Digital Underground
Sex Packets
»
Digital Underground
Sex Packets
Tommy Boy, 1990
RiYL: George Clinton, Parliament, Too $hort, 2Pac, The Pharcyde |
On the band's 1990 debut Sex Packets, it even sounds like the members had made it their mission to pick up where Clinton left off. The album is crammed with thunderous beats, quick-witted and smart-alecky lyrics, and a bass that threatens to shatter even the most Herculean of woofers. Shock-G (Greg Jacobs) and Co. bring about a sonic spectacle that is the hip-hop equivalent to Parliament/Funkadelic, but not solely through heavy sampling. This Oakland-based crew throws in adventurous quantities of psychedelic guitar licks and charismatic jazz, creating a mix with a clear funk influence, but skillful inventiveness.
Similarities even stretch further than just the sound, Shock-G and other members were known to adopt bizarre personas and alter-egos onstage and on record. Check "The Humpty Dance," the first track and the group's biggest single to date. Proudly sporting a mammoth schnozz and a voice that sounds like he suffers from severe sinus congestion, Humpty flips the most nonsensical of rhymes ("Crazy wack, funky / People say you look like M.C. Hammer on crack, Humpty") over a swelling bass line. With memorable lines like "I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom," the track sets the tone for the rest of the album -- good, not-so-clean fun.
What's even more impressive is "The Humpty Dance" doesn't nearly showcase the group at its most eccentric. The intoxicating "Underwater Rimes," (A possible sequel to "Aqua Boogie"?) is hilarious account of maritime hip-hop, as Shock-G rhymes, "A blowfish blew my mind and started to rhyme / As an octopus cut nine records at a time," and the "deep-sea gangsta-underwater pranksta" MC Blowfish takes an amusing turn on the mic.
"Doowutchyalike," a 9-minute opus and party anthem for the ages, demonstrates a rarely seen side of hip-hop - concerned entirely with having fun. Shock-G and Humpty trade off upbeat rhymes ("Rich, poor, high, low, upper-middle class / Let's all get together and have a few laughs / And do what we like"), creating a tune still capable of transforming a party from painfully dull to out-of-hand in a matter of seconds.
But don't pass the album off as sheer novelty. Further verbal command and rhythmic expertise are apparent on cuts like the sedate "The Way We Swing" (based on the riff from Hendrix's "Who Knows") and the racy "Freaks Of The Industry," while the ills of substance abuse are graphically explored on "The Danger Zone," showing the Underground are equally capable of depicting grim realities.
The funk influence on the record is as prominent as Humpty's nose, but on Sex Packets, it provides the record with its quick-witted appeal. Digital Underground transformed their reverence for George Clinton into a boisterous blend of bass, beats, and witty rhymes that would make Dr. Funkenstein proudly declare the Digital Underground the rightful heirs to the Mothership.
DAVE VRABEL |