Native Tongues

The Native Tongues was 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 jazz-influenced beats. Its principal members were the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, Monie Love, Queen Latifah, and Chi-Ali.

The Jungle Brothers didn't just start a crew when they founded Native Tongues in 1988—they rewired what hip-hop could be. Anchored by the cosmic jazz production of A Tribe Called Quest and the kaleidoscopic sample-based storytelling of De La Soul, the collective rejected gangsta rap's grimness for something genuinely countercultural: positivity rooted in Afrocentric consciousness and uncompromising artistic experimentation. Their influence radiates through every alternative hip-hop movement that followed, from the sample-obsessed underground to the jazz-rap renaissance of the 2010s. While the crew's core trio defined the sound, their orbit included Black Sheep, Monie Love, and Queen Latifah—each expanding the collective's reach and proving that you didn't need street credibility to own the conversation.