Digital Underground were one of the early 1990s' most pleasant surprises. The Bay Area-based collective crashed through the gates with Sex Packets (1990), their debut album. They were the life of hip-hop's party, wilding out on record and on stage. They released such upbeat anthems as "Doowutchyalike" and the certified platinum single "The Humpty Dance." As I've written about before, they successfully channeled the spirit of George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic like few groups before or since.
It's easy to forget that underneath the sheer insanity and inventiveness of Parliament-Funkadelic's music, there was a revolutionary spirit. Their message wasn't just "dance," but "dance your way out of your constrictions." Music was a means to spiritual awakening. The same can be said for the music of Digital Underground, and these sentiments run strong on the group's sophomore album, Sons of the P, released 30 years ago.
Led by the late Greg "Shock G" Jacobs, the group's resident visionary and (tragically now deceased) musical genius, Digital Underground position themselves on their sophomore LP as the heirs to Clinton's empire, dedicated to spreading the gospel of the funk, while elevating the population to a higher level.
Sons of the P feels like Digital Underground's most overtly Parliament-Funkadelic influenced album, in terms of sound, subject matter, and overall approach. The Parliament-Funkadelic mythology is even baked into the album itself. Cartoons in the liner notes depict Shock G and crew as essentially the Children of Production that Clinton describes on Parliament's The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein (1976), released almost exactly 15 years earlier.
Overall, Digital Underground expanded its artistic repertoire with Sons of the P. Many, including their own record label, expected them to make the same type of songs over and over again. It was such a persistent request that the group made light of it with the single "The Same Song" from their This Is an EP Release,which came out earlier in 1991. Digital Underground may have used similar P-Funk building blocks and sample sources to construct their musical backdrops, but Sons of the P reflects the group's artistic growth. Like many great Parliament-Funkadelic albums, the project showcases both the group's humor and their ability to dig deeper psychologically.
Much of the album's authentic P-Funk sound this time out had to do with the presence of Starchild/Dr. Funkenstein himself, as Clinton worked with the group in the studio. In an interview with Vibe, Shock G described their wild, drug-fueled studio sessions, noting that Clinton came to the studio "looking like a vagrant homeless person that crawled out from under a bridge," armed with a seemingly never-ending supply of cocaine. Despite the massive amounts of drugs consumed, Shock stated that Clinton was amazing in the studio, able to learn songs perfectly after just hearing them once and then perform them flawlessly.
Sons of the P features a broader range of talent behind the mic in general. The central players on Sex Packets were Shock G, his alter-ego Humpty Hump, and Money B. For their sophomore album, many more emcees contribute to the material. The collective's sheer size makes Sons of the P sound like a giant posse cut at times. Meanwhile, Money B has a much more reduced role on this album, presumably because he was in the midst of recording music for his own group/side project with DJ Fuze, Raw Fusion.
The album begins with "The DFLO Shuttle," one of the first concepts that Digital Underground explore on the album. According to the album's liner notes, the Dolio-Flo shuttle serves as the sole connection between the Earth's surface and the group's underground recording studio. On the track itself, Shock G and crew members Pee Wee and 2Pac envision the shuttle as their means to escape poverty and the crime-ridden streets of their upbringing, in order to reach a better place.
Earlier in 1991, 2Pac had entered the scene with an 8-bar verse on "Same Song." His verse here is even better, setting the stage for his future emotionally evocative performances. "Waiting on the train, can't hang with the street gangs," he raps. "Making me insane, putting rain on my whole brain / But the train means change to better thangs / Can't live with the negative and ghetto pains."
"Kiss You Back," the album's first single is an upbeat romp. It's a joyous track the features just as much (if not more) singing than rapping, complete with call-and-response refrains, as the members of the group pursue the objects of their affection. Shock expertly flips a sample of Funkadelic's "Not Just Knee Deep," complementing it with additional keyboards and various effects.
"Kiss You Back" had to go through some record label-mandated edits before it was accepted by Tommy Boy. Specifically, they wanted Digital Underground to feature Humpty Hump on the track. Tommy Boy wanted a repeat of the success that "The Humpty Dance" brought the group. In the label's eyes, the song's success meant Humpty Hump should be at least prominently featured on all the group's singles, if not the lead voice.
Humpty makes a brief appearance towards the end of "Kiss You Back," singing a few off-color limericks. However, he's very much the star of the show on "No Nose Job," the album's second single. Whereas "The Humpty Dance" was an extended vamp, E. Ellington Humphrey has a lot on his mind with "No Nose Job."
Musically, the song seems like the ideal background for another wacky Humpty Hump misadventure, as the beat features samples from Parliament's "Aqua Boogie" and weird, winding horns, keyboards, and distorted scratches. The song's concept is even more grounded than the title suggests. Though Humpty makes his sense of humor central to his performance, the track deals with body-shaming, colorism, and feelings of self-worth. With his two verses, Humpty Hump speaks out against the cosmetic and plastic surgery industry, decrying any "fake hair contact wearing liposuction carnival exhibit" who represents a plasticized ideal of the human body. Humpty steadfastly refuses to conform to standards of conventional beauty and encourages others to be comfortable with their own appearance.
