Jungle Brothers |
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Mon. June 05.2000 11:32 PM EDT |
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Rave Event Collides With Jungle Brothers ShowRappers stuck to old-school hip-hop songs, but event included four-hour lineup of electronic DJs. by Staff Writer Jahna Berry |
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The Jungle Brothers decorated the stage with camouflage netting and mock idols and performed wearing safari hats. (Allan J. Mort) |
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SAN FRANCISCO — The faithful Jungle Brothers fans who went to the old-school hip-hop duo's performance on June 2 at the Maritime Hall are now acutely aware that "jungle" doesn't mean what it used
The Jungle Brothers took the stage at 1:15 a.m. — after a four-hour rave that raged on two floors of the concert venue. Bewildered old-school hip-hop heads in their late 20s and 30s wandered into the room as rave-goers grooved in black-light-friendly, Day-Glo T-shirts. Green laser lights and abstract film clips pulsed in time to electronic beats. Many of the dancers, who had come to see DJ Micro, Onionz, Dave Trance and John Debo, thought the Jungle Brothers were rave promoters specializing in jungle — uptempo, beat-heavy electronic music. "I don't know [the Jungle Brothers], but mixing different kinds of music is what house music is all about," said 35-year-old Maria Perez of San Francisco, who came for the rave. At first, the Jungle Brothers fans stuck close to the bar. As booze and time lowered their inhibitions, several ventured out and joined the spike-haired dancers in front of the main stage. About 1 a.m. some ravers were spacey from street pharmaceuticals, dancers were exhausted from hours of wild gyrating and local MCs — who had been battle-rapping over jungle-style techno beats — wrapped up their set. That's when the Jungle Brothers took the stage. High Energy The duo stepped out dancing to the "I Dream of Jeannie" theme song, wearing safari hats, exotic print shirts and baggy khaki cargo pants. They launched into "V.I.P" (RealAudio excerpt), the title track from their new album and "Jungle Brother (True Blue)" (RealAudio excerpt), an early hit that was remixed on V.I.P. The stage was covered in camouflage netting and strewn with mock idols squatted on the speakers. A projection of a massive primitive mask hovered next to the stage. Although the rave-goers in the 150-plus crowd didn't know the songs, many jumped around, nodding to the beat. Hard-core Jungle Brothers fans danced in the back of the room and sang along. Like veteran performers, Mike G and Afrika put on a high-energy one-hour set for a crowd with mixed expectations. "Are y'all ready to go to the jungle?" Mike G (born Michael Small) said to the crowd, which screamed back. Then the duo performed the international hit "I'll House You," "I Got It Like That," from Straight Out of the Jungle (1988), and "Beyond This World" from Done by the Forces of Nature (1989). The Jungle Brothers became a part of the early conscious-rap landscape in New York in the 1980s. They were among the first rap groups to form a posse of like-minded MCs. That alliance, the Native Tongues, included De la Soul, Queen Latifah, A Tribe Called Quest and Monie Love. The Jungle Brothers experimented with several types of music on past albums and became known overseas for their work with electronic music. The June 2 concert was mostly meat-and-potatoes old-school hip-hop and upbeat tracks from V.I.P. There were techno fans in the crowd, but Mike G and Afrika — who also goes by Afrika Baby Bam — didn't venture into electronic cuts from less-popular albums such as J. Beez With the Remedy. As the group spun through newer party jams "Get Down" and "Freakin' You," they kept the stage vibe light and comical. Mike G and Afrika (born Nathaniel Hall) performed funny limbo routines and used playful call-and-response games. "I know there are some freaks in San Francisco," Mike G said from the stage. The audience hollered back. "This is for all the freaks in the house," he said before rapping the first verse to "Freakin' You." They also performed "Down With the J. Beez," "I Remember" and "Early Morning," from V.I.P. New Fans Toward the end of the performance, hip-hop weary ravers trailed into another ballroom where techno still pulsed. The old school J. Beez fans used the extra room to dance. "I love their new album," said 24-year-old concert-goer Patrick McAnulty, who was visiting the Bay Area from Louisville, Ky. "The concert was great, but I am not very familiar with their old stuff." "I think they were pretty good," said Ian Strider, a 19-year-old who also became a fan after purchasing V.I.P. "The techno was cool. I just wish they had played more from their new album," the Fairfax, Calif., resident said. The Maritime Hall appearance is part of an ongoing tour to support V.I.P., V2 record-label spokesman Darien Roberts said. The final scheduled date for the duo is July 22 in Cleveland, but more dates could be added later, he said. |
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