He has passed away. I believe he was 57, from what I'm hearing.

Edit: Some notes from TMZ:

Shock G, famous for Digital Underground's hit song "The Humpty Dance" and his work with Tupac Shakur, is dead.

The rap legend was found dead Thursday in a hotel room in Tampa ... according to his father, Edward Racker.

We're told the cause of death is unclear but there were no signs of trauma. Shock's father says authorities will conduct and autopsy.

Shock G was the lead singer for the pioneering hip hop group Digital Underground, and he gets into character as his alter ego, "Humpty Hump," for the group's famous 1989 song and dance.

He also remixed "Lovesign" for and Nona Gaye.

[Edited 4/22/21 18:55pm]

jfenster said:

2 people die and the reason is not posted...

Two people? Who?

Shock's death is just breaking, so we don't know why yet.

TrivialPursuit said:

jfenster said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Two people? Who?

Shock's death is just breaking, so we don't know why yet.

Steinman wasnt revealed

I mean, they aren't required to do so. Sometimes it's just time to go.

Black Rob passed away too.

uPtoWnNY said:

Black Rob passed away too.

So did Les McKeown, the lead singer of Bay City Rollers

RIP shock g.

one of the hip hop artists who really understood and represented funk ideals in a way other more famous funk sampling guys in rap like dr dre didnt.

just a great, fun, and really talented artist.

shame he didnt work more with prince.

Another one that hurts. Sex Packets was MY JOINT in high school- hellvua album that, as someone else posted, seemed to have a deep-seeded appreciation for the funk that it sampled. 1st time I ever heard someone sample Jimi Hendrix (The Way We Swing). Rest In Power.

*

Yo Piano Man- play howyalike...

The Body Hat Syndrome is an overlooked classic. DU had so much good music and concept. That music was alot deeper than most blow it off as. Shock G was a lyrical genius. True unsung hero of hip hop.

Only rap gig I ever attended and they jammed. Brought that fonk.

[Edited 4/23/21 13:06pm]

[Edited 4/23/21 13:07pm]

mrwiggles said:

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shock G, who blended whimsical wordplay with reverence for ’70s funk as leader of the off-kilter Bay Area hip-hop group Digital Underground, has died. He was 57.

Nzazi Malonga, a longtime friend who served as head of security and helped manage the group, said the rapper-producer was found unresponsive Thursday in a hotel room in Tampa, Florida. Malonga said the performer, born Greg Jacobs, had struggled with drug addiction for years.

The group found fame with the Billboard Top 10 hit “Humpty Dance” in 1990, as Jacobs donned a Groucho Marx-style fake nose and glasses to become one of his many alter egos, Humpty Hump. He initially maintained the flamboyant Humpty was a separate person, doing in-character interviews and sometimes having his brother Kent Racker play the part.

“Same Song” a year later served as 2Pac’s introduction to music fans, with Shock G handing the baton to the future megastar, who had been working as a roadie for Digital Underground: “2Pac, go ’head and rock this.”

Jacobs was an introverted “technical wizard” adept at arranging samples who played keyboards and drums, said Digital Underground co-founder Jimi Dright, known as Chopmaster J. Dright met his future bandmate while buying equipment at a music store in San Leandro, California, where Jacobs was working.

Big Boi, Chuck D, Snoop Dogg and Busta Rhymes were among those posting online tributes to Jacobs, with many expressing pain after the deaths earlier in the month of rappers DMX and Black Rob. “Our brother Shock G was a GIANT. There’s not one aspect of what we do musically that this man has not influenced,” wrote Talib Kweli.

“The Humpty Dance” invited an audience of awkward youth into hip-hop with its embrace of misfits and outcasts. “Stop whatcha doin’ / ’Cause I’m about to ruin / The image and the style that ya used to,” Shock G rapped with lighthearted bravado. “I’m crazy / Allow me to amaze thee / They say I’m ugly but it just don’t faze me.”

”‘The Humpty Dance’ spoke to all the people that were like him — the fat people, the unattractive people. If you moved like him, you could be whatever you want,” said Malonga.

The group’s platinum-selling debut album “Sex Packets” was titled after an imagined “sex in a pill” product product that Dright said was a response to the AIDS crisis. It was followed by the gold-selling “This is an EP Release” and “Sons of the P.”

Jacobs, whose partner-in-rhyme was the smooth-voiced Money-B, was most comfortable performing in disguise and often struggled privately with the spotlight. “He got to be the star of a production that we had assembled and it ate him up. He didn’t want to be that guy,” Dright said.

