Keep It Beautiful

Gregory "Shock G" Jacobs was the voice behind "The Humpty Dance," the producer who worked on Tupac Shakur's "I Get Around," and a central figure in the hip-hop group Digital Underground. Keep It Beautiful, named for one of his favorite sayings, tells his story in his own words, set down with the help of his friend and fellow artist Alexis Wolfe Mbassa, who curated the book.

The memoir takes readers back to hip-hop's early days, when the music still lived in urban neighborhoods and clubs while edging toward the mainstream. It offers a fresh look at the nightlife and street scenes of the 1980s and 1990s, and at how the group came together, the same group that gave Tupac Shakur his start in music.

This is a full-color, fully illustrated book rather than a plain run of text. Traditional memoir sits alongside photographs, song lyrics, Shock G's own drawings and storyboards, and pages of his handwriting. The result is part keepsake and part portrait of an artist's mind, with the playful, soulful and colorful style he was known for.