Sex Packets

Baby the humpty dance is 6 and a half minutes long

Kinda fun, but so incredibly dated. Not really for me. Also I wasn't expecting multiple songs about a sci-fi sexual fetish, but they may have been the highlight of the album.

Weirdly, I really like this. Conceptually, I feel like I would hate a rap concept album about a futuristic sex drug, but the variety and prowess of the rhymes feel futuristic even thirty years later. The production is really clean which is pretty anachronistic in terms of what was popular at the time. There are some duds in the middle of the album, but I like the rest of it enough to give this album a 5. Additionally, the comedic tongue-in-cheekness of the album and the idea of sex packets is very funny and adds to the futuristic tone and themes in the album. The skits aren't overbearing and are used pretty sparingly which is great for its replay-ability. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes hip-hop and conceptual albums. Highlights: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 11, and 13.

This is one of the better 90’s hip hop records on this list, a relief given it lasts 65 minutes. The rhythms seem faster, funkier than most contemporaries here, while the raps are pleasantly old school, slow and cheerful. The content is often nonsense, but knowingly so. Sex Packets’s content is also largely about itself: rappers rapping that what they’re doing on this record is what they’re doing on this record, and that it’s better than the rest: the 90’s hip-hop curse of recursion. This background makes the mini-concept album at the end a gift, though it’s ultimately just a sci-fi variation of some of the horny stuff that came earlier.

I knew Humpty, but for the rest of this album, it was a first. It really grabbed my attention…for a while. The funky beats with the silly raps are very 90s danceable. I enjoyed the nostalgia of the sound. The bulk of the sexual themes were mostly uninteresting to me, and after a while it felt like it was too drawn out. I connected with many of the samples, and I enjoyed how DU used them…but then I just wanted to go listen to the sources of the samples.

This album isn't that bad. The only problem is that it's a concept album that revolves around being horny. I guess I should've tailored my expectations with a name like Sex Packets but still. The album is mixed great, and it sounds really good; however, I wouldn't ever be able to listen to this casually due to how uncomfortable it makes me. Favorite track: Sex Packets

Like an hour of listening to Fresh Prince, tiresome.

Awesome album, with some really good songs

There are some really fun moments on this album, and I was really grooving to them. "Humpty Dance" is, as always, a fun funky classic. I like the way they swing on "The Way We Swing" (schwing!). "Rhymin' on the Funk" and "Underwater Rimes" continued the fun and I was really getting into this album. I liked how they seemed to really be having fun with this and not taking themselves too seriously. (Did I wince several times? You bet. It's early 90s hip hop. You're gonna wince.) The rest of it, however, while always funky, didn't feel as fun. "The Danger Zone" seemed out of place. Grim. By the time it got to "Freaks of the Industry" it was a little cringy. And then came the songs about the titular ;-) sex packets that were just...strange and creepy. Anyway, it's hard to rate because I did move to this music and I liked their sound so much. I just don't wanna hear about the underage fetish sex packets anymore.

Welllllllllllll...I was having a pretty good time at this party. I've always liked The Humpty Dance. It's cheeky and fun. The next track talks about verbal rape but ok, I guess that's just some macho posturing and it was 1990 and all. Rhymin' on the Funk, The New Jazz, and Underwater Rimes are fine with their "smooth flow" and "dope rhymes" such as "mobster" and "lobster." (Sincerely! Not sarcasm! The quotes are from the album!) These guys mostly seem silly and fun. And then...the last half of the record felt like I was listening to a joke where I wasn't exactly the punchline but the joke really wasn't meant for my ears (and maybe as a woman, I was punchline-adjacent). I won't say I was offended by all the sex talk --- I'm a feminist killjoy, not a prude --- but I didn't enjoy it and wanted to leave the party. I'll just take The Humpty Dance and go.

If I dislike something I can usually understand why other people might like, or why it could be considered a significant album. This though, I have no idea why it's on the list. It's so sleazy, with lyrics about masturbatory fantasies and the degradation of women. Really horrible. Despite there being abums from the 50s on the list, this feels far more out of date than anything I've heard so far. It feels grimy and sticky, so nasty.