Malonga said Jacobs had lived with him in the Los Angeles area for several years to get sober in the early 2000s, but had relapsed and been recently living with family in Florida. He gave away much of his wealth and worked on many unfinished side projects, struggling to find validation from those around him.

“He had hundreds of things he could create. He could draw, he could write music, play piano, he could score things, he could write stories and scripts,” Malonga said. “But unless someone was telling him he was OK, he would never present that.”

“I was very disappointed that he didn’t really see his own talent,” he added. “He was far more humble and insecure than people thought.”

Shock G of Digital Underground Explains Why Saafir is Bound to a Wheelchair

28 Votes

Last year, a close friend asked me “Why is Saafir in a wheelchair?” and with a sigh, all I could muster was “It’s complicated” because it really is. Months later, he asked me a 3rd time, so I shot him this email below:

Saafir’s sitch is the gradual result of a series of events..

Here’s a ruff timeline:

1992:

Survived TWA plane crash at JFK scheduled for Frisco. Engine blew during take-off, skidded-out sidewayz off the runway, came to a stop, and after a few seconds, burst into flames:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...Flight_843

Saafir was the first one off, but he jumped before the slide fully inflated and wound up jolting his lower back as his feet hit the ground beneath the thin material. It was a Boeing DC-10, so it was hella high-up (..like jumping from a 3rd floor apt balcony).

Afterwards he refused hospital assistance (“I’m aight”) ..in a hurry ta catch the next plane back to the bay.

Saafir

1994:

At a d.u. photo shoot in Jack London Square (oakland) for Rappages mag, showing-out for the writer & photographer, he jumped onto the metal steps of a moving train that was goin faster than he anticipated. So when he jumped back off 2 blocks further, he hit the street with a snap, causing him to run violently faster than humanly possible for the first few steps to keep from scrubbing on camera, ha. He pulled it off, but it looked craaazy, and for the rest of that day he kept holdin his lower back and whispering “Damn, I think I fucked my back off again blood”.

1994 thru 1999:

He popped hella ecstasy without drinking the required water to protect the spine from dehydration.

2000:

While on Up in Smoke Tour w/Xzibit, horseplayin around backstage he hurt it again while kickboxin wit da homies. He could barely stand up from the pain. So Nzazi Muhammed (Digital Underground’s fitness & witch doctor) came & met him backstage, gave’m acupuncture & some massage therapy which immediately got him movin around again. This became one of Saafir’s classic stories, how Z made him lay on the concrete and had him screamin in pain right in front of Dr.Dre, Ras Kass and everyone while he worked on him, and how he jumped up afterwards in disbelief, and with a huge teary-eyed smile told Z, “Damn blood, u really fixed my back!! For the first time in 5-years the pain is gone!! Wow man, thanku man, thanku!!!”

2000 to 06:

Does two more Up in Smoke tours w/Xibit.

Back pain gradually returns & increases over the years, resulting in several doc visits & consultations.

2007:

His first spinal operation for “cartilage deterioration” and “nerve damage” on a few specific vertebrae. Afterwards, against doctors’ advice to “take it easy and stay off your feet while you heal”, he continued to do shows & hustle in the street.

07 thru 09:

Music biz real slow, so to pay his rent he starts grindin his prescription back-pain meds (oxys & roxys, high $treet demand) while he breathes thru the pain “like a soldier”.

Meanwhile, in addition to back pain, his right leg gradually begins to go numb from the toes upward, until he has to walk (and perform) with a cane:

http://www.g4tv.com/thefe...01-saafir/

Early 2011:

Numbness reaches his knee on right leg, left leg first signs of numbness in the foot. After several doc visits & diagnosis’s, still no solid explanation or solution. “Scar tissue around his lower spine is swelling and pressing against the nerves that control the legs” is the general assessment.

Late 2011:

Can’t walk at all on his own anymore, begins using a wheelchair. Loses his own place, and hasta move in with an ex-gf who he doesn’t get along with but was the only place he could go. They barely get along, the scene is usually tense. Meanwhile, his X & molly abuse continues, and without ever drinking water (their nightly ritual is to x-out before they fuck and crash-out). He continues to ride-out the pain (“Blood, I’ma soldier”) while flippin his pain meds for cash.

Also worth a mention, and since ever, Saafir is a sugar junkie (skittles & soda), only eats junk food, and has been chaining Newports since the early 90s. He recently told me he hasn’t eaten a vegetable in over 10 years, and most of his meals come from either the Arco Mini-market, 7-Eleven, or the Wendy’s nearby their deep-east oakland apartment.

