Shock G Biography

Shock G was born Gregory Edward Jacobs on 25 August 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, to Shirley Kraft and Edward Racker. He had two siblings named Kent and Elizabeth.

After his parents separated, he moved to Queens in New York, with his mother, in 1975. He discovered his love for hip-hop music at this time, which was still in its developmental stage.

After purchasing a set of turntables, his cousin Rene Negron and a close friend Shah-T mentored him in the craft. During this time, the latter had recommended Gregory Jacobs to use an alias name Shah-G, which Jacobs mistook as Shock-G, and stuck with it.

After returning to Tampa in 1978 to live with his father, Shock-G discontinued his schooling at Chamberlain High School. Soon after, he formed a mobile DJ crew known as the Master Blasters and performed at parties.

The group was noticed by the director of the WTMP-FM program, Tony Stone, who offered a 16-year-old Jacobs a job as DJ on the station.

He accepted the offer and went on to become the youngest radio personality with a standard time slot in central Florida. However, he was fired from the job for playing Funkadelic's song, (Not Just) Knee Deep, in a five-minute time slot.

He had differences with his father and left home. He travelled through the U.S. and switched different jobs. During this time, he shifted from being a DJ to a keyboardist.

When he decided to pursue a career in music, he returned home and earned a diploma. He studied music theory and piano at Hillsborough Community College under Jim Burge and Patricia J. Trice.

Shock G’s career began when he eloped to Los Angeles in 1985 for better opportunities where he performed with Onyx, a pop-punk band by Kenny McCloud.

After relocating to Oakland, Shock G founded the group Digital Underground, along with Kenneth Waters and Chopmaster J in 1987.

In 1988, the trio had released a twelve-inch single on Macola Record featuring Your Life's a Cartoon and Underwater Rimes, which were penned, performed and produced by Shock G. He also sketched the cartoon illustrations on the cover.

Throughout his career, Shock G used numerous aliases, which resulted in creating realistic characters. However, many fans and even industry insiders misinterpreted them as separate individuals.

He liked appearing on shows. That is why he appeared on Showtime at the Apollo, The Arsenio Hall Show, MTV Spring Break, Yo MTV Raps, Club MTV Live, and MTV Jams.

He acted as a furnace repairman in 1991 in an episode of the popular sitcom, Drexell’s Class.

In his long career, he also experienced success as a music producer and a solo artist.

He released Tupac Shakur’s single I Get Around in the year 1993. Besides this, he also produced Tupac’s album Me Against the World’s So Many Tears.

He produced Risky Business, which was Los Angeles based-underground artist Murs’ single, in 2003. Shock G made his appearance in the same video album as Humpty Hump.

He also performed the song with Murs live at Paid Dues Festival. Besides this, he performed with Murs as a DJ on the Definitive Jux Label tour.

His song We Got More got featured in the film Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood in 1996. His album was used in three scenes of the film and appeared twice on the soundtrack.

The Humpty Dance was his Magnum opus. The song was a massive hit because, in many ways, it flirted with the novelty status. In a way, the song was mesmerizing and charmingly lewd.

The song Doowutchyalike was another of his most iconic creations that proved to be groundbreaking. It highlighted that his unusual tone, which followed strict gender codes, was necessary for providing a radical aesthetic to 1980s hip-hop.

Shock G had always kept his love life away from the limelight. As a result, the public media was left grasping at straws regarding his relationship status. While sharing a video of Shock G from February 2021, actress Amanda Rushing shared about being in a relationship with him.

On the 22nd of April 2021, Shock G was found unresponsive by a hotel worker in a Tampa hotel in Florida. Later upon the arrival of medics, he was pronounced dead. The cause for his death was found to be an accidental overdose of drugs, the autopsy reports revealed no evidence of trauma or foul play.

For his drumming skills, Shock G was voted Most Talented at the Greco Junior High School.

The character of Humpty Hump played by him was also played by Kent Racker and Michael Webster.