GOOD MORNING, my friends, and it’s STORY TIME WITH COSMO. Today I’m going to recollect and talk about the very first rap concert I ever attended (unchaperoned by an adult that is) and a show that blew my mind. I wanna talk about seeing DIGITAL UNDERGROUND live. A THREAD:

It was April of 1990 and me and my best friend Julio shored tickets to the Big Daddy Kane concert in West Philly at the Class of 23 ice skating rink and we were more than excited, both of us being huge fans of Kane of course.

Of course the entire lineup was fire and we were hyped to see everyone on the bill: Queen Latifah, who’s album “All Hail The Queen” was one that I could rap the entire lyrics front to back. 3rd Bass, who at the time were continuing the Def Jam sound.

And then there was Digital Underground. I didn’t know too much about this group except for the song that came out a few months earlier called “The Humpty Dance” - but this song I definitely knew. Matter of fact EVERYONE knew this song.

From the moment this song was released it was inescapable in Philly. That summer it was ALL. YOU. HEARD. coming from every corner of the city.

No matter where you went, you heard that bass BOOMING from every Suzuki Samurai or Oldsmobile 98 from blocks away - that “A doooo reeeeer doooo rit, A doooo reeeeer doooo rit” (copyright @mike2600) just filling the streets of Philly with that unmistakably unique low end rumble.

In Philly there wasn’t a song played in cars that much since Cool C’s “Glamorous Life” or Tuff Crew’s “My Part Of Town”. The Humpty Dance bass emanating from cars was ubiquitous.

But I didn’t know too much else about this mysterious group fronted by the enigmatic Humpty Hump, a dynamic rap clown-prince in a golden stylized Groucho Marx nose mask. All I knew was the song was FUN.

Julio and I rolled up to West Philly excited for this show and got in the long ass line that stretched forever west. As soon as we entered the line I noticed that we were standing behind these two freshly-dipped Puerto Rican brothers.

One of these guys was wearing the dopest denim jacket that had an incredible graffiti piece that was hand-painted on the back. For those who know, this was THE STYLE in Philly back in the day, especially for writers.

Being fledgling graffiti writers ourselves Julio and I were mesmerized by this jacket and as I read it I immediately recognized the name on the piece:

"KARAZ"

Now this I couldn’t believe. Was this THE Karaz? I mean this guy was already “hood famous” and was one of the illest graffiti writers in the city. Karaz and his crew ran North Philly and we wanted to be just like them.

From their home turf around 5th & Wyoming all through The Badlands they were up. But I had never met them and, as it goes in the graffiti game, your name on the wall is your fame that proceeds your myth citywide.

So I mustered up the courage to say something to the guy hoping that he didn’t think I was a herb or a vic of that I didn’t get clowned or rocked in the grill or get taken under… “Hey man, I really like your jacket”

Karaz turned around and was so happy and excited that I complimented him on his gear. He thanked me and said whattup and introduced himself to me and Julio and then introduced the guy he was standing with.

"CEE 67"

Holy shit this is THEE Cee 67? This dude was another graffiti legend. Also all city. Also a style master. Also a mythical royal of The Badlands and beyond. I couldn’t believe I was meeting these two kings.

As it turns out, as time went by and the years stretched out, I actually became friends with both of these guys. Karaz was a character that was larger than life and he had a massive influence on so much in Philly hip-hop all through the 90s and beyond.

In fact, the site OkayPlayer got its name directly from one of Karaz’s signature catchphrases “OKAY, PLAYER” which he would always say in affirmation to his homies. But that’s a whole other story for another time.

And for years after that until recently I’d see Karaz around town and we’d always give a hug and a pound and exchange numbers and said “Let’s get up” with sincerity but unfortunately we never did.

And then Eliu Nazario AKA El-K Lover AKA Karaz passed away in 2018. RIP Karaz.

And Cee 67 also remains a homie, and he went on to huge things, from being the Editor-In-Chief of The Source magazine to being one of the producers of the show Empire. My man continues to flourish - I see you @carlitomachete - salute!

BUT I DIGRESS - Let me get back to talking about this concert. But for the intents and purposes of this story I’m going to run time backwards and start from end with Kane. Now EVERYONE loved Kane and he was arguably at the top of his game at this point.

It’s A Big Daddy Thing was a smash and Kane had records for the streets, the clubs and for the ladies. Kane could do no wrong at that point. His set was so packed with hits that he actually had to break up his set into two parts.

The first set he did was a lot of the jams that were from his first album. Anthem after anthem of pure hip-hop fire. Kane had the audience in the palm of his hand as the entire crowd of thousands hung on to his every lyric.

And don’t get me started about when he dropped “Raw” which to this day is personally my go-to song when I’m doing any sort of rap karaoke (which happens never haha)

There was a brief interlude between his first and second sets and while Kane was backstage doing an outfit change (more on that in a minute) he had his man Positive K come out and do a short set.

This was before “I Got A Man” but Positive K came out and ripped “A Good Combination” and “Step Up Front” which was a HUGE record in Philly, as well as a perfectly timed freestyle that the crowd went nuts for.

