| Sons of the P | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Digital Underground |
| Cover: | Sons of the P.jpg |
| Recorded: | 1991 |
| Genre: | West Coast hip hop |
| Label: | Tommy Boy |
| Producer: | The Underground Production Squad |
| Prev Title: | This Is an EP Release |
| Prev Year: | 1991 |
| Next Title: | The Body-Hat Syndrome |
| Next Year: | 1993 |
Sons of the P is the second studio album by American hip hop group Digital Underground. It was released on October 15, 1991, via Tommy Boy Records. Main recording sessions took place at Starlight Sound in Richmond, with additional recordings done at Unique Recording Studios in New York, Axiom Recorders in Tampa and The Disc Ltd. in Detroit. Production was handled by D.U. in-house production team credited as The Underground Production Squad, with Atron Gregory and member Shock G serving as executive producers. It features contributions from George Clinton, Stretch and Treach.
The album peaked at number 44 on the Billboard 200 and number 23 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in the United States. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on April 9, 1992, for selling 500,000 copies.
Its lead single, "Kiss You Back", reached No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 13 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 5 on the Hot Rap Songs, receiving Gold status by the RIAA on March 5, 1992. The song featured multi-layered choruses and background vocals sung by Boni Boyer, who briefly worked with D.U. shortly after her stint with Prince's Sign o' the Times/Lovesexy band.
The second single from the album, "No Nose Job", did not reach the Billboard Hot 100, however it made it to No. 28 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 27 on the Hot Rap Songs.
George Clinton, who participated in the writing and recording of the title track, contributed vocals, marking one of his earliest studio guest appearances on a hip hop release, preceded only by Kurtis Blow's 1986 song "Magilla Gorilla".
Musician reviewer wrote: "this hour of power pulses with fat, spacious grooves, the kind you feel from head to toe...Throughout, funk serves as a truth ray, zapping racism and hypocrisy with thumping beats".[1] Q critic gave the album 3 stars out of 5, saying that the album "had booty-shifting basslines to rival George Clinton and some engagingly daft lyrics". In his 'Consumer Guide' column for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau wrote: "you can wear out the hard and the brother-brother-brother, but you can't wear out the cosmic slop", highlighting songs "The DFLO Shuffle" and "Kiss You Back". In retrospective reviews, DJ Fatboy of RapReviews compared the album to the group's previous work, saying "Sex Packets is the more popular album, but Sons of the P is the more worthwile offering", stating "album expands and goes deeper than its predecessor, and to this day, still stands as the best effort Digital Underground ever put on wax".