Done By The Forces Of Nature

Pretty weak, the people comparing it to De La and Tribe are surely kidding themselves. Minimal beats just amplify the dated and often forced rhymes.

It’s not steaming so I ended up just playing it on YouTube while I did other things yesterday. Which means I didn’t closely listen to every track and more just got vibes of the whole album. But I liked the samples and feeling of it!

Good to hear this again, although I’m not sure I’d revisit it. I remember having a tape of this around the early 90d and enjoying it, but I always thought it never scaled the heights of other Hip Hop albums I was into at the time. Hearing it again I kinda felt the same. Enjoyable, but nothing that really stood out.

I can appreciate what 80s rap did for the genre, but I was never a huge fan of it outside of some classics. Being I've never heard any of this and being new to me, I don't think I appreciated as much as if I heard it back in the 90s. With that being said the beats and samples were pretty fun and the raps were the typical 80s style. All in all style a good album.

Really great album, up there with De La Soul and Tribe Called quest as a great example of music driven hip - hop that doesn’t rely on bragging about money, guns n hoes. 4.5

It's good this. Cool old school hip hop grooves and beats. A bit too long but overall an enjoyable listen.

Wow, just fucking wow.

Not sure, couldnt find it on apple music :/

2 out of 5. I liked the positivity on this album.

This is some kind of joke, isn't it?

God if i have to hear another shitty rap album I will lose my mind

Underground Una combinación de ritmos muy elaborada para la época de este álbum, si me preguntan Empieza con elementos tradicionales del hiphop con una lírica muy bien hecha Pero en un momento cambia la dirección a algo más groovy y disco Luego vuelven a lo clásico, pero la verdad su balance está muy bueno Hacen uso de samples de forma muy creativa, honestamente no podría decir que hubiera escuchado ese nivel ajuste antes, en una canción se hace sentir como estar en un DJ set muy bueno Recomendable, reescuchable

Decent early hip hop. I have not heard of this group but they are not bad. Seems pretty advanced for the year it came out. I'm guessing they influenced later hip hop groups with this innovative album. Nothing really blew me away but definitely setting the stage for other groups to follow in their footsteps.

Nothing awful here, just a bit bland. Compare this to Tribe or De la and there’s something missing that takes it to the next level

I did not know the Jungle Brothers. Very cool!

I know early rap and it is an influential album, which I praise a bit

Most of this was really grating, mainly because of the minimal instrumentals/beats. Doin’ Our Own Dang was really good though so I’m glad I didn’t drop this midway through. It’s a shame the rest of the album before it was a massive slog. It feels weird to give 1 star to an album with such a strong song but I almost didn’t finish this one.

2,5

didn’t finish and am not gonna :/ not for me, but it’s fine of what i did hear

A fairly fun album with some strong social messages.

It's fun, if a bit lo-fi. Really captures the sound of the time, and the talent is undeniable.

Черномазый Джи

Lyrical prowess but only one beat

Trailblazers

This one was not available on YouTube Music, so I had to listen to bootleg rips of each track on regular YouTube. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such positivity on a hip hop album before, it was refreshing and a bit strange, since I tend to gravitate more toward the gangsta subgenre. These guys had good flow and really good lyrics and rhymes, though the beats were a bit bland at times. Overall, I liked it, it’s gonna be a strong 3/5 for me.

Groovy. Nothing in particular caught my attention tho.

From Boston's fantastic debut album yesterday to this? I'll listen to Boston again.1.0

Hippity hop son

why do hip hop albums always go for so long?

This did not register with me in any way, shape, or form. It played, sound waves went into my ears, but there was no response.

There's not much that's memorable here, there's also nothing that's particularly bad either. It's just there, and quite easy to ignore and forget about.

10/2/26. First time listening to Jungle Brothers. Will take me a few listens to hear the different themes and stories expressed, but really enjoyed the performances and production! Very similar to De La Soul.

I've a lot of time for this era of hop hop, the vibe, the sentiment, politics, morals and ethics. More of it is needed, but across a whole album the Jungle Brothers have never quite clicked for me. I'll stick with and our day will come.

Maybe it's the production that is throwing me off, but with the exception "Acknowledge Your Own History" I found this remarkably unmemorable.