Too loooooong. I knew an hour was going to be too long from the moment I clicked on the first song. If they had cut this down, getting rid of some of the weaker songs, to a nice 37 minutes, it'd be a better album. Doesn't age particularly well, at least that's my opinion. Some of this is just stupid and dumbed down. Like the emergence of "MC Blowfish." Give me a break, please. At times it feels like these people just learned that words can rhyme, because they came up with some of the most basic and boring rhymes I can imagine. Couldn't stand it after about 30 minutes of listening.

One of the most challenging listens of the project so far, and not in a constructive or positive way. This thing is dripping in enough cheese to give any person a coronary - the bars are consistently corny, creepy, or both, leading to a steady level of baseline cringe that fluctuates from unbearable to uncomfortable. The beats offer no salvation as they opt to instead beat several 1-2 second samples out to 4-7 minutes at a time, meaning the backing tracks are at best stale and at worst infuriating. There’s one track that has some sort of female moaning/vocalizing looping over and over for the entire runtime, and it’s probably the most annoying track I’ve listened to out of nearly 700 albums on this list so far. This is not some nostalgic relic worth revisiting, it’s just plain bad and should remain firmly in the 90s.

Such a good album! My favourite so far. Every tune was great and the influence it had on all the hip hop I love is clear. Loved it!

Classic

Great album!

One of my favorite rap albums of all time. Uniquely entertaining with a funny flow. Also responsible for helping to launch the career of Tupac. RIP Tupac and Shock G

Unapologetically arrogant and objectifies women and men in a sexual storyline carried throughout the album. I fucking loved it.

Ayoooo who up listening to Sex Packets in 2022?

A good example of how clownish and directionless hip hop could be in the early 90's. Pervy and dull in equal measure, and so goddam long..

Gloriously weird in conception, totally hilarious (a component often lacking in the genre) and super detailed in execution. Love what got pulled off here.

Incredibly fun(ny) shockingly good album. You can't tell me that the rhyme scheme/flow of Packet Man didn't influence Hamilton though

This is quite a cool sound, very summery especially to bring out at a party.

A worthy debut from Digital Underground. If you didn't quite like this one, the true essential entry from them is Sons of the P. RIP Shock G

This was genuinely so much fun to listen to. Some of the lyrics are just mad and I love how unserious it is. 10/10 story telling too.

Digital Underground's Sex Packets is a wildly hilarious album that will have you laughing, dancing, and feeling a bit naughty. The album's storyline about a government-created drug that provides a unique sexual experience is sheer brilliance. But it's the tracks like "Sex Packets" and "Freaks of the Industry" that really showcase the band's funky beats and irreverent humor. "Sex Packets" is like a funky, psychedelic trip through a futuristic sex club, while "Freaks of the Industry" is a raunchy yet hilarious tale of sexual conquest that's impossible not to dance to. The album never takes itself too seriously, which is what makes it so much fun. It's like a funky party that never stops, and you're invited. So if you're looking for an album that will make you laugh, dance, and maybe even blush a little, then Digital Underground's Sex Packets is the perfect choice. It's a classic that's still as fresh and fun as the day it was released.

What is a sex packet? Where can I get one? I didn't listen to the album but I am intrigued by the title so five stars.

I must say I love the amount of Golden Age Hip-Hop coming up lately on my project. It went from a genre I was sort of unsure about, to a genre I'm really starting to enjoy. It just has a fun quality that later gangsta rap sort of lacked. This has things I'd generally dislike - it's another "horny" album, this one goes a step further by being a concept album with a very sexual storyline, but it gets a pass because it doesn't take itself seriously at all. In fact it's consistently funny. It's a product of its time, sure. I don't think an album joking about sex for 65 minutes would go down so much today. But what makes it stand the test of time is how listenable it is. The beats are great and the flows are smooth. I do think the first half was better than the second, but it was still great. A real bouncy party of an album. Favourite: The Humpty Dance

honestly…i saw the run time and i thought oh great…here we go…… but wow i loved every minute of this. funky ass instrumentals with some jazz sprinkled in to support a raunchy yet original concept about sex. as soon as the first track started i knew i was going to love it and i did. gotta give it a five, can’t find a flaw.

