With the death of Gregory “Shock G” Jacobs last week, the music world lost a true visionary. I don’t use this term lightly, and Shock G unequivocally fits the description. Creative geniuses like him are a truly rare breed, and his passing at the age of 57 is an awful shame.
Shock G was best known as the creator and beating heart of Digital Underground, the Bay Area-based collective that held sway over the realm of hip-hop during the early 1990s. Shock himself wasn’t from the Bay Area; he was born in Brooklyn and spent many of his formative years in Tampa, Florida and back in Queens, New York. But it was upon migrating to Oakland that he got serious about making music. Or as “serious” as Digital Underground could be.
“I don’t know if Digital Underground could have happened anywhere else,” he said on the Netflix series Hip-Hop Evolution. “It happened in the Bay because I’m toting that P-Funk flag and the Bay Area was a collective of people into funk. … Digital Underground was kind of a p-funk version of hip-hop.”
While Too $hort is correctly regarded as the father (or, perhaps the grandfather) of the Bay Area hip-hop scene, Shock G was its cool, crazy-ass uncle. As both Shock and Humpty Hump, his infamous alter ego, he was the proverbial life of the party, cracking jokes and palling around, but wielding great wisdom all the while. He inspired many admirers but no successful imitators.
Shock G’s idol and role model was George Clinton. Shock grew up on Parliament-Funkadelic and possessed a deep understanding of the collective’s music and philosophy. “Part of my huge affection for P-Funk is the humor; it’s not so militant,” he said on Hip-Hop Evolution. “It’s just like… ‘Dance your way out of your constrictions.’”
And I can’t think of any other artists who channeled Clinton as successfully as Shock G and Digital Underground. Shock G knew that if he was going to be Clinton’s heir, being a master of the funk wasn’t enough. Big ideas and a cross-media approach were as integral to the process as scintillating grooves and THC.
And man, could Shock G come up with innovative ideas and concepts to build albums around. Most famously, there was the group’s debut LP Sex Packets (1990), based around the idea of a fictional orgasm-inducing drug. On The Body-Hat Syndrome (1993), the group touted full-body condoms to protect you from F.A.D.E.S. a.k.a. “Falsely Acquired Diluted Education Syndrome.” Meanwhile, Future Rhythm (1996) featured descriptions of hyper-realistic and sexually charged interactive video games.
Outside of Clinton, few artists could commit to the bit like Shock G. He and D.U. went above the call of duty when promoting their albums, especially their early work on Tommy Boy, when they had the budget to go all out.
For Sex Packets, they developed an elaborate back-story about the product’s developers and history, and later printed up thousands of four-page pamphlets describing warnings against its use, distributing them in hospitals and bathrooms of popular clubs. They even created individually-wrapped “Sex Packets” (actually wafers) and sent them to record stores around the country. Later, in order to hype “No Nose Job,” the first single lifted from their second studio album Sons of the P (1991), they staged and filmed a fake protest at a New York plastic surgery center, where Humpty Hump gave an impassioned speech about the dangers of altering your appearance.
Another quality that Shock G shared with Clinton was a keen eye and ear for talent. Clinton brought together some of the funkiest musicians ever to create his own Funk Mob, and Shock G attempted to do the same with Digital Underground. The group was famously made up of an eclectic collection of emcees and musicians from around the country and across the globe.
Shock G drafted Tupac Shakur into the group’s ranks early on, bringing him in as a roadie and dancer, and eventually giving him a chance to rap on “Same Song” from This Is An EP Release (1991) and the Nothing But Trouble soundtrack. Shock also strove to give national shine to many artists on their grind. Many were from the Bay Area, like Raw Fusion, Saafir, Mystic, Esinchill, and others. He also produced an entire album for No Face, the raunchy hip-hop group from the early 1990s. The album was supposed to be released on Interscope, but never saw the light of day. However, the single “No Brothas Allowed” was the best thing associated with No Face and one of Shock G’s master works.
And beyond his vision and ability to nurture talent, Shock was great at creating music. You won’t see Shock G’s name on many lists of the 20 greatest emcees of all time, but he was still great whenever he held the mic. As Shock G, he could both flow smooth and execute intricate verbal gymnastics, adept at kicking solid rhymes and telling stories with depth and humor.
“I don’t want to be to be a loud, boisterous, greedy-sounding, ego-ed out person, which you damn near gotta be to be a rapper,” Shock said on Hip-Hop Evolution. “So, I let Humpty do that.”
As Humpty Hump, he chewed the musical scenery with his incredibly out-sized personality. Initially basing the persona on one of his uncles, Shock G mixed in parts of Slick Rick, Rodney Dangerfield, Benny Hill, Bootsy Collins, and Morris Day. As Humpty, he brought a clever yet crass sense of humor to the hip-hop genre. Few will think of Burger King bathrooms the same way again thanks to Humpty Hump.