++: Feelin' Alright, What U Waitin' 4?, Good Newz Comin', Done by the Forces of Nature, Tribe Vibes, Black Woman, Doin' Our Own Dang +: Beyond This World, U Make Me Sweat, Beeds on a String, J. Beez Comin' Through, In Dayz 2 Come, Kool Accordin' "2" a Jungle Brother +-: Sunshine, Acknowledge Your Own History, Belly Dancin' Dina 7,9/10

Cool sounds but gets tiring.

Some good some bad "doin' my own dang" is the best song of the album

Really fun production but not my style

Ok. ★★★

Loving this, Would definitely own on vinyl and either over play it to death or never play it...

Ein Punkt für die Relevanz und einer für die Haltung, der Rest ist bei späteren, besseren Rap Crews und nickt da mit.

The fact that gansta rap pushed this kind of stuff out of popularity is so sad. This is jazzy, funky, positive, socially conscious (yay tracks about the environment), and not problematic (no misogyny here!) I love Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul so I'm not surprised I really enjoyed this.

I actually liked this album more than the snoop dogg one.

BLUEPRINTS

guess i love daisy age?

I wish this album was on Spotify. It’s a fun time. It’s got silly classic 80s rap vocals on top of something closer to 90s beats and samples. Solid listen throughout.

Hell yeah what a fun album. Shame it's not on Qobuz

you can see the influence this album from 1989 (!) had on future generations of hip hop. "Conscious" hip hop!

Not really my jam or very inspiring.

I do prefer this era of rap music to music from the 90s. Highlights include Acknowledge Your Own History and Doing our own Dang. Some nice musical references in here.

This era of hip hop is so much better than what’s coming out today.

This is the kind of hip hop I can get behind. Because I like it like that.

eh

Oh, we've got a classic here. I just wish every rap/hip-hop album still sounded like this nowadays... really good! 4 stars.

Solid hip hop

I dug it a lot at first, thought it might even be a 5 star rating but I was done with it around track 9. I'm not sure if that's because of the album or if I'm really just not a rap guy even if it's old school and funky.

Wasn't exactly sure who jungle brothers reminded me of and once the album finished tribe called quest starting player, which was exactly it. Good example of that era of hip hop, can see how they are a bit more complex and interesting that what came before. Beats were very soul and funk influenced which I found to be a bit of a mixed bag, worked sometimes but not always. A good listen, not a classic. 3.5.

Appreciate the more lyrical drive. Some cool rhythms and topics. I always enjoy a narrative in a song. Like Children's Story, by Slick Rick. I really like a song that tells a story; big fan of country music in that regard. Wouldn't rush back to this.

Not familiar with jungle brothers. This was ok, but think there are better examples of this out there. We've had some on the list. Won't be rushing back but I did enjoy it largely

Ok, rap and hip-hop is never going to be my thing, but old school / golden age stuff is way more my lane than anything that came after. I didn’t enjoy it as such, but I didn’t dislike it either.

Too long, not bad for '89, the daisy stuff is tough at times

it's absurdly missing from streaming due to being locked in a sample clearance purgatory but the listening experience itself is boombastic, fantastic, golden age hip-hop euphoria from front to back. Its focus on Black love and conscious pride is infectious, with standout tracks like "Tribe Vibes" and "Doin' Our Own Dang." Despite a long runtime and some dated rhymes, the soulful energy makes this a criminally overlooked classic. Five stars.

I washed a car, did a load of laundry, cooked breakfast and still had 4 tracks left. Late 80s rap loses its luster real quick. 2.5

Classic late 80s/early 90s hip hop before the whole misogyny/homophobic thing.

77/100. The rapping is great and the beats are bouncy. Maybe pushing its limits with an hour of runtime, but most of this album is great. It definitely pays homage to De La Soul with multiple name drops for them, and you can hear it in the sound as well. Also Jungle Brothers gave a platform to Q-Tip and suggested changing his group’s name from ‘Quest’ to ‘A Tribe Called Quest’. You can definitely find some similarities in sound between these three groups, and they would later go on to form the Native Tongues collective.

It was very refreshing to hear an album from this time period that wasn’t so heavy on the old school sound. Sure, there are obvious samples and flows, but there is a maturity here that foreshadows what rap and hip hop was about to become. There’s variety, and different, more modern sounds and themes present.

