26, a cover of Lauryn Hill’s 1998 classic. TNT Recordings released the album’s first single, “ To Zion,” on Oct. The title of the forthcoming album, planned for release sometime in 2022, is a reference to one of the many aliases Jacobs used during his time with Digital Underground. Jacobs, who passed away unexpectedly in April, was not widely recognized for his musicianship when he was alive-most casual fans remember him today for his raps and various stage personas with Digital Underground-which makes “ The Piano Man,”a loose collection of jazz-styled solo piano songs played by Jacobs, so notable. That word is thrown around quite a bit but I think he was talented in that he could hear a song, then he could just play it.” “Looking back at it, I think he was truly talented. Jacobs was a lot younger than the other musicians he was playing with at the piano bars, said Craig, a testament to his skill level and confidence, even at an early age. According to Craig, Jacobs tried studying piano formally for a spell at Hillsborough Community College, but got kicked out of the class (for reasons unspecified by Craig). He figured out how to play more songs by ear and eventually became a mainstay at piano bars in Tampa, Florida, where he lived before moving to Oakland. His grandmother, Gloria Ali, taught him how to play Monk’s “Round Midnight,” and from there Jacobs took off. “Our pops had a crate of records-Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Band of Gypsys’ was in there, ‘Kind of Blue’ was in there, and ‘Straight No Chaser’ by Thelonius Monk was in there too,” said Craig. “We never sat down and talked about it, but I figured it’s because his piano teacher never taught him songs he wanted to learn.”īut with musical influences surrounding him, it was only a matter of time before Jacobs came around to tapping out notes on the family’s old piano. In fact, “he hated it,” recalls his brother, Kent Craig. Gregory “Shock G” Jacobs, the late frontman of the legendary Oakland hip-hop group Digital Underground, didn’t take to the piano right away when his parents gave him lessons as a kid.

The piano man by Alain Diot