Emergency on Planet Earth is the debut studio album by English funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai, released on 14 June 1993 under Sony Soho Square.

Prior its release, the band debuted in 1992 with "When You Gonna Learn" under Acid Jazz Records, and front-man Jay Kay was given a major-label deal with Sony Music.

The album was produced as Toby, Stuart and Kay formed the band and is characterised by its acid jazz foundations, layers of instrumentation and socially charged lyrics.

While Jay Kay was sending songs to record companies, he wrote the first track "When You Gonna Learn" after taking inspiration from Native American and First Nation peoples and their philosophies, and from his anger towards the shooting of elephants in a television programme.

[4] The former song's lyrics have been described as anarchist: "The kids want the system breaking down/Not higher education/If it ain't no natural law/Then you can keep your regulations".

[4][8] With the title track, Kay said that it ultimately defined the concept of the album: "The whole groove of it, all the syncopation, the strings gliding over the top... and the lyrics were hammer to the nail: 'The kids need education/and the streets are never clean/... is that life that I am witnessing/or just another wasted birth'".

The track was recorded in one take; Kay said: "the brass was feeling so nice that when we got to the end I didn't want it to stop, so I motioned to the guys to go again, which is why there's the reprise.

[4] It also has "crisscrossed ascending and descending lines, James Brown-like brass punches, a female rhythm and blues choir, Mitch Mitchellesque drums, African percussion, up-front funk bass and elements of hip hop, fusion, acid jazz, technopop and ragamuffin.

[26] In 2013, Emergency on Planet Earth was one of the first three albums to be re-issued on the band's 20th anniversary campaign, also containing a bonus disc with remixes, demos, live performances and B-sides.

[31] Critics have noted the layers of instrumentation on Emergency on Planet Earth, including its horn and string arrangements and the digeridoo, which "few '70s soul artists employed", according to J.D.

[14][45][13] Praising Kay's vocals, Christopher Dawes of Melody Maker said "Stevie Wonder and Aaron Neville were the instant reference points.

Mike Zwerin of The New York Times called the album "a rare treasure, contemporary pop music with mass potential worth a detour".

[10] Tony Parsons of The Daily Telegraph stated that the band "take[s] every cliche in the soul handbook and somehow turn it into a thing of beauty.

[Kay] calls women 'sexy ladies' and says things like 'you blow my mind' and 'no more wars,' yet somehow these stale sentiments are rendered fresh and fragrant and really rather wonderful.

"[47] David Sinclair of The Times wrote that the band "have recorded a debut which combines youthful brio with musicianship of the very highest order.

"[8] Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post questioned the band's socially charged lyrics, and further wrote of the album: "Derived from the lush, silky '70s funk and soul of Philadelphia International and Stevie Wonder, Jamiroquai's sound is about as revolutionary as a nonreturnable bottle of Pepsi.