Overall Rating - 2.94/5 (5.88/10). Solid album, but not one I'll probably ever listen to again.

3/5

(5/7) I thought these had good energy and some clever lyrics (but also felt like a lot of the other 90s hip-hop)

This was solid hip hop with a few standout tracks. I like the positive messages and collaborations. Liked Songs Added: Acknowledge Your Own History Done By The Forces Of Nature Beeds On A String Doin' Our Own Thing

Es agradable y mola que tiene mucho jazz detrás, pero se me ha hecho un poco largo.

Listens: 2 Standout Tracks: ?? Not on YTM so hard to listen to. To be clear, I listened, its just a pain in the ass. What the hell is the point of blocking music on a streaming platform when 99% of the time some random person can (and has) just uploaded the entire album to YT, and its been there for years and hasn't ever been taken down. Given how tightly coupled YT and YTM are, I don't see what making the album unavailable attempts to achieve. This is another socially conscious hip-hop album that I've never heard of by an artist I've never heard of. It was fine, but largely forgettable. The album not being playable by track really hinders my ability to review the music.

It's ok

the beats are fun enough but overall i just did not enjoy this

This did not do it for me. I generally like this early era of rap, but this felt a bit lame. The subject they mentioned were often important and good, although they seemed to rap about africa a lot and one of them seemed to be called Africa, so that was confusing. But it was more the rhythms and the lyrics just felt really amateurish, the rhymes felt forced a lot of the time and I was just left wondering if this was really one of the greats of its genre. It's no de la soul. Also often on hip hop records the backing tracks can save them and keep you invested, but there wasn't much here. Some sampled repetitive beats, not much in the way of groove lines. Just a bit meh.

Inte dåligt, men riktigt tråkigt.

Great hip-hop. Classic

Mag das es so positiv ist aber Silver age hip Hop ist mir einfach zu rumpelig. Sister Monies Part auf „doing our own dang“ klingt dafür aber erstaunlich modern für die Zeit

Meh

Iv liked all the rap records so far. This is quite distinct with upbeat beats and uplifting lyrics. A solid 4.

Decent listen.

This was new to me, although I had heard of the band before. I love this era of New York hip hop - very positive and funky, albeit a bit dated. It's interesting to contrast with the gangsta rap of the same time period, which has not aged well at all. Enjoyed listening to this through twice, even though the production isn't the best and it is a bit long. I think TCQ did this jazz rap style much better on the Low End Theory.

1. 4 2. 4.5 3. 3.5 4. 4.5 5. 3.5 6. 4 7. 3 8. 4.5 1. 3.5 2. 4 3. 4.5 4. 3 5. 3.5 6. 3.5 7. 4.5 8. 3.5

The best way I can describe this album is if you took everything interesting about multiple other rappers of the time, NWA, Jurassic 5, Biggie, etc, and you made them more tame, more boring, and just not as exciting or interesting all around. That’s Done By The Forces Of Nature by the Jungle Brothers. I hold Hip-Hop to a very high standard. It’s one of my favorite genres, and 9/10 times it’s really good. This is alright, but nothing particularly sticks out. I found myself looking at the timer to find out when the album was over more often than not, and even worse, I really don’t have a lot to say about this album in general, which always makes writing a lengthy and in-depth review virtually impossible. In addition to that, why is this album not on Spotify?? I’m not going to be petty and dock it an entire point for that, but man do I want to do so. I have an entire public playlist of my favorite single songs from the albums I listen to, so I’ll just go to their artist profile and use something from a different album, I guess. I hate having to do that, but whatever. The album was easy enough to find on YouTube. Just use a Brave browser on phone or computer and you can listen without ads, which helped as well. Man, that’s a whole lot of off topic discussion. Uuuuhhhh, right, this album had competent vocals, the rapping was good enough, and the songs were fine. “"U" Make Me Sweat” was probably my favorite song on the album, as I found it the catchiest. It doesn’t take much for Hip-Hop to grab me and easily make me listen to it all day, but this album just didn’t do anything for me, unfortunately. It’s just not very interesting. It still sounds fine, but I’m not going to return to or remember it after today. I’m sure these guys are some legendary group that helped inspire others who came after them, but listening to it today is just a little boring. There are better albums that aged significantly better than this one. It just doesn’t have any bangers, and I think there’s a reason it’s got such a low score on here. Probably awe inspiring when it came out, but shockingly average today and doesn’t hold up particularly well in my opinion. A 3 out of 5.

