Formed in 1987, Digital Underground is an alternative rap group coming from Oakland, California. This vibey hip-hop band played a big part in giving West Coast rap the spotlight it rightfully deserved. Leader, Greg “Shock G” Jacobs, spent most of his youth in New York City and southern Florida. Heavily influenced by the various funk bands of the 1970s, Digital Underground sampled such music frequently, which quickly became a defining element of west-coast rap, as well as the wicked spaced-out image that they portrayed.
As sources say (jambase.com), the group’s original image was set up to be a tribute to social activists like The Black Panthers, when Public Enemy (hip-hop group of the East Coast) became a prominent band, Shock G chose to take the group’s image in a more whimsical direction, that of an updated Parliament-Funkadelic for the hip-hop audience. He even took to designing detailed covers and cartoon-laced liner notes for the band, in tribute to the similarly constructed album jackets from Parliament-Funkadelic.
Their first album, Sex Packets (1990), was named after a sketchy invention idea Schmoovy Schmoov (Earl Cook – early member) had for a hallucinogen that could induce intense sexual feelings. As far as this group would go to get their recognition, they created a fake newsletter which claimed that NASA was secretly developing the hallucinogens for astronauts as a relaxer after long space sessions. As this newsletter circulated to California medical clinics, the ‘sex packets’ and Digital Underground gained more than expected recognition, as it even got notice in USA Today.
Ranked one of the greatest hits of hip-hop music and nominated for an NTV Award in 1990, “The Humpty Dance” was a crossover club sensation. The track album, Sex Packets, became an instant hit after “The Humpty Dance” went to #11 on the pop charts that year. The album received platinum status, selling over 1 million copies, and is considered a top 1,000 song everyone must know or listen to before they die.
Here is “The Humpty Dance”: