Measure proposes a day honoring Shock G

Influential rapper turned world on to 'Humpty Dance'

Will Oakland be celebrating an official Digital Underground Day on Aug. 25?

It definitely could happen, given that two Oakland City Council members — Carroll Fife and Loren Taylor — have introduced a resolution to honor the influential hip-hop troupe best known for giving the world “The Humpty Dance” and helping to launch the career of iconic rapper Tupac Shakur.

The purposed resolution would recognize Digital Underground’s Shock G — aka Gregory Edwards, who died in April at age 57 — “for his achievements and contributions to the global arts community, particularly in Oakland for bringing global attention to Oakland arts and entertainment.”

The council is scheduled to vote on the resolution July 20.

Formed in 1987, the Oakland outfit would feature a number of different members over the decade — including a young Shakur, who reportedly made his debut under the stage name 2Pac on the 1991 Digital Underground single “Same Song.” Many of those acts would go on to great careers after spending time under Shock G’s tutelage.

“Shock G continually helped to develop emerging musical talent, including now-legendary local artists such as Tupac Shakur, Raw Fusion (Money B and DJ Fuze), Saafir the Saucee Nomad, the Luniz, Mystic, Cleetis Mack, Pee Wee and many others,” Fife and Taylor note in the legislation.

Despite all the other talent in the mix, Shock G was the leader and mainstay of the group, delighting crowds with his wild outfits, great music and cool stage personas. The latter even are listed in the purposed legislation, referencing the characters “Humpty Hump, Edward Ellington Humphries III, MC Blowfish, Rackadelic, The Piano Man (and) Peanut Hakeem Anafu Washington.”

“Shock G showed great versatility as a bandleader, rapper, producer and musician, whether playing Classical piano over funk loops, sampling Stevie Wonder and Jimi Hendrix, or making ‘a dollar out of 15 cents,’ ” the legislation reads.

The group’s biggest success came with “The Humpty Dance,” which hailed from Digital Underground’s debut album, 1990’s “Sex Packets.”

The upbeat song — sung by Shock G in his Humpty Hump character — reached No. 1 on the rap charts and became one of the dominant hip-hop jams of the early ’90s.

Its popularity remained strong throughout the years and, in 2008, “The Humpty Dance” reportedly came in at No. 30 on the VH1 list of the 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop. It’s also one of the most sampled songs in hip-hop, having shown up on dozens upon dozens of other recordings, and the accompanying video for the song has been viewed over 28 million times on YouTube alone.

Besides “The Humpty Dance,” Shock G shone brightly on such songs as “Doowutchyalike,” “Underwater Rimes,” “The Way We Swing,” “Freaks of the Industry,” “No Nose Job,” “Oregano Flow,” “Wussup Wit’ the Luv,” “Same Song” and an all-star Bay Area remix of Luniz’s “I Got 5 On It.”

“Shock G’s creative vision and artistic brilliance was instrumental to Digital Underground’s success and an essential part of the historic legacy of Oakland hiphop, which has achieved national and global significance. August 25th shall henceforth be known as ‘Digital Underground Day’ in the City of Oakland, California, and Shock G shall be paid proper tribute on this day in 2021,” the proposed legislation reads.