Digital Underground founder Shock G. was lead to rest today (May 1st), in his hometown of Tampa, Florida.
Funeral services for the late rapper/musician were held at the Allen Temple A.M.E. Church.
A variety of hymns, along with secular music were sung throughout the service by the Tampa Mass Choir, who belted out a tear-jerking rendition of Stevie Wonder’s timeless song “As (I’ll Be Loving You Always).”
Notables like Public Enemy’s Chuck D., Yo Yo, The Luniz, DJ Premier, Big Daddy Kane, Sway, Rob Base, MC Serch, Busta Rhymes, Jermaine Dupri, Cee Lo Green, and of course, Digital Underground founders Chopmaster J and Money B were in attendance or streamed into the funeral service to pay their final respect to Shock G.
“What I’m going to miss the most about Shock.G. was talking to him. He was the type of person, he gave me his full attention when he talked to you. He always looked at you directly in the eyes and would get really close to you. He was very animated, he was very passionate. He’d put his arms around me and we’d have deep conversations. He made me feel seen and loved.” – YoYo.
Big Daddy Kane recalled touring with Digital Underground during his Chocolate City Tour, and the fun he had being on the road with the group who created hits like “The Humpty Dance,” “Dowhatchalike,” “Kiss You Back” and the classic, “Same Song,” which introduced the world to Tupac Shakur.
“[They would] come around with their water guns, shooting us with super soakers and whatnot…and then on any given night you’d come downstairs around 1:00, 2:00 a.m. seeing Shock G. just sitting there at the piano in the lobby, getting it on just playing and whatnot. Man, it was beautiful times and I’m glad that I was able to have time to spend with you brother, rest well.”- Big Daddy Kane
DJ Premier offered up some words and revealed Shock G. had been consistently been sending him music as recently January 29th of 2021.
“I need to say how great you are and how great you’ve made things for just our souls to be touched, from Digital Underground to just playing the two characters of Humpty Hump and just being Shock G. You’ve always been deep. I feel like I’m a deep person so I could totally relate…we’re gonna miss you but we’re gonna hold it down for you. We’ll see when we get there all right Shock G?” – DJ Premier
The funeral for Shock G. comes a week after he was found dead in a Tampa, Florida hotel room. Employees found Shock unresponsive after he failed to check out.
According to the police, Shock was battling with substance abuse in the months before his passing.
In February, two Tampa cops encountered him after a complaint regarding a domestic disturbance at the Sheraton Tampa Riverwalk hotel. The police found the 57-year-old outside of a popular watering hole a few streets away and arrested him. Afterwards, they put him in protective custody.
The “Humpty Hump” rapper, whose real name is Greg Jacobs, strange behavior was connected to him drinking and ingesting his substance of choice: methamphetamine.
One police officer said, “I believed that without treatment, Gregory would get himself hurt. He was unable to determine for himself if medical treatment was necessary.”
They decided to detain Shock G. under the Marchman Act that allows police to take a person to a hospital to be evaluated for their own safety for substance abuse.
A few weeks later, according to a Hillsborough County Medical Examiner, Shock G. was found dead at the Vista Inn and Suites on E Bearss Avenue in Tampa.
His cause of death will not be released until a formal autopsy report and toxicology results are in.
Shock G’s life is not unlike so many gifted artists that are so filled with genius that their only escape or sanctuary is to indulge in narcotics. Regardless of how he passed, Shock G. will always be a titan in Hip-Hop culture.
“People talk about him as a great musician, a great artist or whatever, but he was 10 times the human. He wanted everyone around him to be comfortable and happy, in spite of what made him happy,” Money B. said.