Released: November 7, 1989

Featuring: A Tribe Called Quest

Songwriter: Sammy B Mike Gee Afrika Baby Bam

Producer: Jungle Brothers

[Intro dialogue]

[Verse 1: Afrika Baby Bam]
Born buck-naked out my mother's womb
A man cooped up in a rubber room
Time changes, time flies
Caterpillars turn into butterflies
A kitten grows up to be a tiger
I grows up to be a writer
Children go through puberty
And then they reach maturity
Metamorphasizms
The Force of Nature has gotten in them
In my book that comes first
Controls the soul and the universe
It's the Nature...

[Verse 2: Mike Gee]
Black man, Black heart, Black soul
I was born to roll
Roll, like water in an open stream
Smooth as I can be
Tick Tock goes the hands of time
Time puts meanin' to my rhymes
Rhyme lets you know what's goin' on
What's goin' right and what's goin' wrong
Power, poor, rich, and weak
There is some science to what I speak
And if there wasn't, I could not face ya
'Cause this was brung... By The Forces Of Nature

[Interlude: Q-Tip]
Alright y'all, get ready for the first Pharoah of funk, Afrika, and his famous flute

[Verse 3: Afrika Baby Bam]
Tickle-tickle, trickle-trickle
You can't buy nature with a nickle
Excuse me one minute...
Can I get some of that saxophone?
*saxophone plays* Yeah, I like that
Rainbows, volcanoes, waterfalls, native calls
Avalanches, trees with branches
B. boys in their favorites stances
Ejaculation, menstruation
A prayer to God is a confrontation
Dirt and soil, gas and oil
Gold, copper, silver, tin foil
Love ya momma Mother Nature
But some act through as if they hate ya
Artificials, man-mades
They don't use lemon to make lemonades
Everything I see is half-real
Ziplocked, wrapped up, signed and sealed
Gettin' ready to return back to the source
About to get Done By the Force...of Nature

("It began in Africa")

[Verse 4: Mike Gee]
Boy, girl, sister, brother
Wife, husband, friend, lover
You can't change what's meant to be
You can't hit what you can't see
It's easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle
Than for a rich man to enter the gates of Heaven
(I hear what you're sayin', my brother, I hear what you're sayin')
Treble, bass, haste makes waste
Nature puts things in the right place
Hot, baked, carrot cake
In life there's many things at stake
Records spun, let's have fun
I like to have fun by the ton
Roads, places, avenues, streets
I'll walk a mile for a funky beat
I put these words in a special order
Because I was overcome By the Forces of Nature

[Outro dialogue]

Jungle Brothers

New York based hip-hop trio Jungle Brothers consisting of Mike Gee (Michael Small), Afrika Baby Bam (Nathaniel Hall) and DJ Sammy B (Sammy Burwell) with roots hailing from Harlem and Brooklyn.

Jungle Brothers are often underappreciated rap pioneering group that emerged on the hip-hop scene in the late 80’s with the Native Tongues collective and bearing the same afrocentric consciousness as their rap Afrika Bambaata and the Universal Zulu Naion. The Native Tongues included a conscious wave of emcees and rap Queen Latifah, De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest. The latter, on the other hand, were able to win the favor of rap fans and mainstream audiences by incorporating jazz instrumentation and styles into their rap patterns and delivery. The Jungle Brothers did not have genre consistency like their peer group counterparts and often experimented with varied musical styles that included – house, funk, jazz, soul and African music.

The group’s first studio album, Straight Out the Jungle (1988), released under independent label Warlock was not well received. The group released the single, “I’ll House You” the album featured two tracks with rapper/producer Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest. In 1989, Jungle Brothers released their sophomore album, Done by the Forces of Nature which featured singles “What U Waitin' 4?” and guest appearances from Monie Love, De La Soul and ATCQ who were all part of the Native Tongues posse. Despite the album being critically acclaimed and featured production from Mike Gee’s uncle the legendary Kool DJ Red Alert. The outcome was the same as the previous. In June 1993, Jungle Bros released their third album, “J Beez with the Remedy” the group experimented once again on this project and encountered many difficulties and objections from Warner Bros.