"Heartbeat Props" tackles serious subject matter in a more straight-ahead fashion. Three decades later, the idea of "giving people their flowers while they can still smell them" has almost become passe. But on Sons of the P, Shock G and Digital Underground unleash an over seven-minutes-long dedication to living Black leaders and activists who work to advance the community.
Over a sample of Funkadelic's "Freak of the Week," Shock G (with Humpty Hump on back-up vocals) encourages the youth to not only celebrate the accomplishments of their fallen leaders, but also show love to those still breathing. "I see you posing with the Dr King hanging on your wall," Shock raps. "Only difference is Chuck [D] might give you that call to march on Friday."
Shock is joined by Pee Wee and Big Money Odis, who made up the DU off-shoot Gold Money. The two talk about their (at the time) living role models like Muhammad Ali, Beverly Johnson, and their own parents. The song ends with a lengthy roll call of living saints of the times. In the 30 years since, some of those shouted out are no longer amongst the living (Stokely Carmichael, Gil Scott-Heron, Dick Gregory), while others have lost just about all of their luster (Bill Cosby).
"Tales of the Funky" is an overt dedication to the power of Parliament-Funkadelic. The track is fronted by Shorty B, best known as a frequent collaborator with Too $hort, but who was also a member of Digital Underground for about a year-and-a-half. According to Shorty B, he wrote and recorded much of the song independently for his own use. After hearing the song, Shock insisted it appear on Sons of the P. Shock and Humpty Hump add their own adlibs and backing vocals to the track, which serves as a love letter to P-Funk. Shorty B name-checks Parliament-Funkadelic lyrics, song and album titles, and band members with nearly every line.
Clinton joins the group on the album's title track, a nine-minute musical undertaking. The track is structured like a vintage Parliament-Funkadelic epic, featuring very few raps, and relying more heavily on spoken words and sung vocals. The song is a fever dream of sorts, as it incorporates bits of samples from recognizable breaks, mixed in with live piano and synthesizers.
The message of the track is similar to "DFLO Shuttle," in that the group advocates that listeners let the funk take their souls to a higher spiritual place. Shock G and Clinton sing to the power of their music, touting its ability to heal bodies and minds. "The things we bring will scatter sunshine in those times of rain," the group and Clinton sing. "So, enter near and have no fear, and we'll set free the pain." The song is as close to an official symbol of Clinton passing the torch to Shock G and Digital Underground as we ever got.
"Family of the Underground" features the rapping talents of DU's extensive roster. The nearly six-minute posse cut features close to a dozen different emcees, none of which had appeared earlier on Sons of the P, aptly rhyming over a sample of Sly & the Family Stone's "Family Affair." Truthfully, very few of those featured on the song were ever heard from again, but you can hear Shock G's ear for talent throughout the song. The track features the introduction of Big Stretch, who was a skilled rapper and producer, and member of the Live Squad, an offshoot of Digital Underground who recorded an unreleased album for Tommy Boy. Sadly, he was tragically murdered in the mid-1990s.
Digital Underground continue to showcase their storytelling skills on Sons of the P. "Flowin' on the D-Line" is one of the album's below-the-radar highlights, as Shock G relates a tale of his messy but ultimately fruitful interactions with an attractive woman on either a BART train or possibly the DFLO Shuttle itself. Shock also displays his ability to twist and bend syllables throughout the track, demonstrating how underrated he is as a verbal technician. The track notably ends with a masterful display of skills on the two turntables by Jay Z (not that one), who also worked with the collective as a DJ.
Sons of the P ends with "Good Thing That We're Rappin'" the most hilariously straight-faced song I've ever heard. That track plays like a sly "fuck you" to Tommy Boy and their obsession with Humpty Hump. I would not have expected Shock to have decided to acquiesce to Tommy Boy's demands of "Do it again, but with more Humpty Hump" by recording a nearly thirteen-minute, completely unironic, intricately detailed recounting of Humpty's origin story rooted in his particularly rough-and-tumble past as a pimp.
2Pac famously begins by warning listeners, "Alright parents, go head tuck the kids in, PG time is over. This goes out to all the macks in the industry." What follows is an in-depth window into the pimping game of the late 1970s and 1980s led by "Smooth Eddie." The song provides lessons on the dynamics of the mack game told in the impenetrable slang that goes with it. I have no idea if Humpty Hump/Shock G was ever a pimp or not, but he sure knows how to talk the talk. I, for one, was happy to learn the terms "leaking" and "snotty-nosed." As a whole, the song serves as one of the most brilliant "twist endings" on a hip-hop album ever.
Sadly, Digital Underground was hit with some serious adversity just days after Sons of the P was released. The massive Oakland Hills firestorm erupted less than a week later, killing 25, injuring hundreds, and destroying thousands of homes. One of the homes ruined was owned by Shock G. The blaze incinerated most of his possessions, including his distinctive outfits, his record collections, and many of the group's master recordings, both released and unreleased. Besides throwing Shock's life into chaos, it also sidelined the group's future plans.
"We never got to hear the Digital Underground that we were supposed to hear," Shorty B said in a later interview.
But like a disciple of Clinton, Shock G adapted and two years later, put together the group's third album, The Body-Hat Syndrome (1993). It was as different from Sons of the P as Sons of the P was to Sex Packets. And it very much channeled the spirt of Parliament-Funkadelic in its unique way. Shock G knew how to reinvent himself while still keeping his fans happy. So, go ahead and give that man his heartbeat props.
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