At their prime in the late '80s, the Jungle Brothers reflected all of hip-hop's potential – their second album, 1989's spiritual, street-wise Done by the Forces of Nature, was as conscious as it was funky and stands out as one of the most overlooked rap albums of that decade. On 1993's JBeez Wit the Remedy, the Brothers tried to reconcile their experimental impulses with the meaner-spirited rap of the '90s; moreconventional tracks such as "40 Below Trooper" sat alongside the free-jazz hip-hop of "For the Headz at Company Z." The results were scattered.

Raw Deluxe, the JB's fourth album, seems to be another attempt to reconnect with hip-hop's mainstream. The beats are unembellished and direct: "How Ya Want It – We Got It," a reunion with De La Soul and Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, features a beefy bass tone and round-robin-style rapping that will make some old fans nostalgic. Lyrically, rappers Afrika and Mike G haven't suffered from the four-year layoff – their flow is as easy and unforced as ever.

Unfortunately, the JB's have adopted the get-paid subject matter of so much '90s rap. There's nothing wrong with messages of economic self-empowerment, but the conservative grooves and generic, mercenary rhymes of "Gettin Money" and "Handle My Business" are ill-suited for a band that used to propagate "tribe vibes." There are glimmers of creativity on Deluxe, such as the reverberating dub-flavored beats of "Where You Wanna Go" and unashamed spaciness of "Brain." Still, when Mike G – a rapper who once boasted that he wore "no gold around [his] neck" – announces now that he's taking "a stand to make a million," you begin to wonder if the Jungle Brothers' muse hasn't become lost in the woods. (RS 761)

NATHAN BRACKETT