What’s amazing is that Humpty Hump was nearly a one-off character. Shock used the funny voice for some of his verses in the group’s first big hit, “Doowutchyalike,” and planned to move on. As it turns out, he improvised the character’s entire look while preparing to do the video for the song. While shopping for accessories to use during the shoot, he found a bin of $0.99 fake noses and what became his trademark brown Groucho Marx glasses. He built the rest of the character, including his distinctive wardrobe, from there.
After the character gained popularity from the “Doowutchyalike” video, Monica Lynch at Tommy Boy asked Shock to write an entire song starring Humpty. Shock G penned the future platinum single “The Humpty Dance” that afternoon, and the rest was history. The Humpty Hump character grew to become the defining “front-man” of Digital Underground, even more so than Shock himself.
Shock G was a brilliant producer as well. He masterfully created much of Digital Underground’s musical backdrop, taking P-Funk tracks and other ‘60s/’70s/’80s funk, soul, and rock records and transforming them into works of art. The “Humpty Drums,” the musical backbone of “The Humpty Dance,” became a popular “break” on its own. Dozens, if not hundreds of artists sampled it in the coming years. So much so that in the liner notes of The Body Hat Syndrome, Shock G created “The Humpty Awards,” featuring a mail-in ballot for listeners to write in and vote for the best song to use the “Humpty Drums.” He also recorded an extended skit for the CD versions of the album as well. There was no malice involved; Shock G clearly loved that a drum break that he helped create had become a staple of hip-hop production.
One thing that’s been frequently overlooked in retrospectives of Shock G’s life is that at the height of Digital Underground’s popularity, a natural disaster knocked him for a loop. Shock’s home and his possessions were consumed in the Oakland Hills fire of late 1991, just days after releasing Sons of the P. All of his record collection and many of his outfits (which helped define his and Humpty’s idiosyncratic look), were lost in the sweeping blaze that killed 25 people and destroyed more than 3,000 homes. It’s hard for a hip-hop producer to rebound from a fire, and it’s sidelined a few notable beatmakers for years. But Shock indeed bounced back shortly thereafter and did much of his best work behind the boards during the mid to late 1990s and early 2000s.
As a producer, Shock utilized all of his talents as a musician. He was an accomplished bass and piano player. Damn near everyone knows that Shock G and Humpty Hump were the same person, but many weren’t aware that Shock G and The Piano Man were one-and-the-same. Though a mix of sampling and live instrumentation, he produced for artists within the Digital Underground camp like 2Pac, Gold Money and Saafir, and also provided amazing tracks for Luniz, Mac Mall and MURS. Often, he’d adopt an alternate identity for his late 1990s work, adopting the identity of Shakeem Bocaj V (as in “The Fifth”). As Shock G, he even remixed Prince’s “Love Sign,” which appeared on the Crystal Ball (1998) triple album. Prince subsequently spoke highly of Shock G’s talents.
And to top it all off, Shock G was a talented visual artist. Influenced by the art of Overton Lloyd and Pedro Bell, who conceived and drew the covers of albums by Parliament, Funkadelic, and Clinton himself, Shock G created his own hyper-detailed, often sexually suggestive cartoons to adorn Digital Underground’s projects. He drew the covers for This Is An EP Release and The Body-Hat Syndrome, as well as the cartoon strips that appeared in the liner notes of nearly every Digital Underground release. After Shock G’s death, producer J. Period revealed that during the late 1980s, he painted a detailed portrait of Rakim crushing wack emcees on spec, giving it to the rap God as a gift backstage at a concert in Florida. Reportedly the painting hung in Rakim’s studio for years.
Shock G had spent over a decade effectively retired from recording new music. He released a sole solo album, Fear of a Mixed Planet (2004), which was overlooked at the time of its release. The final Digital Underground album, "..Cuz A D.U. Party Don't Stop!" (2008) was even more overlooked; I’d hazard to say that most D.U. fans aren’t aware of its existence.
Shock continued to tour with Digital Underground over the years. They may not have released much in the way of new material, but Shock had always touted the importance of taking the show on the road, both in terms of giving the fans what they wanted and providing employment for dozens of working musicians.
Sons of the P features the song “Heartbeat Props,” where Shock and crew spoke extensively on the importance of showing respect to the living for their accomplishments. A while before “Give people their flowers while they can still smell them” became a popular catchphrase, he was committed to the importance of honoring our legends while they are still walking the earth. I’d like to hope that we honored Shock G’s genius while he was still amongst the living. He earned more than enough props during his 57 years to cover multiple lifetimes. Few were as funky and even fewer were as creative as Shock G.
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