The Praise Rolls Off My Lips - 'Jungle Music' Beat Deconstruction

Isaac Hayes - 'Monologue: Ike's Mood I / You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling'
taken from ...To Be Continued (Stax, 1970)

Jeru Tha Damaja - 'Jungle Music'
taken from The Sun Rises In The East (Payday/ffrr, 1994)

It doesn't take me to tell you that not only is Brooklyn's Jeru Tha Damaja the clear mic champion of the Gangstarr Foundation (that is until he fell out with Guru and DJ Premier), but also one of the most gifted and accomplished wordsmiths to ever grace this here culture called hip hop. Combining content and flow is the Achilles' heel of the majority of MCs, but Jeru glides through this conundrum with such ease that he puts the majority of other lyricists to shame. At his pinnacle, Kendrick Jeru Davis was able to effortlessly combine a top level delivery and distinctive vocal timbre with a wide variety of subject matter, from straight up braggin' rhymes to highly sophisticated urban narratives that dealt with the issues of the world in which he dwelled with such style that he remains for me one of hip hop's most talented and enduring figureheads. As a result I'm putting together a series of posts over the following week that will focus on his work taking in beats, rhymes and a couple of overlooked joints that have always found a place in my listening habits and increased the ferocity of the crick in my neck.

Although Livin' Proof is often held up as the seminal piece of production work from the mighty DJ Premier, I would have to say that beat for beat there really is little distinction to be made between it and The Sun Rises In The East, with the latter boasting a greater number of standouts, most notably 'Come Clean' and 'You Can't Stop The Prophet' (for the sake of this discussion let's not concern ourselves with a redundant comparison of the lyrical prowess, or lack thereof, displayed on each of these albums). One cut that has always seemed criminally underrated to me is 'Jungle Music', a slammin' piece of production work that finds itself nestled into the penultimate spot on the album after 'Come Clean' and before the considerably less aggressive closer 'Statik'.

Preem draws his inspiration from none other than Isaac Hayes in this instance, jacking piano and vibraphone from the somewhat ridiculously titled 'Monologue: Ike's Mood I / You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'' from 1970's ...To Be Continued. Clocking in at just over fifteen minutes, this mini-symphony has been sampled on numerous occasions, but none so artfully as by Premier with 'Jungle Music'. The section of the composition to focus on comes right at the end of the song (just after the fourteen minute mark), where Hayes strips the groove down to piano, vibes and lightly skipping cymbal hits. As with his work on Group Home's 'Suspended In Time', this song really demonstrates Premier's keen ear for samples and masterful chopping ability, his reinterpretation moving far enough away from the original so as to make it barely recognisable.

There are certain touches to 'Jungle Music' itself that make it even more special. I love the opening of the track: the sounds of the jungle set the mood only to be broken by offbeat piano chords, the arrangement of which mean the initial snare hit takes the listener by surprise before the drop into the main groove. No Premier track would be complete without the much revered scratch chorus, and this is another fine example, featuring a line from the Jungle Brothers' classic 'Straight Out The Jungle' that slips into the mix perfectly. To top it all off Jeru comes at you with some of the most eloquent verses to be found anywhere on the album, detailing the transportation of his 'ancestors' drums...from pyramids to the ghetto' and the intrinsic power that they hold. The words 'drop' and 'science' feel particularly relevant here.

'Jungle Music' represents all that is great about The Sun Rises In The East, with a sensational beat and some dope rhymes that complement each other perfectly to create a little nugget of hip hop gold. Hold tight for more in the Jeru series over the coming week where in the next installment I'll be analysing/losing myself in one of the greatest narratives in the history of hip hop... can you guess what it is yet?