digital underground

Born in the late 80’s, while hip-hop was consumed by the hardcore, noisy political rap of Public Enemy and the gangsta rap of N.W.A., Digital Underground sneaked out of Oakland with their bizarre, funky homage to Parliament-Funkadelic. Digital Underground built most of their music from P-Funk samples and developed a similarly weird sense of style and humor. Most-known in the bunch is Humpty Hump -- a ridiculous comical figure with a Groucho Marx nose and glasses and a goofy, stuttering voice -- is the most famous, especially since he was immortalized on their breakthrough single, "The Humpty Dance."

Over the course of their career, Digital Underground has featured a numerous members, but throughout it all, Shock-G has remained at their core, developing the band’s sound and style, which they had from the outset, as their 1990 debut, Sex Packets, proved. Sex Packets was an instant hit, thanks the loopy single "The Humpty Dance." From there, their role in popularizing George Clinton’s elastic funk has made them one of the most important hip-hop groups of all time.