spittin' Wicked Randomness." So you decide how many songs that is.

By the way, I've seen this EP referred to as The Payback EP just about everywhere online (and even, as you can see in my pic, on the price tag of my copy). But that title isn't anywhere on the label or the artwork, so I'm not really sure where that comes from.

The big question, after waiting six years to finally hear the Crazy Wisdom Masters, is how is this stuff? It's basically... very busy. Like tons of samples on top of each other. And they sometimes do that thing where the vocals are filtered to the point where they sound like they were recorded over a telephone line. Sensational once explained that he went by the name Torture because people always said listening to his music, with its broken and frenetic break-beats and disparate sounds was like torture. So as you can imagine, then, the style isn't necessarily a good thing.

"Battle Show" has a live feel, with fast drums and a ton of percussive sounds and squeaks. Sensational takes the mic again, and if they're not exactly kicking battle rhymes, they're at least tough freestyle verses. "Ra Ra Kid," which sounds like it should be titled "Ra Ra Caper" based on the chorus, starts off sounding a little more down to earth, but as the song goes on, it features more and more sounds coming and out of the track until it eventually culminates in a complete overload.

One issue I had, is with the instrumental sounding sort of "advanced," even if we're letting busy standing in for avant garde, the JB's lyrics feel especially pedestrian. Sensational, who's not an especially amazing lyricist himself, sounds more at home over these tracks than the JBs themselves, who feel like they're getting left behind. It both helps and hurts them that the tracks are so loud and the mics questionably mixed, that it's hard to follow their raps. 

"Spittin Wicked Randomness" and "Hedz At Kompany Z" - or "For the Headz At Company Z" as it was called originally - actually... sound a lot like they did on the Warner Brothers release. In fact, if you think about it, the whole chaotic vibe of The Payback EP is already what the Remedy album was kind of known for. If you didn't like the Remedy album, you probably dismissed it as being "weird" and "noisy." So it's not so much that the JB's went in a completely new direction for their remake; they just smoothed it out a bit. And here on these two tracks, they don't even sound un-smoothed out, they sound like the same damn songs.

And that's weird because, fun fact: the entire shelved Crazy Wisdom Masters album was eventually leaked online. So I've heard the rest of it. And not all the songs that have been carried over sound the same like these two. For example, "Troopin' On the Down Low" sounds remarkably different than "40 Below Trooper." It's actually worse, but at least it's totally different and would sound like you'd gotten something new with this EP. I honestly can't even tell you the difference between the "Kompany Z"s besides the titles. It sounds like all the same samples brought in and used the same ways to me.

So do I recommend this EP? It's alright. You're basically getting two early 90's Jungle Brothers and Sensational songs which are pretty good. It's certainly cool that these songs got released, considering how badly some fans (especially Bill Laswell fans, apparently) have wanted to hear it. Overall, comparing the full leaked album to the official release, I do think it was mostly superior. "40 Below Trooper" improved for J Beez, but overall Crazy Wisdom works better. It's got more energy and gets a stronger grip on your attention. I still don't know that it would've gone over that well commercially, or even stand up to their first two albums; but it would probably be better regarded than the compromise we got, and it would probably enjoy a sort of Paul's Boutique reputation among production nerds who really like that rock stuff.

To bring it back to the EP itself, it comes in a plastic bag with generic label art and a sticker cover. The label never mentions that the CWMs are the JBs, even in their official press release, which makes me think they were trying to slip this out under the label's radar. I'm lukewarm on the music - it's good but not amazing - but I'm very pleased about the release in that this got released at all. And while I'm not a fan of toy records, a 10" at least trumps a 7"; so overall this is a pretty neat pick-up, especially for those heads with an eye for our genre's history.

Update 1/8/14: I forgot I wanted to tag the story with this interesting link.  CWM producer David Williams made a kickstarter a couple years ago (which didn't get funded) where he was going to reunite with the Jungle Brothers to record three(!) new albums. One was going to be "a more 'commercial,' Native Tongues-style Jungle Brothers album, a more 'out,' Crazy Wisdom Masters/Jay Beez Wit' Da Remedy-style advanced hiphop record, and......a 120+bpm club banger album that starts with the hiphouse style of 'I'll House You' and updates and advances it to the current state of the art and beyond." So the spirit of the Crazy Wisdom Masters endures, even if it doesn't get a lot of money behind it.

Because They Still Had It Like That

"Because I Got It Like That" was one of the many, many singles off of The Jungle Brothers' first album. Seriously, was there any song off that album that wasn't released as a single or B-side? Anyway, it was another great song in a series of great songs from them... The percussion pops like nobody's business and the JB's voices sound incredible over it. This is the song that features their sing-songy anthem,"dancing on the dance floor; girl, it's you that I adore" etc, that they also performed on De La Soul's "Buddy." The rest of the lyrics are pretty breezy and substance-less (impossible brags about money and girls), the scratches by Sweet Daddy are simple but effective, and the a crazy circus music loop on the hook seals the deal. It dropped in 1988 on Idlers Records, with a few variations of the Instrumental, but... this isn't that single.

