Jungle Story

The Urban Takeover remix charted in the Top 20 all across Europe, and the Brothers were introduced to a whole new audience outside the realm of strict hip-hopism. The idea of varied youth tribes hanging in clubs where DJs played hip-hop alongside drum and bass, jungle, and all the divergent strands of DJ culture reminded the guys of the early days of hip-hop.

"It's like everybody's creative. They're not coming to front," Mike G enthuses. "Everybody's just coming to enjoy themselves. You got the kids break-dancing; it makes me feel like the good old days when I see them cats getting off like that."

Bring the noise: The Jungle Brothers look to drum and bass for inspiration

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• Afrika Bambaataa
• Alex Gifford
• A Tribe Called Quest
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Conscious Rap

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Included among the new European enthusiasts was Alex Gifford, who had been a long-time fan of the group. The Jungle Brothers hooked up with his band, the Propellerheads, after Gifford asked them to contribute a track to his acclaimed decksanddrumsandrockandroll, which resulted in the cut "You Want It Back." Well-versed in the big beats of old-school hip-hop as well as the frenzied BPM of drum and bass, Gifford helped them create a record with a "Junglennium party vibe," as Mike G describes it, a mix of tracks that spans from straight-up rap ("Down With the JBeez," featuring the Black Eyed Peas, Sense Live, and Alex G) to kinetically charged drum and bass ("Party Goin' On"), to a dash of old-fashioned funk ("Sexy Body"). With V.I.P., as with each of their releases, the Jungle Brothers have strengthened their unique identity, never aligning too closely with convention or shying away from innovation.

"The experimentation, as people so call it, has been a learning process and has developed us into who we are," says Afrika.

"We don't want to jump in the same pot with everybody else," adds Mike G. "We just keep pushing the boundaries." Surely Grandpa Bambaataa would approve.