The Body-Hat Syndrome Explained
The Body-Hat Syndrome is the third full-length studio album by American hip hop Digital Underground.[1] [2] It was released on October 5, 1993 via Tommy Boy Records. Production was handled by Digital Underground inner production team, the D-Flow Production Squad. The album peaked at number 79 on the Billboard 200 and number 16 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in the United States.
The album saw rappers Saafir and Clee were added to the line-up. The opening song, "The Return of the Crazy One", which sampled Parliament's "Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)", was released on September 21, 1993 as the lead single before the album's release, and peaked at number 77 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The album's second single, an anti-racism cultural awareness politico called "Wussup Wit the Luv", which features a guitar solo from the Funkadelic guitarist Michael Hampton and a verse from 2Pac, made it to number 99 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Music videos were released for both of the album's singles. This was the last time 2Pac appeared on any Digital Underground release. The album also contains "The Humpty Dance Awards", the group's humorous shout-out to the many artists who sampled "The Humpty Dance" before 1993. Since then the list has grown to over 50 artists.
Critical reception
The Boston Globe called The Body-Hat Syndrome one of 1993's best hip hop albums.[3] Trouser Press wrote: "Musically, Digital Underground is back at the top of its game, but conceptually the group is sounding the retreat".[4]
Track listing
- Sample credits
- Notes
- Tracks 1, 5, 6, 12, 14, 16 and 17 features Shock G's alter ego Humpty Hump.
- Tracks 5, 7 and 20 are omitted from all the cassette versions of the album.
- The "Special Italian Vinyl Version" of the album, which is the only LP version containing the original picture sleeve and comic insert.
Personnel
- Gregory "Shock G" Jacobs — vocals, keyboards, turntables, programming, producer, arranger, art direction, illustrations, layout
- Ronald "Money-B" Brooks — vocals
- Reggie "Saafir" Gibson — vocals
- Cleveland "Clee" Askew — vocals
- Tupac "2Pac" Shakur — vocals (track 9)
- Michael "Dirty-Red" Boston — vocals (track 18)
- Earl "Schmoovy-Schmoov" Cook — vocals (track 20)
- David "DJ Fuze" Elliot — keyboards, turntables, programming
- Jeremy "Jay-Z" Jackson — additional vocals, keyboards, turntables, programming
- Ramone "Pee-Wee" Gooden — additional vocals
- Descaro "Mack Mone" Moore — additional vocals
- Shirley "Shassiah" Tabor — additional vocals
- Ronald "Omar" Everett — additional vocals
- Toby "T-Love" Holton — additional vocals
- Ronvell Sharper — additional vocals
- Gwen Everett — additional vocals
- Kim Morgan — additional vocals
- Michael Hampton — lead guitar (track 9)
- Mark "Mark Sexx" Skeete — additional vocals
- Shawn "The Shah" Trone — additional vocals
- Gary "Mudbone" Cooper — additional vocals
- Garry Shider — additional vocals
- D-Love — additional vocals
- O.B. — additional vocals
- Michael Denten — recording & mixing
- Darrin Harris — recording & mixing
- Steve Counter — recording & mixing
- Mark Slagle — recording & mixing
- Matt Kelley — recording & mixing
- Bob Morse — recording & mixing
- Renwick Smith Curry — engineering
- Malcolm Sherwood — engineering
- Jeff Gray — engineering
- Ken Lee — mastering
- Erwin Gorostiza — art direction, layout
- Mark Weinberg — design
Notes and References
- Book: Thompson, Dave . Funk . 2001 . . 2001 . 978-0-87930-629-8 . 301 . Dave Thompson (author) . Google Books.
- Book: Woodstra . Chris . Old School Rap and Hip-hop . Bush . John . Erlewine . Stephen Thomas . 2008 . Hal Leonard Corporation . 9780879309169 . Stephen Thomas Erlewine . Google Books.
- Web site: DIGITAL UNDERGROUND THE BODY-HAT SYNDROME Tommy Boy/TNT Recordings - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA) | HighBeam Research. https://web.archive.org/web/20121025101503/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8250171.html. dead. October 25, 2012. October 25, 2012.
- Web site: Chang . Jeff . Jeff Chang (journalist) . Robbins . Ira . Digital Underground . September 25, 2023 . . en-US.
