Mix : Native Tongues Block Party | BBC 6 Music - 2025

 

"An extended version of a Block Party mix broadcast on BBC 6 Music, April 19th 2025. This one concentrates on the core Native Tongues posse; A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Black Sheep, Queen Latifah, Monie Love & Chi-Ali, to tie in with the 35th anniversary of Tribe's debut album 'People's Instinctive Travels & The Paths of Rhythm' (released April 10th 1990). This mix focusses primarily on the crew's early releases, from the late 80s to the early 90s. This is the Daisy Age." - courtesy of BBC 6 Music

Various - 3 Mins of The Huey Show

The New Birth - African Cry

Jungle Brothers ft. Q Tip - How Ya Want It We Got It (Native Tongues Remix)
Black Sheep - Butt In The Meantime (Remix)
De La Soul - Potholes Is My Lawn (12" Version)
De La Soul - Plug Tunin' (12" Version)
Jungle Brothers - On The Road Again (My Jimmy Weighs A Ton) (Q Tip Remix)
Jungle Brothers - Jimbrowski (Drums)
Queen Latifah - U.N.I.T.Y.
Black Sheep - Flavor Of The Month
Chi-Ali - Funky Lemonade
De La Soul ft. J Period - Excursions (Tribute Remix)
Jungle Brothers ft. Q Tip - The Promo
Jungle Brothers - Straight Out The Jungle
Queen Latifah ft. Levert & Troop - For The Love Of Money / Living For The City (from New Jack City)
Monie Love - There's A Better Way
Black Sheep - Try Counting Sheep
A Tribe Called Quest - I Left My Wallet In El Segundo
A Tribe Called Quest - After Hours
A Tribe Called Quest - Footprints
Jungle Brothers - Because I Got It Like That
De La Soul ft. Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah & Monie Love - Buddy (Remix)
Jungle Brothers - J Beez Comin' Through
Talib Kweli & J Rawls - Native Sons
Busta Rhymes - Rhymes Galore
A Tribe Called Quest - Rhythm (Devoted To The Art Of Moving Butts)
A Tribe Called Quest - Mr. Muhammad
A Tribe Called Quest - Luck of Lucien
De La Soul - Ghetto Thang
De La Soul - Change of Speak
De La Soul - Eye Know
Queen Latifah ft. De La Soul - Mama Gave Birth To The Soul Children (Infant Mix)
Queen Latifah & Monie Love - Ladies First
Monie Love ft. True Image - It's A Shame
Jungle Brothers - What U Waitin' 4 (Remix)
A Tribe Called Quest - Youthful Expression
De La Soul - Say No Go
Jungle Brothers ft. De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah & Monie Love - Doin' Our Own Dang
Jungle Brothers - Tribe Vibes (Drums)
Queen Latifah - Nature Of A Sista
Monie Love - Monie In The Middle
De La Soul - Me, Myself & I
De La Soul - Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge)
Jungle Brothers - I'll House You

Huey Morgan / Jamz Supernova - BBC 6 Music Outro

BONUS TRACKS:
Chi-Ali ft. Dres, Dove, Fashion & Phife - Let The Horns Blow
Monie Love ft. DJ Jazzy Jeff - Work It Out (from Boyz N The Hood)
Talib Kweli & J Rawls ft. Maseo, Pos, Mike G, Afrika, Black Thought & Busta Rhymes - Native Sons (Part 2)
A Tribe Called Quest - Description Of A Fool

Also includes elements of:
Black Sheep - The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)
Black Sheep - Wolf In Sheep's Clothing Intro
Black Sheep - On The Wall (from Trespass)
De La Soul - De La Soul is Dead Intro
De La Soul - 3 Feet High & Rising Intro
De La Soul ft. MF DOOM - Rock Co.Kane Flow (acapella)
De La Soul - Buddy (LP version)
De La Soul - Plug Tunin' (LP version)
De La Soul - D.A.I.S.Y. Age
A Tribe Called Quest - His Name is Mutty Ranks
A Tribe Called Quest - Bonita Applebum
A Tribe Called Quest - Excursions
A Tribe Called Quest - Push It Along
A Tribe Called Quest ft. Leaders of the New School - Scenario
A Tribe Called Quest - Can I Kick It
A Tribe Called Quest - Buggin' Out
Queen Latifah - Princess of the Posse
Queen Latifah - Evil That Men Do (Drums)
Monie Love ft. Adeva - Ring My Bell (extended)
Monie Love - Zulu Nation UK interview 2016
Juss Bad (Monie Love, MC Mell"O" & DJ Pogo) - Freestyle
Jungle Brothers - 40 Below Trooper
Jungle Brothers - Sounds Of The Safari
Chi-Ali - In My Room
Chi-Ali ft. The Beatnuts - The Fabulous Chi
Ronnie Gee - Raptivity

