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Digital Undergound – Humpty Dance

Digital Undergound – Humpty Dance
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“The Humpty Dance” is a 1990 hip hop song by Digital Underground, which was featured on their debut album Sex Packets. The single climbed all the way to #11 on the pop charts, #7 on the R&B charts, and #1 on the Billboard Rap Singles chart. The single is sung by Shock G’s alter ego, “Humpty Hump”, marking the character’s second musical appearance; the first being Digital Underground’s “Doowutchyalike,” a pre-album video-single released in the spring of 1989. The Humpty Dance features a hypnotically-pulsating bassline and a particularly potent drumtrack that has been sampled by many different artists and producers. (see list below) In the song’s video, a young Tupac Shakur is visible in the background.

In 2008, “The Humpty Dance” was ranked number 30 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop and number 65 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s in 2007. The song was selected as one of many songs to hear and download in the musical reference book, 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die: And 10,001 You Must Download. The song was nominated for Best Rap Video at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards, but lost to “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer. Canadian television channel MuchMoreMusic’s series Back In… rated the song’s video as one of the worst of 1990.