Sleeve Notes1989

Packet Man

Digital Underground · 1989

Recording

Recorded in 1989 during the Sex Packets sessions, with Packet Man forming part of the album's fictional G.S.R.A. sex-drug storyline. The track was recorded and mixed at Starlight Sound in Richmond, California, with Shock G leading Digital Underground's production. Released by Tommy Boy and TNT in 1990, it appeared on Sex Packets and on the Doowutchyalike and Packet Man single configuration. The track extended Digital Underground's concept-album mythology beyond The Humpty Dance and helped define the group's comic P-Funk-rooted world-building. It remains one of the central story tracks from Sex Packets and a key example of Shock G's narrative approach to rap production. Its fictional drug-dealer character and sketch-like structure keep it tied to the album's unusually detailed concept.

ArtistDigital Underground

Year1989

GenreHip Hop

StudioStarlight Sound

LabelTommy Boy; TNT

ProducersShock G · Digital Underground · Money-B · DJ Fuze

How curators tag this

Hip Hop100%

Sound check

Same ArtistFig. A

Underwater Rimes

Digital Underground · 1988

The Humpty Dance (Mini-Hump Radix Mix)

Digital Underground · 1990

Freaks of the Industry

Digital Underground

Underwater Rhymes

Digital Underground · 1987

Your Life’s a Cartoon

Digital Underground · 1987

SamplesFig. B

Four Play

Fred Wesley and The Horny Horns · 1977 · sampled

Curiosity

Aaron Hall · 1995 · sampled-by

PrePlex

Plunderphonics · 1999 · sampled-by

Blur (Bolton Chili Overdire)

John Oswald · 1993 · sampled-by

Year · 1989Fig. C

Children's Story

Slick Rick · 1989

Roughneck Fashion

Tenor Fly · 1989

Keep On Movin'

Soul II Soul · 1989

Voodoo Ray

A Guy Called Gerald · 1989

The Phantom

Renegade Soundwave · 1989

Same GenreFig. D

Simon Says

Pharoahe Monch · 1999

Pass the Dutch

Missy Elliott · 2003

Shimmy Shimmy Ya (2005 Remaster)

Ol’ Dirty Bastard · 1995

Jump Around

House of Pain · 1992

Artist · Digital UndergroundIn the Sleeve Notes

1980s

1988Underwater Rimes

1990s

1990Freaks Of The Industry

1990The Humpty Dance (Mini-Hump Radix Mix)

Undated

—Packet ManYou are here