RIP Shock G // Makaveli
Thursday evening, the world was met with awful news that Shock G had passed away in his hometown of Tampa Bay, Florida. For those that don’t know, Shock G was the person that introduced 2pac Shakur to the world. It’s so serious on the west coast, that in Oakland, their names are synonymous with each other. The inventor of Digital Underground gained fame in the late 80s, beginning in the Bay Area.
That started with the hit-track, “Doowutchyalike,” that introduced them to the masses. While already having local tracks and momentum under their blet; they gained lifetime fans with “The Humpty Dance” months later. The track is a northern California all-time classic, which we’ll put up there with the likes of Metallica. Now, with them having a run during that time, 2pac joined the crew in 1991; as they had an appearance in the motion picture, Nothing but Trouble.
However, it wasn’t until “Same Song” released, where the world was formally introduced to 2pac. This was Pac’s first look in the game and happened on the strength of Shock G. He essentially started the career of 2pac. Now, with Pac having his own issues with music companies, he was searching for the one record to help him crossover with the ladies in mainstream. He had been pleading with Shock G for years about this, when he stumbled on the creation of “I Get Around.”
After Shock G produced that track, the music career of 2pac took off and he was made in the game. So, with Shock G being a legend in his own right, being from the east coast and learning game from place that creates it, The Bay Area; he’s instrumental in an entire generation of rappers that followed 2pac. Without Shock G, there’s no 2pac. Without 2pac, there’s likely not a lot of your favorite rappers today (salutes to TDE).
RIP Shock G.
Disclaimer: Every track heard below is produced by Shock G. Learn game on classics.