This is the 1998 single of "Because I Got It Like That," which came out on Gee Street just after they were making their gritty comeback with album #4, Raw Deluxe, but before they went all house/club music on us. I guess Gee Street weren't quite sure what to do with these guys, so they rereleased their classic single, with a picture cover matching their Raw Deluxe style, and pushed some new, UK remixes. This is a US pressing, however.

The A-side is pretty much exactly what you'd expect. It takes the original elements of "Because I Got It Like That," speeds it up, adds erratic drums and turns it into a club record. Pretty much, the less said about this sort of junk the better, but I will say this. The mix, done by The Freestylers, was very well done, the transitions are smooth and effective, and clearly the guys making this knew what they were doing. The only problem is what they were doing is turning a hip-hop classic into terrible club music. But, if you're ever in a situation where you for some sick reason wanted to turn a hip-hop classic into terrible club music, these guys will do an excellent job.

No, the reason I singled this 12" out for blogging is the B-side remix, by Ultimatum. Now, Ultimatum is essentially The Stereo MCs, plus or minus an associate. And now I know what you're thinking: "Stereo MCs remixing a Jungle Brothers classic ten years after the fact? Pull over and let me out or I'll jump!" Look, I know their track record and was as wary as you... but it's dope!

First of all, it's still hip-hop... they don't turn it into house, electro, club or whatever else. In fact, they keep a lot of the original elements, including Sweet Daddy's scratches, which sound even tighter here. And the elements they add aren't keyboards or studio-made junk, but raw, lush samples. Chunky guitars and drums sound like they're taken off of some lost, 70's funk rock band, and then there's these great, blaring dusty horns on the hook.

Interestingly, this is actually a remix Fatboy Slim got a lot of mileage out of. He's often credited for doing this great remix of "Because I Got It Like That" (seriously, just do a search for "Because I Got It Like That Fatboy Slim"), but really he just played the Ultimatum Mix sped up. That's it. All the other credit goes to Ultimatum, who really created this version.

Now, this 12" also includes the original, Straight Out the Jungle mix, plus the instrumental for The Freestylers' mix. It's the kind of thing you can pick up super cheap because it was over-produced then and is under-appreciated now. 'Cause this looks like just one more in a long line of cheap, repackaged old school 12"s that dropped in the 90's. But there's something surprisingly worthwhile here; so if you miss the JB's in their prime, you'll be glad to slip this in your crates.

Straight Back Into the Jungle

This is just one of those all-time great 12"s. It's great because the music is great. It's great because it's an important single off a classic album. And it's great because it's full of 12" exclusives that are at least as good as the album stuff everybody's familiar with. This is "Straight Out the Jungle," by the Jungle Brothers on Idlers Records.

Now, this isn't their first single... in fact, it's their third or fourth. They'd already blown some minds with their debut, "Jimbrowski," impressed with "Because I Got It Like That" and "On the Run" and crossed over with "I'll House You." But they still hadn't released their strongest 12", the title cut from their first full-length Straight Out the Jungle.

"Straight Out the Jungle" is just one of those epic moments in hip-hop history nobody seems able to replicate anymore. There's just a handful of songs where the sound, their flow and deliveries over the beat... just sound perfect. The production seems simple, a few simple samples over a great break-beat. The lyrics aren't much to speak of (though there's some nice interplay between the MCs and creative use of echo effect), but it's just something that the most brainiacal of backpackers or slick-talkingest of gangsta rappers will never capture. It's that perfect hip-hop sound.

But, like I said, the song itself is just the beginning. You get the L.P. Version you're all familiar, plus the instrumental. And that alone would make this a must-have. But now let's talk about all the amazing material on here.

First you get the Jungle Remix, which is about twice the length of the original. Smartly, it keeps everything about the original, all the rhymes and sounds from before are here, the brilliant horn sample on the hook... And they don't over-complicate the track by just dumping a bunch of extra sounds on top of it. Instead they just extend it, adding new breakdowns, scratch-sessions, a moment of odd but effective ,extended keyboard notes. This is the way, the only way, to improve on a masterpiece: leave it intact and just build carefully around the edges.

But heck, that was just side A. The first song is "The Promo." This was a bonus track on the cassette and CD versions of the album, left off the LP (a lot of stuff gets left off of LPs when labels try to squeeze albums onto a single LP for production cost reasons). This is one of the Jungle Brother's all-time great songs, thank to its unique combination of freestyle rhymes (featuring the one and only Q-Tip) over a slow beat coupled with one of the most memorable, exotic horn loops ever. You may remember Natural Elements flipped this instrumental themselves decades later, and it was just as effective then, in a whole new era for a whole new audience. It's timeless like that.