I went in expecting a 3, halfway through was entertained enough to make it a four, and by the end I'm somehow considering giving it a five. The concept of the album was funny and entertaining with the peak being packet man near the end but it was backed up by fucking great beats and production that makes it relistenable. The "main theme" beat on the sex packet song and reprise is super sexy and catchy r&b while other songs like the way we swing and doowutchyalike are just straightforwardly good hip hop tracks. I'm also really glad that there's more outwardly comedic albums on this list (still hoping for weird al). Looking into the wiki more and this launched Tupac's career??? I guess I see where he got the inspiration for Temptations lol.

Amazing debut album. Genius lyrics. Funny. Funky. Just awesome.

The concept album and the George Clinton samples drag a bit, but I will always love this album and the follow-up "Sons of the P" album for being unabashedly sexy, goofy and funny. 4.5 stars rounded up.

I love this. It's a concept album from start to finish, and just drenched in comedy. The digital underground take all the bluster and swagger of big time performers, and turn it on its side. Freaks of the Industry doesn't get a E for its lyrics. That's a feat by itself. All this nerdy sex and swagger culminates not in actual sex, but in an eponymous Sex Packet. Just like the real thing. For sale. And you don't have to work at bedding the target of your interest. Dystopian sci fi rap genius. I loved it.

After over 30 albums listened to, this is my first 5. This album does everything right, from good beats and flows to humor on every track. A very enjoyable listen, and one I am likely to return to.

LEGENDARY SHIT RIGHT HERE. 5 stars.

cool

Concept of this album seemed stupid, but album is fire. Much better than expected. Great album!

Hilarious, great beats, a snapshot of 1990.

The central plot was quite strange, but I still had a great time.

Weirdo hip-hop at its best

High school classic. This and public enemy were some of the best music for my teen years. 5/5

Bros from the Digital Underground be needing a cold shower, and got me wishing the Packet Man was real.

This album was super fun. Full of funny bits and didn’t take itself too seriously. It was made even better by the clean vocals any groovy beats backing every song. I definitely plan to revisit this album.

Cool

Groovy and funky.

