Seems like the law of the Jungle Brothers is "Keep growing" -- or maybe "Change is good." The hip-hop innovators are fine-tuning their style even as they trim their ranks.

Their first single, "Girl I'll House You" -- which came out in 1988 -- broke new ground with its unique meld of hip-hop and house music. The Jungle Brothers are now out to do the same with hip-hop and the minimalist drum 'n' bass style on their next album. Now a duo consisting of Bambaataa and Mike G, the JBs plan to start writing tracks for the new record this spring in a Kingston, Jamaica, studio owned by Gee Street Records president John Baker.

"If you look at the last thing we put out, we did a drum 'n' bass remix of 'Jungle Brother'," said Bambaataa (Nathaniel Hall). "We performed it on the 'Keenan Ivory Wayans Show.' It's the first successful rap record with drum 'n' bass. We made history again."

The remix -- done by Aphrodite and appearing on the "Senseless" movie soundtrack -- is just a taste of what's to come on the next Jungle Brothers record, according to Bambaataa and Mike G (Michael Small), both 28 years old.

"We still gotta come out with the freshest shit," Bambaataa explained. "We can't come out with just the mundane phat remix of whatever with the latest phat-name producer."

If the group does create a new brand of hip-hop with the next Jungle Brothers record, it will be without DJ Sammy B (Samuel Burwell). He left the lineup in an amicable split, said Mike G, to take a job with the Manhattan Transit Authority. Mike Loe is the group's touring DJ, but he may not appear on the new album. Only Mike G, Bambaataa and their families are making the working-holiday trip to Jamaica.

A truly groundbreaking Jungle Brothers record would be quite a departure from their last album, the relatively conservative Raw Deluxe (1997). Mike G said the duo will first work on writing raps over beats they get from various producers and DJs, including DJ Shadow, Roc Raida (X-ecutioners), Prince Paul (De La Soul) and Dan the Automator (Dr. Octagon).

"If MCs go mute, we'll still have DJs," Bambaataa said.

They'll survive, Mike G said, "like cockroaches. They'll be here after the bomb drops. You can't kill 'em."

The Jungle Brothers are seeking a balance between the smooth Raw Deluxe and Crazy Wisdom Masters, a reportedly masterful but non-commercial album they recorded in 1993 that Warner Brothers, their record company at the time, would not release. The tanked album included Sun Ra samples, said Bambaataa, and was closer to the sound of people like DJ Shadow and Dr. Octagon than straight-up hip-hop.

"When we did Crazy Wisdom Masters, that alternative audience lit up [at the prospect]," Bambaataa recalled. "It was like, 'Yo, give me that.' A little craziness is what hip-hop needs right now, but there's only a few talented guys like us that can do it.

"The core strength of the Jungle Brothers is songwriting," Bambaataa continued, adding that the "creativity and skillsmanship" of modern hip-hop producers and MCs is better than that of old-school masters, but the lyrics are lacking.

"MCs should be making records," he said, "to entertain rather than brag and boast." Like they did in the old days, when DJ Red Alert -- Mike G's uncle -- introduced the grade-school age Jungle Brothers, originally from Harlem, N.Y., to hip-hop's originators, like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Soulsonic Force.

"We saw MCs and DJs going all out for no and little money," Mike G said. He remembers spontaneous block parties, and that "the spirit of hip-hop was totally different." It's a spirit the fans want back, he said.

When the Jungle Brothers try to recapture that spirit in Jamaica, they'll be bringing their families. Mike G has two girls, a 6-month-old and 6-year-old. Bambaataa's 9-year-old son will stay home, because he's in school, but Bambaataa's two daughters, ages 3 and 10 months, will tag along.

"[The kids] like our music," Bambaataa said. "You know if you're gonna say something provocative, you have to explain it, but that comes with being a father anyway."

The Jungle Brothers feel a similar responsibility to their audience and the entire hip-hop community. Being on the cutting edge of hip-hop means they haven't sold as many records as their contemporaries, but they have managed to change rap music in a big way.

Bambaataa foresees another such change on the horizon, with the group's impending drum 'n' bass experiment. "We're gonna create raw material to feed the brain cells," he said, "to heal mankind."