Gonna just be throwing thoughts out here, because this is tough to write.

Shock G may have been born and raised in Tampa, but he was a legend out in the Bay. Too Short was the grandfather to this entire scene, and Shock G was the crazy-ass, funky uncle.

He was a musical genius. Visionary. Great producer. Great artist (as in, drawings). Great eye for talent. Obviously a whole lotta people came up in the D.U. camp. He really did pattern himself off of George Clinton in some many respects, from every to the high concept albums and songs, to the massive amount of musicians and rappers that he worked with. And really, no one in hip-hop could "commit to the bit" like Shock.

Anyway, I grew up on his music. "Sex Packets" is such a fun and creative album. Sons of the P is nearly as good in some ways. I also really enjoy the group's maligned/ignored mid 1990s albums, from Body "Hat Syndrome" to "Future Rhythms" to "Who Got the Gravy?"

Dude really looked out for his crew too. It's been talked about on here, but Shock is the one the revealed how bad of a shape Saafir was in, and really made his best efforts to look out for him and get him the medical attention that he needed.

Not enough gets mentioned about his production skills. Besides all the D.U. stuff, he worked well with lots of other artists, producing absolute heat for artists Saafir, the Luniz, and MURS. It's really a fucking shame that the album he produced for No Face during Interscope's early days never saw the light of day (I'm not even sure if it was completed).

He was also incredibly influential. As Jesse Thorn (aka Polarbeartoenails) wrote, it's hard to imagine the Hyphy movement or Mac Dre's late career surge happening with Shock G and Digital Underground setting the groundwork.

Shock G had a lot of issues and demons. He took care of others, but he was coping with a lot himself. It's awful that he's gone at 57. Rest in Peace.