In the late 1980s, Hip-Hop started absorbing more of the history of Black/American Pop Music outside of samples, and started to look to other song stylings, if you will, to inform the rhymes and the flow. Jazz vocal styles started to creep in, which was cool, to hear other approaches to riding a beat, or indeed, float over the beat. And, thank the Gods of the ever ringing Note, MCs and DJs remembered Mr. George and the glorious cosmology Afronauts, Mad Scientists, and in the Jimi Hendrix sci-fi tradition, tales of Atlantis (or Atlanta) the underwater glory of Parliament/Funkadelic, the elemental (periodic abbreviation PF) body-mind groove emanations from beyond space and time. The East Coast De La and Tribe get accolades for their PF inspired wry kaleidoscopic tracks of 70s Gen X pop culture obsessions, which is no doubt why that shit is like oxygen to me. Later, the West Coast would polish down the wry and polish to chrome the chill factor samples over fat fucking basslines and beats. PF are perfect for this; they made records for people to take drugs to—an invaluable public service. Couple this will street tales and calls to party, and Dr. Dre becomes a producer on par with George Martin (no argument here—Let Me Ride is a forever song of the summer song), Ice Cube and Snoop Dog become national treasures (incrementally, we baby step to better/ the ever devouring hegemony smells money: the track makes me forget all that shit). This becomes the style most associated with PF. Not associated with the West Coast style are the northern California groups, all of whom are apparently "alternative hip-hop", a term less useful than "alternative", but hey, all critics want to coin a genre term, right? You can say fairly "alternative" bands like REM were more exciting and interesting than the Outfield, and that seems sensible, though no accounting for taste. "Alternative Hip-Hop" as opposed "mainstream hip-hop", where Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J et al sold squillions of records making great fucking records? "Alternative" assumes a pure superiority over such things, flinging "authentic" and "sell-out" shitballs at such artists. Except only fuck heads would assert that these artists were garbage. Like total morons: the white college radio dickheads who cliched their way through "underground superiority" pronouncements and "sell-out" horseshit. Incidentally, these people all love "that one DK song" but really creamed their Morrissey approved Levis about the Stone Roses, but I feel like I'm drifting a bit... From a Bay Area known for Thrash and Punk Rock, the weirdos of Digital Underground scored one stone cold classic: "The Humpty Dance", a song so ubiquitous, your pasty Me-Maw knows the groove (If your pasty Me-Maw busts out "I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom", you should probably smoke a joint with her and talk that out). If you grew up in the Safe as Milk burbs, that is likely the end of it. The problem with the lightning in a bottle super-pop song is that everything thing else necessarily gets overlooked, cindered crispy by the exploding sublime pop ecstasy. The foreverness of "The Humpty Dance" as cultural totem obscures the album it came from, which is a terrible thing, because the rest is an absolutely fabulous alloy of PF samples a la De La Tribe, some bop lyrical phrasing and boogie beats weaving a sci-fi tale about a psychotropic pill that induces the sensory overload of fucking without actual fucking. Not masturbation. You take it, and the drug does all the rest: "Safest Sex there is" they proclaim. And for the AIDs terrified and stygmata afflicted Eighties, what could be better. St. George of Clinton doth say "The bigger the headache, the bigger the pillin'". We needed huge pills after the devastation of Reagan. The songs are all thematically related, highlighting different good times (music festivals, chilling with your pals, being butt naked, swimming pools, wanting to go home and get fucked up by yourself) orbiting the prospect of getting laid, which will change all previous plans for a lot of people. However, with in this sci-fi tales, the parallels to the war on drugs emerge, street crime and the life of a hustler, pop in and out of the rainbow pan-racial vision of booties shaking and boys boogying. This light approach to dystopian themes may have let folks sleep on this classic, but not me: I like gorgeous pop songs of utter despair, so give me party vibes and serious ideas, the sounds of the Underground. Shock G had to know he and his conspirators created a rare thing indeed—an utterly dancable, funky fun high-concept album that is never ponderous and contains no in·ter·sti·tial filler. This shit does not let up. It is a feature length universe of PF weirdness, bop phrasing, and sci-fi sexcapades. They should have made a movie. The poster would have had "Sex Packets" in the Star Wars font. Shock G's Nose lit up like a light saber. The tagline would be "Peace and Humptiness to You All". Get some humptiness, y'all.

One of the best New Jack Swing albums made. A classic!

pretty nice

solid 90s rap

Everyone loves the Humpty Dance, but I don't remember listening to the whole album before.

As this Era of hip-hop is more of a blindspot for me, I quite enjoyed getting a taste of Westcoast classics, and seeing where my tastes originate from a bit.

A bit too long, but at its good moments it is a perfect hip hop funk jazz record to make you feel... just great!!

Really cool vibes. Like the Beastie Boys, another album with sampling at it's heart. But this one has been sampled itself a LOT by all kinds of people, really interesting to read and listen to all those tracks too. Big influence on backpack hiphop. Best discovery of this thing so far 7.5/10

90s backpack hip hop? Yes please. Great lyrics, funky production and all round good vibes. Saved to Spotify.

Enjoyed this v much 👌🏽

Classic old-school hip-hop. Do the Humpty Hump!

totally hated the first few tracks on this album but it really started growing on me. extra comedic virile Tribe Called Quest vibes. some creative old-school beats too

Really enjoyed this, loads of big samples and amazing how many peeps have sampled this album!

.

30 years in the past/future. RIP

Fun, early 90s hip hop

Very entertaining , fun, funny album. The music is not as compelling for me as Fun Lovin' Criminals, but still really good and enjoyable, just as a general commentary....Rap / hiphop albums tend to be TOO LONG!!! Please, please, please being back the 40 minute album. 3.75 🌟

Zimbabwe got a shoutout on The Way We Swing.

