Digital Underground

Digital Underground is an American alternative hip-hop group from Oakland, California. The group was formed in 1987 by Digital Underground's leader and mainstay Gregory "Shock G" Jacobs, alongside Tampa hip-hop radio deejay Kenneth "Kenny-K" Waters and Jimi "Chopmaster J" Dright of Berkeley, California.

Heavily influenced by the various funk bands of the 1970s, Digital Underground sampled such music frequently. As "Rackadelic", Jacobs designed album covers and cartoon-laced liner notes, in homage to Parliament-Funkadelic album designs. Digital Underground is also notable for launching the career of member Tupac Shakur, as well as spinning off side projects and solo acts including Raw Fusion, Saafir, Gold Money (Pee-Wee & Bigg Money Odis) and singer Mystic.

Following the release of their "Doowutchyalike" single and video in the summer of 1989, the band gained popularity with their song "The Humpty Dance" in 1990. Digital Underground toured nearly every year until 2008; this consisted of live shows in Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, and the United States. While the group's origins lay mostly in Oakland and Berkeley, California, various characters and voices from around the US and UK appeared on the band's albums. Shock G and Money-B were the only individuals to appear on every album. Other recurring key contributors were David "DJ Fuze" Elliot, and deejay/producer Jeremy "J-Beats" Jackson, who both assisted Jacobs in developing the sound.

Shock G died in 2021, but Digital Underground continues to tour. Saafir died in 2024, and Cleetis Mack died in 2026.

In 2025, Jeff Mezydlo of Yardbarker included the band in his list of "20 underrated bands from the 1990s who are worth rediscovering".

History

Formation

Jacobs spent most of his youth in Tampa, Florida and New York City. Founded in 1987, the group's image was originally more militant, and was intended to be a tribute to social activists The Black Panthers. However, when groups like N.W.A and Public Enemy rose to prominence, Jacobs chose to take the image in a more whimsical and upbeat direction.

Sex Packets

Sex Packets, the group's debut album, was released in early 1990 following the success of their two previous singles, which were included on the album. "Doowutchyalike", a moderate club hit, debuted the previous year, followed in January by the more successful song "The Humpty Dance", a humorous dance number that reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 7 on the R&B chart, and No. 1 on the Billboard Rap Singles chart. It was rapped by Shock G's alter ego Humpty Hump, and featured a drum track with over 50 confirmed usages in other songs. Sex Packets features P-Funk samples, jazz-influenced interludes, and a combination of samples and live instrumentation, earning it positive reviews and platinum sales.

This Is an EP Release

This Is an EP Release is the RIAA Gold certified second Digital Underground release, from which two songs, "Tie the Knot" and "Same Song" were featured in the film Nothing But Trouble starring Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Demi Moore, and John Candy. "Tie The Knot", features jazzy piano tracks and a comedic interpretation of "Bridal Chorus". "Same Song" has an organ solo and improvised organ bits throughout the song, making it one of hip-hop's first singles to successfully integrate live instrumentation with music samples. Tupac Shakur made his debut on the latter song and portrayed an African king in the video. Tupac also can be heard joking around on the remixed version of "The Way We Swing" as a background vocalist, adding humorous ad-libs between the verses. Tupac first began to appear on stage with the group as one of its dancers and "hype men".

Sons of the P

The group's second full album featured two singles, "No Nose Job" and "Kiss You Back", the latter of which featured multi-layered choruses and background vocals sung by Boni Boyer, who briefly worked with Digital Underground shortly after her stint with Prince's Sign of the Times/Love Sexy band. Despite the fact that a choir of singers were portrayed in the video, the actual studio singing was exclusively Boni on all tracks, excluding the male voices. It has been mistakenly reported that "Kiss You Back" was co-written and co-performed by George Clinton, but his name appears in the writers credit due to a sample of "(Not Just) Knee Deep" by Funkadelic being used. He did, however, actively participate in the writing and recording of the title track "Sons of the P", which he also contributed vocals to, and which marked one of the earliest studio guest appearances by Clinton on a Hip Hop release, which is preceded only by Kurtis Blow's "Magilla Gorilla" released in 1986. Both the album and the "Kiss You Back" single were each certified Gold by the RIAA.