Digital Underground

Formed in 1987 by Gregory “Shock G” Jacobs, Kenneth “Kenny-K” Waters, and Jimi “Chopmaster J” Dright, Digital Underground grew out of the Oakland and Berkeley underground with a sound that treated 1970s funk as sacred text. Sampling heavily from that era, the group wore its Parliament-Funkadelic influence openly — even down to Shock G’s cartoon-laced album art under the name Rackadelic. Their 1989 single “Doowutchyalike” established a following, but it was 1990’s “The Humpty Dance” that turned them into a pop-culture force, complete with Shock G’s absurdist alter ego.

The group did more than party-rap. Through side projects and guest appearances, they nurtured careers of members, most famously Tupac Shakur, and helped keep funk-bass rap viable at a moment when the West Coast sound was hardening. Shock G and Money-B appeared on every album; DJ Fuze and Jeremy “J-Beats” Jackson anchored the production depth. The band toured globally until 2008, and after Shock G’s death in 2021, the remaining lineup kept the legacy alive on the road. The 2025 inclusion on a Yardbarker list of underrated 1990s acts suggests new ears are still finding the catalogue — at a time when the group’s playful, sample-rich style reads as anything but dated.

Discography

• Sex Packets (1990)
• Sons of the P (1991)
• This is an E.P. Release (1991)
• The Body-Hat Syndrome (1993)
• Walk Real Kool (1996)
• Who Got The Gravy? (1998)