There is no Hip-Hop collective as revered, or as influential, as Native Tongues (or just “Native Tongue”).* Anchored by The Jungle Brothers, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, with many other members, you can find their DNA in plenty of today’s rap acts.
Thanks to certified classic albums like Tribe’s The Low End Theory, The JBs’ Straight Out The Jungle or De La’s 3 Feet High & Rising, the clique’s brainy, sometimes righteous, sometimes esoteric, always on point lyricism made them fan favorites. They were fresh alternatives to say the hood nihilism of N.W.A, or the harsh bravado of L.L. Cool J when he wasn’t doing love songs, that a legion of Hip-Hop heads identified with. Artists like Kanye West, Drake and even Jay-Z (see: “22 Twos”), owe a debt to the seminal Hip-H0p crew.
But like all great nations, Native Tongues had their run and are elder statesmen in the game that too often glosses over the architects to focus on the now. Nevertheless, there are plenty of team members that still make music that thumps. Check out what all the members of Native Tongues crew are up to right now in the following pages.
—
Photo: Warner Bros.
*Of course the Juice Crew and Wu-Tang Clan, and even Organized Noize, have a case. We already did a Where Are The Now? on the Juice Crew, right here.
The Jungle Brothers
The JB’s (Mike G, Afrika Baby Bam and Sammy B) paved the way for the clique. Word is Afrika lives in Panama now but he recently popped up on a Neneh Cherry track called “Nina” produced by Four Tet.
The Queen has transitioned from b-girl artist to accomplished actress and model. She’s a mogul too, with Flavor Unit still making things pop, like landing a deal with Netflix.
Monie Love
Sister Monie missed her plane back to London, and Hip-Hop was the better for it. Nowadays, you can catch her hosting “Ladies First With Monie Love” on SiriusXM radio.
The Beatnuts
Cats tend to forget the Beatnuts (JuJu and Psycho Les) were down with the team (they produced tracks on Monie Love and Chi Ali’s debut albums). Last year they revealed they were teaming with Tha Alkaholiks and dropping a collaborative project under the moniker “Liknuts.” Pause.
Leaders of the New School
LONS reunited for their first show together in over a decade at last year’s Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, which was headlined by Busta Rhymes. Bussa Bus is currently signed to Cash Money Records with a new album due this year.
Black Sheep
Known as the lowlifes of the family tree (see A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing for that reference), unfortunately the duo has long been broken up. Dres dropped a solo project called From The Black Pool of Genius in 2010. Mr. Lawnge changed his name to Mr. Long and dropped an album called The Class of ’89 back in 2006. Dre and Jarobi of ATCQ have recently formed a group called EVITAN (that’s “Native” backwards).
Chi-Ali
Last year, the fabulous Chi Ali hit the town after a 12 year bid for murder. He’s been dropping songs and videos here and there since his release.
Kool DJ Red Alert
The Propmaster is Mike G of the Jungle Brothers’ uncle. Thank him for putting them on. You can still catch the Zulu Nation member spinning on Sirius/XM’s “Backspin” show and other stations.
Chris Lighty
Baby Chris went from the Jungle Brothers’ road manager and muscle, to become a certified Hip-Hop mogul, founding Violator management and guiding the careers of talent like 50 Cent, Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes. Sadly, he allegedly took his own life on August 30th, 2012. RIP.
A later addition to the crew, the artist now known as Yasiin Bey is a celebrated actor and has a collaborative album with Mannie Fresh in the works.
Prince Paul
The OG of the collective, Prince Paul was instrumental in helping establish De La Soul’s sound. Always on some next sh-t, last year Prince Paul dropped a Hip-Hop/comedy LP with his son titled Negroes On Ice. Also, that first Gravediggaz album is a slept-on classic.
