Digital Underground

The Oakland-based rap outfit Digital Underground owed as much to its hip-hop forebears as it did to the psychedelic funk of groups such as Parliament Funkadelic. Led by Greg "Shock G" Jacobs and his Humpty Hump alter ego, the group loosely formed in 1987 and offered a more playful spin on hip-hop than some of the militant forms of the genre being made by the likes of Public Enemy at the time. Sex Packets, Digital Underground's 1990 debut LP, quickly launched it into the national spotlight with the release of the singles "Doowutchyalike" and "The Humpty Dance," with the latter reaching #11 on the pop charts. The group's sexual lyrics, tongue-in-cheek delivery and screwball sense of humor combined well with the psychedelic funk and jazz grooves provided by DJ Fuze, all of which added up to platinum sales and an indelible mark on West Coast hip-hop.