The Humpty Dance

Composition

Of the five raw elements that make up the "Humpty Dance" drum track, one is a sample from "Sing a Simple Song" by Sly & The Family Stone, in the form of a one-measure-long drum loop. Digital Underground incorporated the Family Stone drum loop with four other raw elements; a deep tonal kick drum that alternated between two bass notes, a handclap snare (also a sample, taken from "Theme From the Black Hole" by the band Parliament), drum-machine hi-hats running continuously throughout which were programmed to 8th-notes, and a guitar hit happening once every bar, all assembled into the now-familiar pattern that forms the Humpty Dance drum track. The vocal sample that happens in the song's chorus sections is from Parliament's "Let's Play House" from their 1980 album, Trombipulation.

Subject matter

"The Humpty Dance" is a tribute to Humpty's sexual prowess despite his ridiculous appearance. Humpty introduces the appearance theme with the opening line, "I'm about to ruin the image and the style that you're used to," a protest against the uniformity among successful rappers of the time.

In the final verse, Humpty describes the Humpty Dance itself as a loose, easy dance, "like MC Hammer on crack ... Anyone can play this game." The contrast is with the precision dancing in MC Hammer's videos. The song ends with an invitation for people of all races to join in the dance.

Humpty Hump

"The Humpty Dance" is Shock G's second song to feature his alter-ego "Humpty Hump," who debuted on "Doowutchyalike" which was Digital Underground's first video release in 1989. The character, which sports a buffoon persona, colorful clothes, and Groucho glasses, is sung by Shock G. A fictional biography was constructed for Humpty, the story being that Edward Ellington Humphrey III, former lead singer of "Smooth Eddie and the Humpers," had become a rapper after burning his nose in a kitchen accident with a deep-fryer. Because of the "accident", the character is seen wearing a large nose disguise.

In popular culture

The song was featured in the VH1 series I Love the 90's, and also on America's Best Dance Crew, where it was included in a dance routine performed by Super Cr3w. The song was also featured in Charlie's Angels. "Weird Al" Yankovic covered the song for the polka medley "Polka Your Eyes Out" from his 1992 album Off the Deep End. The song is also available for play in the 2004 karaoke video game Get On Da Mic for PlayStation 2. It was sampled by Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and by the Spice Girls on their debut album Spice as the track "If U Can't Dance". A performance of the song was featured in the movie Nothing But Trouble.

The song was also featured in The Wood, "Dope (2015 film)", The Green Hornet, Step Up 2: The Streets, and the fourth episode of the Fox comedy series Surviving Jack.

The song is part of Barney Stinson's "Get Psyched Mix" on "How I Met Your Mother".

The song was lip synced by Abbi Jacobson on the LL Cool J hosted "Lip Sync Battle".

The song is also sung by an alligator in the animated film Sing.

The song was featured in commercials for Intuit and TurboTax featuring Humpty Dumpty.

"The Humpty Dance" as a source of samples

"The Humpty Dance" is one of the most sampled songs recorded by a hip hop/rap artist, boasting over 50 usages in other songs. By 1993, less than three years after its release, it had already been sampled in over 20 popular songs, most of them utilizing its drum track. In fact, it was sampled so much that Digital Underground humorously devoted the song "The Humpty Dance Awards" from their album The Body-Hat Syndrome to the many recording artists who sampled the track. Since then, dozens more artists have sampled the Humpty Dance song, from Ice Cube to Public Enemy.

Songs that sampled "The Humpty Dance"

NOTE: Songs that did not directly sample "The Humpty Dance" are not included in this list.

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