Digital Underground

Digital Underground was a hip-hop group from Oakland, California, formed in 1987 by producer and rapper Greg «Shock G» Jacobs, along with Jimi «Chopmaster J» Dright and Kenneth «Kenny-K» Waters. Steeped in P-Funk influences, the group sampled Parliament-Funkadelic heavily, becoming one of the defining acts of West Coast hip-hop's funk-driven sound and helping popularize the G-funk aesthetic that would shape the genre through the nineties.

The group broke through with «Doowutchyalike» in 1989, then achieved mainstream success with «The Humpty Dance» in 1990, built around Shock G's alter ego Humpty Hump, a fake-nose-and-glasses persona that became one of hip-hop's most recognizable comic characters. Their debut album «Sex Packets» combined party anthems with a loose sci-fi concept, and the group continued with releases like «Sons of the P» and «Body-Hat Syndrome».

Digital Underground is equally remembered as the group that launched Tupac Shakur, who joined as a dancer and roadie before becoming a rapper and eventually a solo star. The collective also spun off side projects including Raw Fusion and singer Mystic. Known for its loose, funky, party-oriented style set against the more hardcore West Coast rap of its era, the group toured internationally for two decades and remains a touchstone of Bay Area hip-hop history.