When Kane came out for his second set, no lie was pushed out sitting in a hot tub on wheels, wearing nothing but swimming trunks, Bally sneakers and a gold rope chain. The girls in the crowd went APESHIT.

Let’s continue this rewind in time and talk about Queen Latifah - I was already a huge fan and at this point like I said before All Hail The Queen was one of my favorite rap albums (still is TBH)

When she was on stage in retrospect it’s now pretty evident that she had STAR POWER. Even now I can recollect that back then she exuded something different, and her success really isn’t a surprise.

Part Jersey-Representer, Part Native-Tongue Member, Part Divine-Feminine, Part Hardcore-Spitter, ALL QUEEN, true and living hip-hop royalty. And still TOP 10 MC in The Book Of Cosmo.

Latifah barreled through her catalog which was limited at the time with an intensity unmatched. And if I remember correctly her DJ was Mark The 45 King which is pretty cool.

Before Latifah was 3rd Bass whom I also loved and they did an excellent performance - and to me the highlight of their set was when they gave DJ Daddy Rich a moment to rip a ridiculous doubles routine on the turntables

(BUT I AM TALKING ABOUT DIGITAL UNDERGROUND IN THIS THREAD)

So whattup with Digital Underground? Why them? What makes this somewhat unknown group that went first one of the most memorable live experiences that I have ever had?

And that’s no bullshit - this performance by Digital Underground was easily one of the greatest and most memorable live rap experiences in my not-so short life. And that’s saying A LOT cause I’ve see a lot of rap shows in my day.

Perhaps it’s the fact that I had no expectation or that they were somewhat unknown to Philly rap fans but from the moment they came out they had everyone in the palm of their hands.

The level of energy onstage was unmatched. The costumes, the choreography, the dancers (not sure is 2Pac was with them at this point or not), and their clockwork timing with every single routine that they did.

It was like watching a funk circus more than a rap show. Money B (who’s from Philly) was killing it (and especially on Sex Packets he def reminds me of DU’s Phife to Humpty’s Tip in the way they interact). DJ Fuze was a monster behind the wheels too…

But of course, it was all about Shock G. It was plain to see that he was in control. This incredible funk spectacle that was happening in front of me was just the embodiment of his particular vision of what Sons Of The P were about. And they were serving up to Philly.

Meticulous breath control, endless energy, and enough charisma pouring out of him onstage you could power a small country’s energy grid if you could find a way to tap into it. This was SHOCK G’s show - and we were just living in it

They tore through Doowutchyalike as well as Packet Man, Freaks Of The Industry (both songs we were hearing for the first time mind you…) and maybe a few other cuts. But there was ONE THING that I will never forget.

At one point in the show they did a routine where they stopped the music and asked the audience to “guess the rapper” or something like that - it’s hard to explain and maybe you had to be there but I’ll never forget this routine.

They would be playing a song and doing a rhyme routine and then would switch up the music on some Cube “Jackin’ For Beats” kinda thing. At that point they did this incredibly cool thing

They had the HUGE cartoon caricature heads from other famous rappers and they would hold them up and Shock would do a verse from these other groups PERFECTLY. Same voice, same flow, same cadence. UNCANNY.

Shock held up a giant Eazy-E head and did “Easier Said Than Done”. Shock held up a giant Erick Sermon head and did EPMD “You’re A Customer”. Shock held up a giant MC Hammer head and did “They Put Me In The Mix” amongst a few more…

Which they eventually held up a GIANT HUMPTY HUMP face which allowed Shock to switch to his alter ego and perform The Humpty Dance as the grand finale of their set. TRUE GENIUS. PERFECTION. NOTHING LIKE IT.

I SWEAR I’ve tried describing this to people for years and nobody got it and I often thought I imagined the whole thing but thankfully Al Gore’s Internet has some photos I can use to illustrate what I’m talking about…

To this day when I think of incredible performances across genre and the great shows that I’ve witnessed, seeing Digital Underground in Philly in early 1990 is amongst the top places on my list.

And it truly informed me as an artist about actually putting my heart & soul into what I do when I’m in front of people and how I want the people to see me sweat cause they should know I’m working for THEM.

Like James Brown did. Like George Clinton did.

Like Shock G did.

Thank you for everything, Shock.

Now would be the part where I pontificate about the genius that is Greg Jacobs and how he truly continued carrying the Funk Torch passed to him by The Funk Mob. And what that meant to music in general and to me personally…

Or maybe now would be the time to talk about the unheralded genius that was Shock G and expound on what his later work brought to us…

Or perhaps I now would be the point when I talk about how we should start to “give the flowers” to those who deserve them while they’re still here etc…

But I’m not gonna do that cause there’s way too many more talented writers who can do that aside from me, and way too many people who maybe actually knew this guy who can speak on that from their perspectives.

All I know is that when I saw the news last night it actually stung. It’s a weird feeling, when you get sad over the passing of someone whom you don’t personally know. It doesn’t happen that often with me. But last night it did…

But all I can do is to be thankful for what Shock G gave DIRECTLY to me in the form of having such an impact on a really young Cosmo Baker. Thank you Shock. You’ll be missed but your music will live forever.

LET THIS ONE ROCK TODAY!