Digital Underground helped usher in a new style of rap music during the late eighties, a style heavily influenced by the sound and attitude of seventies funk bands like George Clinton's groups, Parliament and Funkadelic. Sampling from recordings by Clinton's various "P-Funk" bands, the Underground also emulated the wild stage shows featuring bizarre and funny characters that were the other side of the P-Funk legacy. From its independent debut single, through hits like "The Humpty Dance" and "Doowutchyalike," Digital Underground has broadened its appeal, continuing to live up to its self-description as an "all-Atlantic, all-Pacific, all-city, grand-imperial dance music and hip hop dynasty." As Newsday commented in 1990, "Digital Underground looks like the new face of hip hop, as the music tries to make sense of its expanded range of possibilities."
Before becoming a "dynasty," Digital Underground was the brainchild of musician and rapper Shock G, whom Eric Weisbard of the San Francisco Weekly described as "a hip hop jack-of-all-trades: He plays drums, piano and other instruments; is a capable MC and disc jockey; produces his records; makes his own videos; [and] designs and choreographs his stage show." Born Greg Jacobs in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York, c. 1963, Shock G played drums in a band that only knew one song--the Commodores' funk hit "Brick House." Hip hop was a fledgling form, but the excitement of early rappers like Grandmaster Flash left an indelible impression on the young musician. Soon, Shock was asking his parents for turntables and a mixer, the main instruments of a rap DJ. In an interview with Weisbard, Shock G recounted, "We'd constantly spend time at 42nd Street Records, Downstairs Records, getting all the break beats."
Their newest album "..Cuz A d.u. Party Don't Stop!" was released on Seattle-based Jake Records in late 2008.
Band Members
Shock G, Money-B, Humpty Hump, DJ Fuze, Saafir, BIN, 2 Pac, Schmoovy-Schmoov, DJ Nu-Stylez
Influences
George Clinton, Parliament, Funkadelic, Public Enemy
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