DJ Muggs has stated that he originally produced the beat for Cypress Hill, but rapper B-Real couldn’t come up with the lyrics.

[4] The song features a distinctive horn fanfare intro, sampled from Bob & Earl's 1963 track "Harlem Shuffle".

The song also samples "Popeye the Hitchhiker" by Chubby Checker, but it is best known for a high-pitched squealing sound that appears at the beginning of almost every bar—66 times in the course of the recording.

[7] In 2016, a Newsweek reader performed a spectrogram analysis, which revealed that the sample more closely matched "Shoot Your Shot", and House of Pain member Everlast himself told Questlove that it was a horn making the squeal and not Prince.

"[15] Another EW editor, Leah Greenblatt, wrote that "the first and only members of hip-hop's Irish-American Thug Life Hall of Fame earned their spot in that (imaginary) pantheon with this killer blast of rapid-fire rap bravado.

"[17] Across the Atlantic, Dublin-based Evening Herald declared it as a "compelling single",[18] while the Irish Independent said the group had "made a fairly groovy record.

"[19] Stephen Trousse from Melody Maker wrote that it "has already achieved a frightening ubiquity, becoming 1992's evil twin hip hop hit to Arrested Development's 'People Everyday'".

[20] Music Week's RM Dance Update complimented it as an "excellent debut", noting that "built on a chugging Caribbean rhythm, 'Jump Around' features a strong Heavy D-like rap and its popularity is ensured by a chanted chorus with the buzz word 'Jump'.

"[21] An editor, Andy Beevers, called it "an infectious bouncy track", adding that lyrically, "their invitation to jump is as aggressive as Kris Kross's was cute.

"[22] Johnny Dee from NME remarked its "fresh perkiness", praising the song as "the crispest rap biscuit of the season".

[23] Rupert Howe from Select magazine described it as a "Kris-Kross-with testosterone smash" and added that it is "an impossibly simple freestyle skank that stormed the US billboard big-time.

In 2019, About.com's Bill Lamb ranked "Jump Around" one of "Top 10 Pop Songs of 1992", saying, "After one time of hearing this riveting blend of rap and rock, you will likely never forget the sampled saxophone squeal from Jr. Walker and the All Stars that leads off every bar.

[2] The songs lyric "if your girl steps up, I'm smackin the ho'" has brought accusations of misogyny[34] The accompanying music video for "Jump Around" was filmed during the 1992 New York City Saint Patrick's Day parade.

[71] In 2019, American nu metal band Coming for Blood released a cover version of "Jump Around", featuring former House of Pain and current Limp Bizkit member DJ Lethal on turntables.

[73] The song's title is displayed on unofficial Wisconsin Badgers clothing and apparel, along with the credit/debit cards of the university's employee/student/alumni credit union.