Sisters For Sisters - The Source, Oct 1990

 

From The Source, October 1990 - Scans courtesy of Craig Ellis Leckie

Record Report - The Source April 1993

From The Source - April 1993 - Scans courtesy of Frederic Thecle 

VA - The Daisy Age 2xLP - 2019

2xLP - 2019 - ACE Records 

"It wasn’t really a movement, barely even a moment, but the Daisy Age was an ethos that briefly permeated pop, R&B and hip hop. The name was coined by Long Island trio De La Soul; they claimed D.A.I.S.Y. stood for “da inner sound, y’all”, but then De La Soul said a lot of things. Playfulness and good humour were central to their 1989 debut album, which cast a long, multi-coloured shadow. The 90s, it promised, would be a lot easier going than the 80s.

In Britain, the timing for De La Soul’s “3 Feet High And Rising” couldn’t have been better. The acid house explosion of 1988 would lead to a radical breaking down of musical barriers in 1989. Just 18 months earlier, snobbery had been so rife that Bomb The Bass’ ‘Beat Dis’ was faked as a US import (pressed in the States, then imported back) to get club play; by the summer of ’89, however, something as previously unhip as Chris Rea’s ‘Josephine’ could become a dancefloor hit and indie veterans Primal Scream would be reborn as space-seeking Sun Ra initiates and still taken seriously. Ecstasy was largely responsible, of course, and its associated look – loose clothing, dayglo colours, smiley faces – chimed with the positivity of rising New York rap acts the Jungle Brothers and De La Soul, both at the heart of a growing collective called Native Tongues.

What was so new about De La Soul’s sound? Previously, sample material for hip hop had been almost exclusively taken from 60s and 70s soul and funk, especially from James Brown and his extended family – Bobby Byrd, Maceo Parker, Lyn Collins, the stuff of purists. The freewheeling collage of “3 Feet High And Rising” gleefully raided the non-U catalogues of Billy Joel and Hall & Oates; soul heroes Wilson Pickett and the Mad Lads were now abutting such unlikely material as the Turtles’ ‘You Showed Me’ and French Linguaphone lessons. The Invitations’ sweet, Drifters-like ‘Written On The Wall’ provided the hook for De La Soul’s first single ‘Plug Tunin’’ which, along with follow-up ‘Potholes In My Lawn’, referenced “the daisy age”. With the album including a cover of Bob Dorough’s ‘Three Is The Magic Number’ from Schoolhouse Rock – a song every American kid knew from Sunday morning TV – the essence of Sesame Street was everywhere.

By 1989 hip hop had made major inroads in Britain with rock fans (via Run DMC) and pubescent teens (the Beastie Boys), while NME writers had voted Public Enemy’s “It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back” the best album of 1988. Still, it had an air of exclusivity, with Tim Westwood its mirthless UK gatekeeper. De La Soul were also fans of Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and Run DMC; they were fans in general, and threw their love of music into the blender, giving more time to melodies and mind-expanding samples while most contemporary rap records still revolved around the biggest sounding beats.

Above all, De La Soul were welcoming. They had grown up with their parents’ eclectic musical taste, a TV culture grab bag, and black radio stations that played Hall & Oates and Steely Dan alongside the Spinners and Brass Construction. They had also attended the same high school as producer and Stetsasonic member Prince Paul who, intimidatingly, was two years above them. He knew their faces but it wasn’t until he heard a demo of ‘Plug Tunin’’ that he realised they were all on the same wavelength; working with their rough sketch, Paul added a sample from Billy Joel’s ‘Stiletto’ into the mix.

In 1990, the third Native Tongues act to release an album was A Tribe Called Quest, and “People’s Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm” was heavily indebted to “3 Feet High”’s airy nature. The Native Tongues’ charismatic aura spread west to the Bay Area’s similarly minded Hieroglyphics crew (Del Tha Funkeé Homosapien, Souls Of Mischief); Canada’s Dream Warriors used the “3 Feet High” colour palette and, borrowing Count Basie and Quincy Jones riffs, scored a brace of major UK hits; Naughty By Nature were mentored by Native Tongues heroine Queen Latifah, while Londoner Monie Love was also adopted by the collective, resulting in her Grammy-nominated ‘It’s A Shame (My Sister)’.