This was actually a really fun late 80s hip-hop album, especially considering how much of this era hasn’t aged all that well for me. But this one still holds up. I’ve known about Jungle Brothers for a long time because of the track they did with house producer Todd Terry, I’ll House You, and it’s cool to hear that connection reflected in this album. Overall, this feels like conscious hip-hop before conscious hip-hop was really a thing. They have a clever way of flipping samples in a way that makes the music feel grounded and relatable, and they even flirt with house music on a track or two, something they’ve continued to explore throughout their career.

It's very light and happy, but sadly that also means it loses a lot of punch and impact. It's kind of just... there. Very background music.

Could only find on YouTube

Ikke nær så karismatiske som De La Soul, ikke nær så gode beats som ATCQ, og det her album er ikke ældet så godt som andre vi har haft fra de kunstnere. Men altså jeg brokker mig aldrig over 90’er hiphop på listen

Var nogen gange lidt hit or miss men de her beats var mega forud for deres tid!

Most of this didn't work for le at all. Sounded quite dated.

Not on streaming because I guess clearing samples from a time period when it was recorded was legal to today's hellscape is simply too much for (looks at notes) Warner Brothers records. Who are almost the very worst label back in the day. Minor annoyance aside, Done By The Forces of Nature is a hip hop classic reflecting a lighter pro-love Afrocentric time of hip hop before gangsta rap went incredibly mainstream. Jungle Brothers were part of the Native Tongues, a group of likeminded rappers like Queen Latifah, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, the last two having features on this record. Rightfully placed near the end of the Golden Age of Hip Hop and to usher in the early 90s. Like many Native Tongues rappers and albums, it ages real well not just in social messaging, but within some flows as well. Gotta love the time where you could sample basically anything and not worry about bullshit unfun legal repercussions. A good album to introduce some old white person that there's more than just Eminem to hip hop.

Part of this feels very dated. But I understand it was game changer when it came out.

I thought I knew this era of rap pretty well but these guys had slipped me by somehow High three? I liked it, think it's neat, but I don't see myself returning to it like I would Blackalicious.

I agree everyone should listen to this one… I just wish it was easier to listen to. I could only find it on YouTube and that’s no good.

Plus j'écoute de hip-hop, plus une évidence me saute aux yeux : il existe autant de chapelles, de chapitres et de sensibilités qu'il y a de rimes balancées sur un micro. Après m'être tapé une belle série de disques furieux, calibrés au millimètre pour faire crisser les pneus et résonner les sirènes de police façon gangsta rap pur et dur, je me retrouve plongé dans une atmosphère qui n'a absolument plus rien à voir. Ici, le propos change radicalement de trottoir : on m'invite à poser les armes pour écouter un hip-hop infiniment plus humaniste, pacifique et ouvert sur le monde. Sorti à la fin de l'année 1989 chez Warner Bros., Done By The Forces Of Nature se pose en étendard d'un rap qui refuse de jouer les gros bras pour privilégier la matière grise, la spiritualité afrocentrique et une bonne dose d'hédonisme bienveillant. Pour situer un peu le tableau sans s'éterniser sur la généalogie complète, les Jungle Brothers — emmenés par les MCs Mike Gee et Afrika Baby Bam aux côtés de DJ Sammy B — ne débarquaient pas de nulle part. Avec leur premier essai Straight Out the Jungle l'année précédente, ils avaient déjà posé les bases de la fameuse Native Tongues, cette confrérie new-yorkaise légendaire qui allait rapidement réunir De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest ou encore Queen Latifah. Là où le rap de l'époque commençait à se scinder entre la déflagration politique ultra-brute de Public Enemy et le cynisme de la rue californienne, la bande des Jungle Brothers a choisi un pas de côté salutaire. Leur crédo ? Proposer une musique qui ressemble à un grand rassemblement de quartier, un truc chaleureux, quasi familial, où l'on s'éduque et où l'on danse sans avoir besoin de prouver qu'on est le mec le plus dangereux du pâté de maisons. D'un point de vue purement technique et sonore, il faut bien reconnaître que le travail est là. L'album est remarquablement bien foutu, pensé avec un soin maniaque du collage sonore et une maîtrise évidente de la console. On est plongé dans un maelström de samples hyper éclectiques qui vont piocher dans le jazz le plus feutré, la soul luxuriante, le funk africain et même ces fameuses pulsations house qui commençaient à sérieusement contaminer les clubs new-yorkais. La production fourmille d'idées à chaque recoin : des nappes de cuivres chaleureuses, des lignes de basse rondes qui roulent toutes seules, des rythmiques qui respirent une liberté organique réjouissante. C'est riche, c'est foisonnant, et sur le strict plan de la réalisation, on est à des années-lumière d'un travail bâclé ou d'une vulgaire bouse commerciale bricolée à la va-vite. Mais voilà, une fois qu'on a salué la virtuosité formelle et la noblesse des intentions, je suis bien obligé de poser mon ressenti brut sur la table. Pour ma part, tout ce bel édifice manque cruellement de hargne pour réussir à allumer en moi cette fameuse petite étincelle. Car à force de vouloir être sage, rassembleur, conscient et profondément solaire, le disque finit par ronronner dans un confort feutré. C'est tellement propre, tellement bienveillant, que ça finit par manquer de ce venin salvateur qui fait tout le sel des grands chocs urbains. Au final, je reste face à une œuvre hautement respectable, historiquement fondamentale pour comprendre comment le genre a pu s'émanciper des clichés machistes et violents, mais qui ne me touche pas. C'est l'archétype du disque admirable sur le papier, formidablement produit et pensé, mais qui ne parvient pas à m'embarquer sur la longueur faute d'une véritable agressivité rythmique. Un album solide et intelligent qui a totalement sa place dans l'histoire du genre, mais qui n'est tout simplement pas fait pour moi. Note : 3/5

