Digital Underground is one of those groups that was unwittingly ahead of its time – and their third album – The Body-Hat Syndrome is no exception. Overall, their trademark funk and grooviness provided an ease of listening and a spawn of casual dancing that has been able to translate throughout the decades.

While the LP, released on October 5, 1993, was one without a club smash hit like “The Humpty Dance,” it certainly carried on the collective’s legacy of ‘70s funk sampling, which the group brought a faster tempo to.

“Doo Woo You,” helps start the album off with a sly smooth groove and is a perfect example of why so many hip-hop fans fell in love with Shock G and company during a time when Gangsta Rap began taking over the West Coast. Shock’s heavy Parliament Funkadelic influence once again seeps into the LP.

“The Return of the Crazy One,” the LP’s first single and song overall, is a deranged elegy to the return of the Sex Packets intro subject, Edward Ellington Humphrey III, and samples Parliament’s “Aqua Boogie.” Shock does his alter ego justice on this one.

“Shake & Bake,” Shock’s second solo track, has him showcasing his erratic behavior lyrically over cuts of Parliament’s “Funkentelechy.” Similarly to “...Crazy One,” the track could hit commercially, but its raunchy themes and nature kept it from getting the necessary push to climb higher on the charts. It's hilarious  that a bar like “the bust a nut double-decker, booty-getting heckler” couldn’t land on mainstream radio, considering Sexyy Red’s kinky brilliance dominates such a medium today.

Interestingly, The Body-Hat Syndrome also marked a time when member Tupac Shakur began making a name for himself on the solo tip and wasn’t quite as involved compared to previous D.U. releases. Already having released his debut 2Pacalypse Now and sophomore LP Strictly 4 My N****Z…, ‘Pac still delivered, particularly on “Wussup Wit the Luv,” the project’s second single. He delivers his trademark vivid messaging and ability to story tell in a way few of his contemporaries across the hip-hop world could match.

“What can I say but watch your back, youngster / As I sit and wonder, my other brother's steadily goin' under,” ‘Pac raps. “It's like a curse, and it hurts cause it's worse / Momma's crazy cause her baby's in a hearse.” The verse fits well among the overall track, touching serious subjects like poverty, childhood mortality, and drug use plaguing neighborhoods from Oakland to New York. Additionally, Tupac’s only other appearance came as the host of the “The Humpty Dance Awards,” a tongue-in-cheek celebration of their 1990 smash hit.

Elsewhere around the album, freaky anthems like “Do You Like It Dirty” and “Jerkit Circus” repeatedly relay D.U.’s ability to combine a rather juvenile subject matter, but cleverly and funnily that makes it far from unlistenable. Fittingly, it ends with “Wheeee!” – a smorgasbord of fragmented verses and adlibs over early ‘80s funk.

Overall, The Body-Hat Syndrome isn’t Digital Underground’s magnum opus. It marked a period of relative transition for the group as Tupac became less involved and imminently had the group dropped from Tommy Boy following its release. The LP was also a commercial flop, considering its predecessors Sex Packets and Sons of the P both charted within the Top 44 on the U.S. Charts (compared to the #79 position it achieved). That said, Body-Hat was still unapologetically D.U. and certainly worth a listen now, officially 30 years later.