So why is Digital Underground’s Sex Packets on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I once read an interview where Beck said he wished there were more bands like Digital Underground. Of course he didn’t mean exactly like Digital Underground – it’s impossible to replicate these Bay Area hip hop legends.
What he meant were artists pushing the envelope with creativity, experimentation, and in the DU’s case, a goofy and inventive sense of fun.
Sex Packets landed at a very specific pivot point in hip hop – between Public Enemy’s militant edge and Dr. Dre’s about-to-combust G-funk era. Digital Underground staked out a third and wildly original lane: P-Funk-fueled, goofy, party rap that still had real musical chops (and gave 2Pac his start!).
Sex Packets might also be the funniest and most party-oriented hip hop album ever produced, and Exhibit A is “The Humpty Dance.”
I never figured out the deal – as in the fake nose, the nasal delivery, and what have you – with Humpty Hump a.k.a. Shock G a.k.a. Gregory Edward Jacobs, and honestly, it doesn’t matter one bit. “The Humpty Dance” is ridiculously fun and ridiculously groovy and funky hip hop in equal measure. It manages to be a song that creates its own dance (helpfully called out in the title), and packs in a ton of comedy along route. Among my all time favorites:
I’m a freak, I like the girls with the boom
I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom
And just to emphasize how not seriously Humpty Hump takes the proceedings (while encouraging us thoroughly to do likewise), another crusher:
I get stupid, I shoot an arrow like Cupid
I’ll use a word that don’t mean nothing, like looptid
“Doowutchyalike” isn’t quite as memorable as “The Humpty Dance,” yet possesses many of the same qualities while amping up the beat and funk factor even higher. Super danceable, super hilarious.
Homegirls, for once, forget you got class
See a guy you like, just grab ‘em in the biscuits*
* “The biscuits” may or may not be a term that has lasted to this day in my household.
“The Way We Swing” slows things way down with a deeply funky, bluesy guitar hook.
Peace and humpty-ness forever.
Personal stuff that’s somehow related to Digital Underground’s Sex Packets
I’ve talked a nice amount about living in Berkeley back when I first moved to California from my homeland of New York in the late ‘90s. All told, I lived in the Bay Area for about five years before moving on to SoCal.
Digital Underground hails from Oakland, a city that I lived in and worked in for stretches of time. I lived outside the bustle of the city, way up high in the Oakland Hills. There were parts of it that I enjoyed – including the only spell in my adult life (outside of being a Resident Advisor in college) when I lived in my own, and being really close to incredible, forest-y hiking trails.
That said, I enjoyed moving in with my then girlfriend, now wife, even more. Our final stint in the Bay Area was in the city of Richmond, which is its own tale for another day.
While in grad school at San Jose State, I not only had a hellacious commute to classes, but also managed to work 35 hours a week doing clerical work at a dusty law office in downtown Oakland. It was an odd gig but helped to pay some bills, and it was also an opportunity to get heavily into books on tape (this being the era before podcasts and Internet streaming).
I bought a bunch of really eclectic audio books on eBay for $1 apiece to keep my brain engaged. For example: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (better than I expected, though I had to rewind a bunch to keep track of the Russian names).
Anyway, I should add that I enjoyed living in and around Oakland on the whole. It has some great attractions, such as Lake Merritt and Jack London Square and the suburb of Rockridge.
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with Digital Underground’s Sex Packets
I googled “beck digital underground” in the hopes of digging up that interview, and instead stumbled upon a website that claims that Beck performed “The Humpty Dance” in “2 out of 681 shows.” A stunning factoid that I’m going to choose to believe.
Some stats & info about Digital Underground – Sex Packets
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rap, Hip Hop, Bay Area Hip Hop, Funky Hip Hop, Dance Music
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was Sex Packets released? 1990
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #493 out of 1,000
Digital Underground’s Sex Packets on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Digital Underground’s Sex Packets that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
The Humpty Dance is your chance to do the hump.
What’s the most interesting thing about Digital Underground’s Sex Packets that most people don’t know?
Sex Packets features the debut of Tupac Shakur, who was a member of Digital Underground at the time. He made his first recorded appearance on the track, “Same Song.”
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.