nope

I still find it difficult to evaluate early hip-hop fairly, because ultimately the artists reject two of the three dimensions relevant to music: melody, harmony, and rhythm. The statement “that’s not real music” is therefore by no means polemical, but rather an objective observation. Of course, there are exceptions, and also the Jungle Brothers occasionally go beyond simple “beats & rap” on *Done By The Forces Of Nature*. However, they generally don’t reach a creative level that can compete with the majority of the albums on this list. At least they come across as likable.

This one took me a second to track down I really dig the Afro-centric themes while still very obviously being American hip hop. There’s some great lyrics and wordplay in there, and especially in the first half of the album, some really nice flow and backing beats. I think there’s a ton of variety in the other-genre infusions, so I never got too tired of listening to this one I don’t think there was anything in here that just really wowed me, was just kinda slightly above average hip hop for most of it. The second half in particular really drags and feels a lot weaker. It very much feels like this album would be better without the last 4ish songs. Still though, as far as hip hop goes it’s pretty memorable; clean, unique, but still has strong fundamentals. I wouldn’t say it’s quite essential, but I enjoyed this one enough. Now get this album back on Spotify, it’s always annoying to have to look on YouTube lol

finally got to this (no thanks to you spotify) and yeah its pretty solid the blending of samples kind of gives it this trance-like feeling, and i thought the instrumental tracks were very very yummy

I’m gonna put it out there that I think the more aggressive and intense rap music is, the worse. It doesn’t need to be those things to be good, but somehow a majority of the greatest rap albums ever sound like that. This is considered apart of the daisy age of rap, where MCs were still inclined to stay away from vulgarity and have fun with it. De La Soul did it well. And a fair warning, I’m going to be making a lot of De La Soul comparisons. Because these guys sound like a discount version to me, even if they came out slightly before and were around at the same time. This mostly lacks all of the good that De La Soul had. All of the charisma and character is gone, and the sample selection and production is far less interesting. There are a few cool beats here and there though. The lyricism is alright. The best song, lyrics wise, is Acknowledge Your Own History, since it best highlights one of the better aspects of this album, which is how in tune it is with Black and African history. At the end of the day though, this is a disappointingly underwhelming album, especially for how important it is supposed to be in the timeline of abstract and jazz rap. And I can hear where this laid the groundwork in many places. But more often than not, it falls short of executing those ideas well enough, and leaves much for its contemporaries to pick up and move forward with.