TAMPA, Fla. — Family, friends, strangers and music lovers honored the life of producer and rapper Shock G on Saturday in Tampa.
Gregory Jacobs, also known as Shock G, died last week in a Tampa hotel. The co-founder and frontman of the hip hop group Digital Underground, Jacobs grew up in Tampa before going on to musical fame.
He was 57.
What You Need To Know
- Gregory Jacobs (Shock G), Digital Underground co-founder, laid to rest Saturday in Tampa
- Jacobs died last week in a Tampa hotel room
- PREVIOUS STORY: Fans in Tampa react to death of Shock G
Jacobs’ cause of death is still being determined.
Digital Underground, which scored a huge hit with “The Humpty Dance” rose to fame in the early 90s.
On Saturday, Shock G’s funeral service lasted nearly four hours as hundreds of people paid their respects. Even more watched on an internet live stream of the service.
Some of his fellow group members came out to remember their friend.
“He was just a true artist,” said friend and Digital Underground member Ronald Brooks, known as Money B. “Basically the art was everything and he was just such a giving person.”
The amount of people, many total strangers, who showed up to remember Shock G’s legacy displayed the impact his friends said he had on the world.
There was even a parade of Polaris Slingshot vehicles blasting his music in his memory.
“It was awesome man,” Brooks said. “You see them playing the Humpty Dance and usually funerals are sad but look everyone’s having fun and that’s the way he would have wanted us to end his story.”