A New Memoir Captures Shock G’s Brilliance — In All Its Funkiest Forms

In 1990, USA Today formally contacted NASA to clarify rumors about their latest technology, apparently dubbed “sex packets.”

Weeks prior, Oakland’s afrosurrealist rap collective Digital Underground (DU) had released their debut album, Sex Packets, themed around a new drug for astronauts that could instantly gratify their sexual desires. As DU’s transgressive lyrics glorified the illicit substance, news of the invention leaked onto the Bay Area’s streets: pamphlets were distributed, and condoms were passed out.

NASA was forced to respond to the coital discourse: “NASA has not in the past, nor will they in the future, be working on such a pill … It would be impossible to satisfy the carnal urges of astronauts … To my knowledge, unbridled lust has never interfered with a space mission.”

It’s the first and likely last instance of NASA being outmaneuvered by Oakland rappers. (It turned out DU had created the pamphlets and condoms as subversive promotional materials.)

The elaborate prank was a piece of artistic genius orchestrated by Gregory Jacobs — the late MC, songwriter, illustrator, pianist and costume-wearing virtuoso known as Shock G. The NASA incident is just one of the many shenanigans detailed in his posthumous memoir, Keep It Beautiful: Inside the Funkyverse of Shock G and Digital Underground, out Aug. 25 — Shock G’s birthday — from Penguin Random House.

The book combines handwritten notes, interview transcripts, personal photos and rare sketches compiled by Jacobs’ longtime friend and photographer, Alexis Wolfe Mbassa, who tagged along with Jacobs in order to document his eccentric life for over a decade.

The association was intentional; in 2011, Jacobs personally recruited Wolfe Mbassa as a co-author for his autobiography. In 2021, just eight months after submitting the book to literary agents, Jacobs died from a drug overdose in Florida. He was 57.

“It was never about money or becoming successful for him; it was about having the freedom to create,” Wolfe Mbassa told KQED. “He put himself in wild situations just to hold on to that freedom.”

Wild situations form much of Keep It Beautiful. It details Jacobs’ stints in pimping, homelessness and jail, while containing all of the exuberant, out-of-pocket abundance of a Shock G production. A conversation between Shock G and George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic? Yup. An African gray parrot named Afro who lives in Shock G’s childhood home and imitates his stepmom, Sonya? That too.

One entire chapter is dedicated to his early friendship with a teenage Tupac Shakur, who joined DU as a member before going solo. (Apparently Pac had a “fucked” jump shot in basketball, and no one wanted him on their team).

Largely stream-of-consciousness in homage to Jacobs’ creative process, the book is divided into sections based on the regions where he lived. Wolfe Mbassa traveled to each of them to conduct interviews: Topanga Canyon, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Oakland, New York City and Tampa.

Jacobs recounts his first job as a 15-year-old, DJing at a local radio station in Tampa. He was fired for disobeying the radio’s directives and opting to spin the full 15-minute version of “(Not Just) Knee Deep” by Funkadelic instead of airing commercials.

It isn’t the only example in the book of his natural inclination to rebel. Jacobs extensively details how he evaded authorities, and circumvented court appearances, from age 17 to 22.

Even for the most studious hip-hop heads, Keep It Beautiful reveals overlooked wrinkles in Shock’s personality and biography. (Did you know that DU’s original band name was “Spice Regime”?) The book also includes a trove of never-before-seen drawings by Jacobs, showcasing a crude and whimsical style that would come to define his artistry, which sometimes reached ridiculous levels of raunch. (One sketch portrays an anthropomorphic anus forcing an “ASS-PIRIN” pill down its own hole.)

But the main thrust of Keep It Beautiful are the granular narratives that Jacobs discloses, like his memories of being jailed in San Diego for six months for grand theft auto, where he used art as a bartering tool.

In scattered, disconnected bursts, he and Wolfe Mbassa recount his side quests and failures (such as his brief time as a male “gigolo” in Pennsylvania) revealing the down-bad experiences that molded his worldview before his rap and art careers took off. Glimpses of that fast life can be heard in his lyrics, but the book shows in detail how Shock G actually did get around from coast to coast.

At its core, the collage of archival material shows how music and art became Jacobs’ salvation, therapy and refuge. Putting it all together was a joyous challenge for Wolfe Mbassa, personally tasked by Jacobs to retain the book’s silliness and humor.

“One of the most difficult parts was trying to figure out how to pull all the pieces together. He always wanted it to be like a scrapbook,” she says. “He wanted it to feel like his personal journals did: stories, mixed with memorabilia and art.”

In sitting with Keep It Beautiful, its spiritual thesis is clear: Jacobs’ everlasting search for beauty, creativity and funky originality shone brightest during his darkest hours. It’s about keeping it beautiful, especially when beauty isn’t easily kept.

“It was so much fun,” Wolfe Mbassa confirms, “to live in his world.”

‘Keep It Beautiful: Inside the Funkyverse of Shock G and Digital Underground’ will be released on Aug. 25. A free release party with Alexis Wolfe Mbassa and members of Digital Underground takes place Saturday, Aug. 22 at Drake’s Dealership (2325 Broadway, Oakland). Event information here.