What's interesting about this album is that so many of the samples sound familiar, but I can't tell if they originate here or are sampled from something famous. Certainly there is a huge P-Funk influence on this album, which fits into the context of what was happening elsewhere in West Coast hip-hop. A lot of the rap from this era doesn't age well because of the mysogeny, homophobia, and cartoonishly violent content, but this album still sounds good 4/5

The Humpty Dance is a bop. Gutfest 89 is fun. The sheer amount of Parliament samples is quite impressive. Doowhutchyalike is a send up to early 90's hedonism. Its an afrofuturistic hedonistic album about sex and unrequited desire.

Very cool, very rude.

Great album - really funky early hip hop, with the iconic Humpty Dance and several other head bobbing tracks. Definitely some mature subject matter, but absent a lot of the "I'm going to kill everyone" lyricism of the genre from later in the decade.

Groovie old school hip-hop

An album that doesn't get enough praise from the golden era / sample era of hip hop. I think most tracks could shave a minute or so off of them.

Very naughty and a lot of fun - and funky. I enjoyed this one!

This album definitely grew on me as it went on. The songs do run a bit long for no good reason, but overall this album was a very fun listen.

The group, mostly Shock G by the sound of it, produce sex-raps in a low-gonzoness/high-legibility vein. That niche and the unique sound of the thing quickly earned my respect. That said, I continue to not get the p-funk beats which underlie Sex Packets: Just too slow and low-fi. The listening experience was a descent into discomfort.

Strong an consistent rap album from the golden age that i was not familiar with in advance.

Kolejny pik ktorego bym sie nie spodziewal po bialej wyspiarskiej liscie, bo murzynski rap z gatunku konceptowych wariacji lat 90, Sex Packets to debiutancki krazek grupy Digital Underground, ktorej twarza, a raczej nosem byl Shock G, ale kolektyw znany byl z tego, ze przewinelo sie przez niego sporo postaci z rapowej gry zachodniego wybrzeza, nawet 2pac troche sie wypromowal zaakrecajac sie na projektach digitalowych, co do samego krazka, to plyta pochodzi z poczatku lat 90, wiec jest bogato wyprawiona w sample. az dziwne ze nadal wisi na spotifaju, bo sporo materialu z tamtego okresu jest zbyt osamplowane, zeby mozna bylo je grac na strimingu, ponad godzina funkodeli z tlustymi rymami o zabarwieniu mocno hedonistycznie komicznym, bo konceptem plyty jest genetic suppression relief antidotes, wiec pigula po ktorej ma byc czlekowi dobrze, gdy nie moze zrobic sobie dobrze, bo ma wazne zeby do roboty, ale oczywiscie czarne zloczynce uzywaja ich do niecnych celow o ktorych opowiada wlasnie ten album, od strony instrumentalnej slychac parliamentowe sample, daddy kane, hendrixa czy hancocka, wiec czarno to sluchac, na tym funkowych instrumentalach czesto dochodzi do dialogow, monologow i prawdziwych dysput, bo mimo tego ze glownym bohaterem jest pan Shock G jako Humpty Hump, ale przewijaja sie takze inny bohaterowie jak Kenny K, czy Money B, ktory rowniez wnosza cos lirycznego od siebie, wiec nie jest to nudna godzina, fajnie sobie odswiezyc takiego klasyka, zwlaszcza ze brakuje na liscie albumow z jajcem, a taki wlasnie humorek przemyca sex packets, na plejke leci openingowy the humpty dance i doowutchyalike, tak w ogole nie czuc tego, ze jest to debiutancki material grupy, bo tworza az tak pewna atmosfere jak prawdziwe freaki tego industri, ale z drugiej strony nie kojarze duzo z ich pozniejszej dyskografii

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: doowutchyalike, sex packets, freaks of the industry

There sure aren't all that many hip hop concept albums, and this might even be the first. The first few tracks had me questioning my sanity. Is this ICP? Nope. ICP don't rap about underwater concerts. With 30 years reflection, this seems - well - kinda childish. I'd imagine that some 14 year olds would snigger along to the lyrics. Despite that, it's classic hip hop done actually pretty well, with good beats and excellent flow. Sure, some tracks needed the judicious application of the "skip" button but in the main, I quite enjoyed it.

