Happy 35th Anniversary to Digital Underground’s This Is An E.P. Release, originally released January 15, 1991.
Digital Underground took music by storm as the 1980s ended and the 1990s began. The Bay Area-based collective, led by Gregory “Shock G” Jacobs (R.I.P.), brought a madcap, funk-filled energy to hip-hop that resonated with fans from across the globe. Influenced just as much by Parliament-Funkadelic as they were by Public Enemy, Digital Underground were a bona fide hip-hop circus, creating such memorable jams as “Doowutchyalike” and the ubiquitous “The Humpty Dance,” before releasing their debut album Sex Packets (1990). Both Sex Packets and “The Humpty Dance” single caught on like wildfire, and each went Platinum before the year’s end.
Digital Underground and their label Tommy Boy Records decided to capitalize on their hot streak by releasing This Is An E.P. Release less than a year after Sex Packets hit the shelves, while the group worked on their proper follow-up album. Released 35 years ago, the solid six-song EP features three new songs and three remixes/reworkings of tracks from their debut album. At the time, hip-hop acts didn’t often release EPs, but in this case, the shorter format serves the group well, even if the songs themselves tend to run long. The group provides some red meat for the audience, and also experiment a bit. The newer songs are definitely the project’s strength, as Digital Underground excavates a deep well of musical creativity.
The EP also supported the group’s appearance in Dan Aykroyd’s directorial debut, Nothing But Trouble, which entered theaters about a month later. The prominent SNL alum had been looking for a musical group to appear in the film and approached Tommy Boy about enlisting De La Soul. Since De La was touring Europe at the time, the label hipped Aykroyd to other artists on their roster. The actor showed up backstage at a Digital Underground concert in Los Angeles, smoked a doobie with the group, and pitched them on appearing in the film. Shock G promptly agreed.
In an interview with Vibe, Shock recounted that Ackroyd told him on a subsequent phone call that the group would appear in the movie as themselves, and perform a song or two. Hence, they would need to record some new material. In particular, Aykroyd requested a new song that featured an organ, and sounded similar to “Humpty Dance.” “Just keep that same song, just keep that same song you got,” he apparently told Shock.
Nothing But Trouble was awful, but Digital Underground’s presence, particularly their performance of “Same Song,” is the film’s highlight. And no matter what Aykroyd may have requested, “Same Song” is not a rehash of “Humpty Dance.” Instead, Shock took the “same song” phrase as the inspiration for the track’s subject matter. Re-interpreting vocals from Parliament’s “Theme From the Black Hole,” they change the refrain from “All around the world for the funk” to “All around the world, the same song,” explaining how they haven’t let their newfound fame change the way they work, party, or live.
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Though Shock, Humpty Hump, and Ron “Money B” Brooks, all have dope verses, “Same Song” is best known for hosting the first appearance of Tupac Shakur. The future icon had been rolling with D.U. since 1990, eventually working as a roadie and Humpty Dancer for the group while they toured. While on the road, he proved his rap skills to the group’s members during countless post-performance freestyle sessions. Here he contributes the song’s final 8-bar verse, exuding the confidence and skills that would eventually make him a superstar. “Get some fame, people change, wanna live their life high,” he raps. “Same song, can’t go wrong, if I play the nice guy.”
“Same Song” does indeed feature extensive work on the organ by “The Piano Man” (another Shock G alias). Besides continuously improvising throughout the track, he performs a lengthy solo that takes up nearly half of the song’s six-minute length. Shock doubtlessly draws inspiration from P-Funk centerpiece Bernie Worrell, particularly his work on Funkadelic’s “Atmosphere.”
The EP’s other contribution to Nothing But Trouble isn’t nearly as good as “Same Song,” but it’s pretty interesting. The group also performs the wedding-themed “Tie The Knot” in the film. The song exists mostly as a vehicle for The Piano Man to again tickle the 88 keys. Shock sure did know how to add flourishes to Wagner’s “Treulich Geführt” (a.k.a. the Bridal Chorus), nimbly dancing across the keys to the beat of the “Substitution” drum break. The grandiosity of the music distracts from the inherent goofiness of the undertaking.
The third and final piece of new material on This Is An EP Release is “Nuttin’ Nis Funky,” a behemoth of a track that clocks in at nearly 10 minutes in length. The song samples liberally from Miles Davis’ “Fat Time,” the opening track from his The Man With Horn (1981) comeback album. It unfolds slowly over a deeply funky groove, featuring long instrumental stretches, occasionally featuring vocals by Earl “Schmoovy Schmoov” Cook and precise scratches by D.U.’s DJ, David “Fuze” Elliot.
For the first half of the song, Shock trades verses with “Big Money” Odis Brackens, another new member of the Digital Underground family. With his deep voice and laid-back delivery, Odis brought an interesting style to the collective, proving himself to be deceptively dexterous behind the mic. “You can’t compete ’cause you’re incomplete and need to be completed,” he raps. “Your style is weak you’re obsolete and need to be deleted / Short on the things that you needed / So what? You got a top ten song, ’cause you cheated.”
Meanwhile, Shock has rarely seemed as lackadaisically cool as he is on “Nuttin…” He boasts of the group’s stage show ability to both leaving “emcees standing still with their mouths hanging open” and “the next act scratching his head like a monkey.” He then morphs into Humpty to close things out, proclaiming that “my mouth’s on the mic like a finger on a trigger, n***a.”
Though the reworked material from Sex Packets is mostly solid, none of it improves on what they’d already released. The group re-records their vocals for the “The Way We Swing” remix, but the song isn’t appreciably different than the original version. British electronic DJ/producer CJ Mackintosh remixes “Packet Man,” turning the low-key track into an up-tempo number with the use of a horn-heavy sample from Rodney Franklin’s “Windy City.”
“Arguin’ On The Funk” features a conversation/argument between Shock G and Humpty Hump over the instrumental to the group’s “Rhymin’ On The Funk.” Shock chides his alter ego for not knowing his music history as well as his failure to fully appreciate the importance of the “Funk Mob.” (“What the hell is the Funk Mob? A bunch of brothas who don’t take baths?” Humpty jokes). Shock then educates Humpy on the important members of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective and their impact on hip-hop music, hoping to give them their respect while they’re still around. Digital Underground would later explore similar themes on “Heartbeat Props” from the forthcoming Sons Of The P (1991).
This Is An E.P. Release successfully set the table for Sons Of The P, which D.U. would release in the fall of 1991. In the meantime, the EP is an entertaining segue that would help chart the group’s future, Tupac would continue to progress towards superstardom, Shock G would continue to experiment as a producer and musician, and Humpty Hump would continue to be featured prominently throughout the group’s material. It wasn’t the group’s heaviest exercise, but they made the most of it.
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