Feb 2012:

He reveals to Money-B his sitch, which spreads thru the crew & shocks all of us. None of us had any idea, and we’re all hurt & pissed that he waited this long before he told anybody.

March 2012:

I go visit him, our first in-person meeting in over 10-years. His apartment is small, dark, cluttered & filthy. Cig butts fill every ashtray, empty soda bottles & fast-food cups everywhere. When our eyes met, it took all my strength to push down the urge to cry, and we met w/big smiles & hugs. But later when I was alone, I had ta pull the car over and dump tears for 10-minutes straight.

By now paralyzation had reached his hips, no feeling in either leg, can’t wiggle a toe or flex any leg muscles. It took us 2-hours to dress him and get him into the car, and then another 2 to get him situated in bed after our food & pharmacist run.

After the visit, I jump onboard full throttle in search of anyone who can help, any medical solution..

April 2012:

shock & Saafir

We zero in on the Laser Spine Institution in Scottsdale Arizona who propose a procedure with a 90% success rate. After reviewing his med records, requesting several new MRIs, and a slew of financial form clearances, they accept his case. We negotiate the appointment for late May, and began the surgery-prep processes at home.

May 26, 2012

I fly out with him as caretaker.

On day 2 of the 7-day process, after many tests, they apologetically announce they can’t help his situation. “Our type of procedure can’t treat his type of injury” was their only explanation, “We’re extremely sorry you traveled this far..” and they reimbursed us 15k of the 20 we spent to make it happen.

June 2, 2012

Saafir returned to his gloomy home situation in oakland devastated, exhausted & defeated. All of our hope was in that trip to AZ.

2012 to present:

Still searching for a doctor or a procedure that can help.

Still living off skittles, soda, chips and 7-Eleven burritos.

Still chain-smokin Newports

Still got them roxys fo’ya!

I remember going to buy the 'Sex Packets' album and wanted to get it on CD, but then checked the cassette.

It had more songs on it, so i bought that version instead

It was a huge part of the soundtrack to my senior year of high school.

R.I.P. Shock

PS: there's a Madhouse sample in there somewhere, but that's not why i got the album.

hardwork said:

mrwiggles said:

The Body Hat Syndrome is an overlooked classic. DU had so much good music and concept. That music was alot deeper than most blow it off as. Shock G was a lyrical genius. True unsung hero of hip hop.

Only rap gig I ever attended and they jammed. Brought that fonk.

[Edited 4/23/21 13:06pm]

[Edited 4/23/21 13:07pm]

This right here x 1000000000 “Do Ya Like It Dirty?” “Shake and Bake” “Doo Woo You” Not well known hit songs but this album was shock g’s genius completely unchained. “I got more funk in my left pinky toe I got more soul in my style than they will ever know I got more rhythm than I’ll ever need to show” Peace out Shock you were a real motherfucker. A down ass motherfucker for sure.

I cued up this album this morning and gave it a go in it's entirety for the first time in like, since the 1990s.

I was completely blown away. Nothing like it.

https://youtu.be/8KJztI5p9Dw

Shock knew he was going to die two months ago.

I don't know about anywhere else, but KDAY in Los Angeles in 1990 played the HELL out of a song called "The Piper" by a cat named MC Cheba, which is a great song and was extremely popular for a minute in the fall or so. It was sort of a rap fable/cautionary tale about the crack epidemic which was rampant at that time.

The interesting thing is that if you look at the 12" single credits, the FIRST writing credit for "The Piper" goes to "G. Jacobs" who of course is Shock G.

Go to YouTube and watch the video - this entire song sounds like it could have been written by Shock. If nothing else, then for sure the richly-developed characters and the interplay between them in the song give it away.

https://youtu.be/u-OEmg0bi7I

Have no idea what the story is with this song, how and when it was written and wound up being recorded by MC Cheba, and what was Shock's relationship with him, but this song was really reallly popular in L.A. in 1990 and I don't thing anyone knows that was Shock G behind it, at least to a significant extent.

[Edited 4/25/21 14:55pm]

[Edited 4/25/21 15:11pm]

[Edited 4/25/21 15:12pm]

Shock's funeral service will be available via streaming to the public:

Hope Humpty is still alive.

RIP Humpty Hump!

Digital Underground sampled a Madhouse 9 track on the b-side Hip Hop Doll.

Goddammed fentanyl again good grief.