‘Humpty Dance’ never ends for Shock G

February 13, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

The late ’80s hip-hop scene produced many bellwethers of the ’90s. While Dr. Dre and company were getting serious in Los Angeles with groundbreaking gangsta rap act N.W.A., up the California coast the Digital Underground was getting stupid with its hit track “The Humpty Dance.”

Leading the latter act was Greg “Shock G” Jacobs, who went on to produce Digital Underground member Tupac Shakur’s earlier albums.

Today, Jacobs remains in the rap game, albeit with less fanfare than two decades ago. He’s currently touring with the Shock G3 trio that includes Peewee and DJ Fuse. All three performers were the producers behind Shakur’s 1991 solo debut, “2Pacalypse Now.’

The threesome rolls into the area Saturday for a show at Biketown Harley-Davidson in Austintown. Audiences can expect to hear everything from Digital Underground tunes and solo efforts to Prince and Wu-Tang Clan.

It turns out Jacobs has quite a love affair with the Buckeye State.

“What’s bringing me there is a love for Bootsie Collins,” said Jacobs, calling from Texas. “What’s bringing us there is respect and honor for Walter ‘Junie’ Morrison, former keyboard player for Ohio Players and former vocalist-keyboardist for Funkadelic. He laid the ‘Funky Worm’ for the Ohio Players. He’s crazy all over that song.

“Then about three years later he laid ‘[Not Just] Knee Deep’ for George Clinton and Funkadelic.”

It turns out Jacobs has an encyclopedia-like mind when it comes to the legendary ’70s funk outfits. Speaking of Morrison, Jacob said his sound not only influenced Digital Underground but also Shakur’s song “I Get Around.” In fact, Jacobs said he played bass Morrison style on the 1993 gold-selling single.

While Jacobs’ affiliation with Shakur may be largely unknown or forgotten, there’s no doubt “The Humpty Dance” has earned the status of a ’90s tune that won’t go away. Many folks remember the video featuring Jacobs wearing his trademark Groucho Marx mustache and glasses.

Early on, Jacobs said the act knew it had something special with the fun tune, which hit No. 11 on the pop charts in the spring of 1990. In fact, it was six months prior when Tommy Boy Records called Jacobs to say the album was a go. Naturally, that was a special moment, but for the singer it was even more surreal considering George Clinton happened to be at the record label that day. The funk legend told Jacobs over the phone that he loved “The Humpty Dance.”

“When we went to shoot video in October 1989, the earthquake hit [San Francisco] and George couldn’t fly in,” Jacobs said. “That kept P-Funk from being in the video. Later, the song was at radio when we got off the plane back from Europe, and people were recognizing us. That was weird. I left the United States as a frog and came back as a prince.”

Today, “The Humpty Dance” keeps giving back to Jacobs. Not only does it remain popular, but it also inspires contemporary hip-hop acts.

“It’s the most sampled song in hip-hop,” Jacobs said. “Not the most sampled in the world, but as far as a song made by a rapper, ‘The Humpty Dance’ has the most, with almost 60 artists sampling it. And that tells me mo money, mo money. I own the publishing on that.”