But hey, if just having "The Promo" finally released on wax isn't impressive enough for you, the next track will surely push you over the line. "In Time" takes the exact same instrumental as the "The Promo" but lyrically it's a whole new song. Now it's a serious, politically and socially conscious song (and possibly the first rap song to promise a black president?), with a classic hook ("In time, my brother, in time"). And yes, Q-Tip is back for this version, too, being surprisingly openly religious. "The Promo" was fantastic, but this manages to make it seem frivolous in comparison; this is the real song.

But there's still more! You surely remember "Sounds Of the Safari" off the album - a purely instrumental affair where the DJ cuts and loops various ill samples and makes them all sound like the natural sounds of a jungle. Well know you get "Straight Out the Jungle (Sounds Of the Safari Remix)," essentially a sequel to "Sounds Of the Safari." The original track is the same, and some of the freshest moments from the original recur, but essentially it's a whole new DJ track with the DJ cutting and blending a whole new stack of records. This mix at times perhaps sounds less genuinely safari-like - the gates are opened for a wider variety of breaks and samples - but it's never any less fresh.

If you're looking to fill any gaps in your collection, this is one to jump on. Because just having Straight Out the Jungle, the album, isn't enough. You gotta have this 12" companion piece. Fortunately, it's not rare or hard to get a hold of; plus it's been repressed at least once - probably a couple times - over the years. It's out there... waiting for you to come find it. ;)

C'mon, Get In the Car, Guys. We're Moving To Japan

Look what just came out in Japan only! A full album of lost, never before released tracks from a ton of the best rappers recorded in 1988. What's the deal with this? I'll just let the album's notes speak for themselves:

"Introduction: 17 years ago a small recording studio, TOP SHELF, located in the basement of a brownstone in the East Village section of New York, was looted during the Thompkins Square riots of 1988, displacing the recordings of many soon-to-be Hip Hop stars. The studio had been the meeting place for many rappers, neighborhood kids, and producers that would later be responsible for the greatest period of the Hip Hop age, "The Golden Era." A search commenced soon after the recordings were lost, but nothing was ever found. So sought after were the tapes, they soon acheived Holy Grail status amongst Hip Hop circles. Despite years of searching, and dozens of hopeless crusades, the tapes remained lost. No one was quite sure who took them or where they were... until now.
After an extensive investigation and search that lasted two years, the recordings have finally been recovered by Fab 5 Freddy and myself (Benjy Grinberg). They were found dozenss of miles from the site of TOP SHELF in an abandoned strage faciilty in North Jersey [woot! Jersey represent!]. ...We sought after the lost recordings of TOP SHELF because they were rumored to be among the hottest songs from that era, and we thought it was a tragedy that the world never got to hear them. It turns out that these two-inch tapes are truly a treasure chest--a time capsule of the energy and excitement of 1988 Hip Hop."

And this really is the wet dream it sounds like - everybody comes tight on this. It starts off (well, after a brief mic check intro by Fab Five Freddy) with Black Sheep kicking a short, fast rap track, which is tight... and believe me, I've never been a huge Black Sheep fan. Special Ed's song is just the perfect raps over the perfect beat... it could easily have appeared on his first or second album. Big Daddy Kane kills it, Biz Markie's song is just great fun, and Melle Mel and Grandmaster Caz duet showing impressive skills considering even '88 would generally be considered well past their prime. MC Lyte rocks the same loop her rhyming partner Positive K did on his classic "The Nightshift," only with faster drums for more of a freestyle/battle rhyme-type flow. There's no production credits on this album besides the phrase "Anonymous Top Shelf producers,", which is a shame, because I'd love to know who did what on this. There's a crapload of nice scratching on Chubb Rock's song. The Jungle Brothers' is nice, though their rhyme style gets a little redundant. The only kinda disappointing song is Smooth B's solo venture, "I Want My Money Back" (he needs to give that hook back to Mixmaster Spade, who knew how to use it), and even this number's not bad. But Craig G (here spelt Graig G... heh) Doug E Fresh (using the same "Go Stetsa" vocal sample Groove B. Chill would go on to make a hit out of a couple years later), Grand Puba and Just-Ice all come with dope songs. It all ends with a serious track from Master Ace, "Revolution's 'Bout To Start," which is a great narrative and uses the type of scratched up speeches on the hook like I haven't heard since "Black Is Back" or "Dirty Cop Named Harry."

100% must-have. Manhattan Records, the Japanese label that put this album out, has a site at: store.mmagg.com, and yes, they have a myspace page, too. Go get it.

Update 09/15/07: So, any of you who've joined me in any of the many message board or blog discussions of the legitimacy of this album will have already determined that it is quite definitely a hoax. But, surprisingly, The New York Times has actually picked up the story and gotten some real answers - read the whole thing here (brought to my attention by Jaz, who runs the Cold Rock da Spot blog, on the DWG forums). Still, it does leave a few questions unanswered... like who actually produced each track, and when can we get a volume two?