"Man, if I get another VCR imma hurt somebody." is possibly the best closing line to any album ever. Loved the production on this, some of it is obviously dated, but mostly it was just good fun.

I knew nothing about the band or the album. And when listening to the opening track, The Humpty Dance, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear much more. Then the Hendrix sample on The Way We Swing got me totally interested & I have to say I loved this album. The title track is terrific, as is Rhymin On The Funk, both with Parliament samples, and I was also taken by Underwater Rimes, which felt like a hip-hop version of The B-52’s Rock Lobster. The impersonation of Edward G. Robinson’s gangster persona is a scream. And I loved the final track, Doowutchyalike. It said a lot about the band’s approach to music, as well as life. This is one of the most soulful hip-hop albums I’ve ever heard. A great listen.

Wish I’d heard these guys in 1990! Sadly (?), my limited listening time today was focused on getting geared up for the Oils’ last ever show at the Palais. But from what I heard, I’ll be back to hear the rest.

Classic

Like this a lot. Good old school rap.

So this is the humpty dance

6/9 humpty dumped

Incredibly hilarious!!! Concept album!!! Hehheh... Ei paljoa meikäläistä naurata... Hyvä flow.. Dumtsiga dum dum...

RIP Shock G

bay area rap from the 90s is fucking insane the samples on this record rule, 90s rap rules, long live digital underground

Some cringeworthy, outdated themes but I do love me some old school hip hop.

With a hip hop album from this time period, there are bound to be more than a few incredibly dated moments. This album is no exception. It is however, a very fun album that samples prodigiously from funk and soul records giving Digital Underground a very tangible connection to the music they are descended from. Lyrically, this album is all over the place. I laughed out loud at several points, and found the sex packets song cycle a bit out of place interesting though it was. I suppose that's why this album is on this list; it is a fascinating slice of hip hop history.

More than just the two big singles this album is so dope! The musicianship is outstanding, Shock G was a beast and really underrated, they were hip hops answer to Parliament Funkadelic!

Reminds me of the late 80s & the school dances I'd go. Loved doing the Humpty Dance. Good times.

Classic album. I had it on cassette back in the day, and this was a fun trip back in time. "The Humpty Dance" is legendary, but there's plenty more to like here. "Freaks of the Industry" and "Doowutchyalike" are particularly memorable, and "Underwater Rimes" is a silly track that's always reminded me of Kip Addotta's pun-filled "Wet Dream." And that's one of the thing's that sets the Underground apart from most hip-hop acts; in an age where gangsta rap was starting to take hold of the industry, they weren't afraid to ditch the bravado, slap on a giant fake nose, and get goofy with it. Gotta love it.

I hadn't heard this before, so I didn't really know what I was in for. The cover art and concept are mad but it really works. I love the growly bass on The Humpty Dance and a few other songs. It's a really groovy and funny album throughout, really creative too. The concept makes me think of the Fifth Element, Sex Packets (and this album) sound like something that could exist in that universe.

Kind of enjoyed this....surprisingly....kind of a combo of rap and funk

Humpty fun and middle school boy sex grabbing, but it's all for fun

this cover looks like a parody honestly. what is in the packet? dehydrated sex crystals? rehydrate and GET FUCKED!! anyways, album is iconic

Fun and funny with a sound I never get tired of

The humpty dance! That alone makes it a 4. The rest is golden age of hip hop which confirms the four.

What a dirtyyyy album, very cool, i was excited because i already had the firdt song saved 4/5

Strong 4, all the stuff I like about 90s hip hop

Okay, I admit that I've never heard of Digital Underground before, despite being a huge fan of music of all genres, including hip-hop. I guess I was a little bit young. But I'm so glad I found them. This record is so awesome; great lyrics and really innovative use of samples throughout, particularly the use of Parliament's "Flash Light", which IS a song I know! Getting some strong DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince vibes from this, but I guess it's just the early 90s production. Favourite tracks: Doowutchyalike, Sex Packets.