Digital Underground

George Clinton is second only to James Brown as the originator of hip-hop's musical language -- the beats with which California seized the airwaves from New York in the early '90s would be unthinkable without Parliament Funkadelic's blueprint. But unlike their g-funk peers, who replaced P-Funk's wacked-out sexiness with smug misogyny, Oakland's Digital Underground remained true to Clinton's original sensibility, celebrating sex as something squishy, giggly, and mutually pleasurable, and using comedy, with Shock-G, a.k.a. Humpty Hump, as lascivious ringleader.

The terrifically goofy "The Humpty Dance," emerging at the height of Yo! MTV Raps, defined the group's image, but the pansexual free-for-all "Doo-whatchalike" was their true statement of purpose. The first two albums are solid, but their third was the most accomplished. The Humpty Hump showcase "Return of the Crazy One" is one of the all-time fabulous raps; the rest of the disc is hooked to a fittingly Parliament-ary concept: The world is full of so many evil ideas, you need a condom for your brain. Too bad it was released at a moment when their giddiness was too pop and too weird for a hip-hop world defined by the monochromatic retreads of Dre and his cronies.

When the history of hip-hop is written, these inventive goofballs may be remembered as novelty footnotes whose biggest gift to the music was first bringing Tupac Shakur into the studio. That would be a crime. For all its sexual boasting, rap has produced only a few MCs -- L.L. Cool J, Notorious B.I.G. -- who sound like they'd actually be any fun in bed; Humpty is freakier than any of them. Like Uncle Jam before them, their commitment to the groove was enough to keep even their minor efforts from going soft. Ice Cube, Snoop, and, yes, Tupac -- none of Cali's most honored MCs can say the same. (KEITH HARRIS)

From 2004's The