| V.I.P. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | January 4, 2000 | |||
| Recorded | 1998–1999 | |||
| Genre | Hip hop | |||
| Length | 74:46 | |||
| Label | Gee Street • V2 [1] | |||
| Producer | Alex Gifford [2] | |||
| Jungle Brothers chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| Robert Christgau |  [4] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [5] |
| Entertainment Weekly | C+ [2] |
| RapReviews | 7.5/10 [6] |
V.I.P. is the fifth studio album by hip hop group Jungle Brothers, released in 2000. [7]
"Freakin' You" peaked at #70 on the UK singles chart. [8]
The album was written in Jamaica, and produced by Alex Gifford of Propellerheads. [9]
AllMusic called the album "fun, funky, and infectious -- a party record where everyone sounds like they're having a blast." [3] Entertainment Weekly wrote that "excessively eclectic production ... smothers the hip-hop duo’s jazzily organic rhymes." [2] The Riverfront Times called it "a great ... melding of progressive electronic grooves and rhymes, a contender for Album of the Year." [10]
Salon wrote: "Most disturbing, the pallor of the dead lingers all over V.I.P. Not dead like Tupac and Biggie but, rather, the end of an era and a style, and of the individuals who were first responsible for those innovations." [11]
All tracks produced by Alex Gifford.
A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in St. Albans, Queens, New York, in 1985, originally composed of rapper and main producer Q-Tip, rapper Phife Dawg, DJ and co-producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and rapper Jarobi White. Members of the Native Tongues collective, the group is regarded as a pioneer of alternative hip hop.
Eric B. & Rakim are an American hip hop duo formed on Long Island, New York, in 1986, composed of DJ Eric B. and MC Rakim. AllMusic wrote that "during rap's so-called golden age in the late '80s, Eric B. & Rakim were almost universally recognized as the premier DJ/MC team in all of hip-hop." Tom Terrell of NPR called them "the most influential DJ/MC combo in contemporary pop music period." The editors of About.com ranked them as No. 5 on their list of the 10 Greatest Hip-Hop Duos of All-Time, and Rolling Stone ranked them No. 5 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.
East Coast hip hop is a regional subgenre of hip hop music that originated in New York City during the 1970s. Hip hop is recognized to have originated and evolved first in the Bronx, New York City; East Coast hip hop only became a distinct subgenre after artists from other regions of the United States emerged with different styles.
Hip house, also known as rap house or house rap, is a musical genre that mixes elements of house music and hip hop, that originated in both London, United Kingdom and Chicago, United States in the mid to late 1980s.
The Native Tongues were a collective of late 1980s and early 1990s hip-hop artists known for their positive-minded, good-natured Afrocentric lyrics, and for pioneering the use of eclectic sampling and later jazz-influenced beats. Its principal members were the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. The collective was also closely tied to the Universal Zulu Nation. Rolling Stone cites the track "Doin' Our Own Dang" as "the definitive Native Tongues posse cut".
Mantronix was an influential 1980s hip hop and electro funk music group from New York City. The band was formed by DJ Kurtis Mantronik and rapper MC Tee. The group is primarily remembered for its pioneering blend of old school hip hop, electronic, and club music. They underwent several genre and line-up changes during its seven-year existence between 1984 and 1991, and released five albums beginning with their 1985 debut Mantronix: The Album.
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm is the debut studio album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released on April 10, 1990 on Jive Records. After forming the Native Tongues collective and collaborating on several projects, A Tribe Called Quest began recording sessions for People's Instinctive Travels in late 1989 at Calliope Studios with completion reached in early 1990. The album's laid back production encompassed a diverse range of samples which functioned as a template for the group's unorthodox lyrics.
Kamaal Ibn John Fareed, better known by his stage name Q-Tip, is an American rapper, record producer, singer, and DJ. Nicknamed The Abstract, he is noted for his innovative jazz-influenced style of hip hop production and his philosophical, esoteric and introspective lyrical themes. He embarked on his music career in the late 1980s, as an MC and main producer of the influential alternative hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. In the mid-1990s, he co-founded the production team The Ummah, followed by the release of his gold-certified solo debut Amplified in 1999. In the 2000s, he released the Grammy Award-nominated album The Renaissance and the experimental album Kamaal the Abstract.