A Tribe Called Quest’s second album, “The Low End Theory”, would pick up the baton, giving a platform for and inspiration to Leaders Of The New School (who included future superstar Busta Rhymes) and the abstract technique of Brand Nubian. Meanwhile, the Jungle Brothers’ second album, “Done By The Forces Of Nature”, was in essence a concept album about Africa, fusing hip hop with jazz, doo wop, soul, Harlem – a new direction for the Native Tongues, away from ‘Multiplication Rock’, bubble writing and the gently psychedelic.

As hip hop rapidly became a bigger commercial concern, rights owners smelt money and – for the rest of the 90s – made sample clearance unfeasibly expensive. Robbed of their pick-and-mix approach, some Daisy Age-era acts moved towards consciousness and a jazz-leaning live feel, which down the line would lead to the rise of Arrested Development, and beyond them the Fugees and the Roots; meanwhile, on the West Coast, the gut-churning violence and misogyny of Dr Dre’s “The Chronic” took rap to a whole new commercial level. Neither direction, sadly, would involve much use of Sesame Street, Turtles samples, or magic numbers." - BOB STANLEY

 Vinyl (Gatefold) & CD format are available for Pre-order.

Release Date : End of August 

Take It Personal - Ep 30 : Native Tongues Tribute Part 2

Free Download (Native Tongues Tribute Part 1 & 2)

From Hip Hop Connection - November 1995 

Take It Personal - Ep 29: Native Tongues Tribute Part 1

"Every once in a while, we hit you with a tribute that requires several hours of your time. This is one of them. The Native Tongues collective are comprised of some of the most important, most influential and some of biggest innovators hip-hop has seen. With the help and hustle of Red Alert and Chris Lighty, The Native Tongues were a force to be reckoned with. The Jungle Brothers paved the way for groups like De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and Black Sheep. Prior to The Flava Unit, Queen Latifah was this crew's Den mother. Along with her protégé Monie Love, they were both instrumental in helping the female movement in hip-hop. The Native Tongues provided plenty of classic albums, countless anthems and produced more offspring than Joe Jackson (RIP).

The Natives helped jump-start the careers of Busta Rhymes, Chi-Ali, Mos Def, J Dilla, The Beatnuts and have influenced artists like Brand Nubian, K.M.D., Common, Bush Babees, The Roots, Slum Village, Little Brother, Kanye West, Kweli, Pharrell, Hieroglyphics, The Pharcyde, Roc Marciano, Kendrick Lamar, Pusha T, Andre 3000, Chance The Rapper and even Nas. They've influenced everyone. Odds are, every rapper imaginable has heard Straight Out The Jungle, De La Soul Is Dead, The Low End Theory, A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing, Buhloone Mindstate, Midnight Marauders, or Stakes Is High and possibly has several of those albums listed among their favorites, too. The Native Tongue brand was strong despite some internal conflict, growing pains and different career paths. They left an everlasting impression on hip-hop. It is our privilege to present to you The Native Tongues Tribute Part 1. You won't find another NT tribute like this and we're just getting started!" - Take It Personal Radio  

Documentary : Speaking In Tongues

"In the late 80’s The Native Tongues Posse was birthed through the mental cohesion of three Hip-Hop groups: The Jungle Brothers, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. Eventually, The Native Tongue roster would grow to include Queen Latifah, Monie Love, Black Sheep, Leaders of the New School, Chi-Ali and more. After only a few short years in existence, the Native Tongue movement was, “in full effect”. Today, despite many efforts to reunite The Native Tongues, the collective exists more in abstract ideology than as a tangible hip-hop crew. However, the influence of the Native Tongues is evident in the music and attitude of many of today’s most celebrated and decorated musicians – The Neptunes, The Roots, Common, Talib Kweli, Pharaoh Monch, Raphael Saadiq, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, D’Angelo, Dwele, the late Jay Dee aka J-Dilla, 9th Wonder, The Pharcyde and countless others. What happened to this ever-evolving Hip-Hop movement known as the Native Tongues Posse?

The feature length documentary, “Speaking In Tongues” is a cinematic quest to answer this and many other questions surrounding one of the most influential hip-hop crews in music history. Speaking In Tongues features real life accounts of the rise and evolution of the Native Tongue movement, lifestyle and influence.

“SPEAKING IN TONGUES” is a visual salute to an internationally renowned group of musical pioneers who, through their mere formation, have changed the landscape of Hip-Hop, Soul and Dance music since 1988. The celebration of the Native Tongues legacy is well overdue"

This documentary is produced by Omar Akil, Norman Parrish, Benny Boom & Ramulas Burgess.

If you want to support this project, check the Kickstarter page !

Mixtape: DJ sourMILK x So Much Soul - The Native Tongues Mix (Part I & II)

Free Dowload : Part 1 / Part 2