Propellerheads were an English electronic music duo, formed in 1995 in Bath and consisting of Will White and Alex Gifford.
The Beatnuts are an American hip hop group and production duo from New York City. Its current members are JuJu and Psycho Les. JuJu is a Dominican American from Corona and Psycho Les is a Colombian American from Jackson Heights, Queens. Although only peripheral members, they are routinely acknowledged by Q-Tip as being members of Native Tongues. The Beatnuts were originally a trio before Fashion, now known as Al' Tariq, left the group to start a solo career. V.I.C. was also a member of The Beatnuts' production team for a while.
Paid in Full is the debut album of American hip hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, released on July 7, 1987, by Island-subsidiary label 4th & B'way Records. The duo recorded the album at hip hop producer Marley Marl's home studio and Power Play Studios in New York City, following Rakim's response to Eric B.'s search for a rapper to complement his disc jockey work in 1985. The album peaked at number fifty-eight on the Billboard 200 chart, number eight on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and produced five singles: "Eric B. Is President", "I Ain't No Joke", "I Know You Got Soul", "Move the Crowd", and "Paid in Full".
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were an American hip hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. The group's members were Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, The Kidd Creole, Keef Cowboy, Scorpio and Rahiem. The group's use of turntablism, breakbeat DJing, and conscious lyricism were significant in the early development of hip hop music.
Dead Serious is the debut studio album of American hip hop duo Das EFX, released April 7, 1992, on compact disc and audio cassette on East West Records and distributed through Atlantic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at Firehouse Studios in Brooklyn, New York and at Charlie Marotta's North Shore Soundworks studio in Long Island, New York.
M.I.A.M.I. is the debut studio album by Cuban-American rapper Pitbull. It was released on August 24, 2004 via TVT Records. The production on the album was primarily handled by Lil Jon, Jim Jonsin, Diaz Brothers and DJ Khaled. The album also features guest appearances by Lil Jon, Bun B, Fat Joe, Lil Scrappy and Trick Daddy among others.
Richard Preston Butler Jr., better known by his stage name Rico Love, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but split his childhood between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and New York City's Harlem neighborhood. He attended Florida A&M and, while visiting Atlanta, Georgia, worked his way into the music industry through connections with Usher, who would become one of Love's frequent collaborators.
One for All is the debut studio album by American hip hop group Brand Nubian, released on December 4, 1990, by Elektra Records. The album was highly acclaimed for its politically charged and socially conscious content. Sales never matched the wide acclaim — the album has only sold 350,000 copies as of May 2013 — but it has remained in print since its 1990 release. The album is mainly produced by Brand Nubian, but it also features production by Skeff Anselm, Stimulated Dummies, and Dave "Jam" Hall. The album's production contains many motifs of hip hop's golden age including James Brown-sampled breakbeats and funky R&B loops. The album is broken down track-by-track by Brand Nubian in Brian Coleman's book Check the Technique.
American rapper Busta Rhymes has released ten studio albums, three compilation albums, eight mixtapes, ninety-one singles, ten promotional singles and fifty-six music videos. Busta Rhymes signed his first recording contract with Elektra Records at the age of just 17, as a member of hip-hop group Leaders of the New School. Though the group would disband in 1994, a number of well-received guest appearances on songs by artists including A Tribe Called Quest and Mary J. Blige led Elektra to offer Busta Rhymes a solo contract in 1995. His debut studio album, The Coming, was released the following year, with lead single "Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check" reaching number eight on the United States Billboard Hot 100 and being certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). As of 2019 Busta Rhymes has sold around 9,000,000 albums.
J. Beez Wit the Remedy is the third album by the Jungle Brothers, released in 1993 on Warner Bros. Records.
Gap Band V- Jammin' is the seventh album by the Gap Band, released in 1983 on Total Experience Records. The album was reissued on CD in 1997 by Mercury Records. In 2009, the album was remastered by PTG Records.
Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop trio composed of Michael Small, Nathaniel Hall, and Sammy Burwell. Known as the pioneers of the fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and house music, they were the first hip-hop group to collaborate with a house-music producer. The trio released their debut album, Straight out the Jungle in July 1988. Their hip-house club hit single, "I'll House You" was added to the album in late-1988 reissues. Fostered by Kool DJ Red Alert, the Jungle Brothers success would pave the way for De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and eventually the Native Tongues collective that they founded.
