In all my years cataloguing the gorgeous, weird, and semi-disturbing abandoned locations on planet Earth, this is probably my favorite.
https://gizmodo.com/bulgarias-abandoned-socialist-monument-is-secretly-on-t-5889598
https://gizmodo.com/michigans-abandoned-dinosaur-amusement-park-is-way-cree-5525873
https://gizmodo.com/an-extremely-creepy-tour-of-an-abandoned-soviet-monumen-5899924
What is it? A derelict live-in sculpture of the head of the guy who rapped “The Humpty Dance.” You remember the lyrics: “♫ The Humpty Dance is your chance ♬ To do the hump!”
In case you need a crash course in early Nineties hip hop, “The Humpty Dance” was a single by Oakland, California rap group (and Tupac Shakur affiliates) Digital Underground. The group was fronted by rapper Greg “Shock G” Jacobs, who — when assuming his alter ego “Humpty Hump” — sported a pair of sunglasses with a metallic Groucho Marx nose.
And to promote their 1993 single, “Return of the Crazy One,” Digital Underground commissioned a $50,000 model of Shock G’s head from FM Productions (who also built one of Pink Floyd’s iconic pigs). This 12-foot-high, 16-foot-wide head contained a dressing room, an elevator, light-up sunglasses, and, most importantly, trapdoor nasal cavities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2tcy6qndy4
After appearing in the music video for “Return of the Crazy One” (see left), Humpty’s giant head languished in an Oakland prop warehouse for twenty-odd years. (A homeless man even lived in it for a while.) That is, until Tumblr user JohnnyPayPhone discovered it. As he explains:
The client ditched out on their storage bill and there it sits to this day […] I have learned from a former tenant of the building that a man was evicted from his apartment, and then lived surreptitiously in the head for several weeks before being discovered. There’s a small green room in there, you see, for Humpty to wait in before he arises. I emailed the L.A. Museum of Hip-hop History, they are uninterested.
And if you foot the moving bill, you can own Humpty’s head and live in it, Meet Ed style. Shock G is even willing to buy his own Rapa Nui-esque self-portrait back from you:
Whoever grabs it up, please stay in touch, and when we next need it again, I’ll reimburse your transport, storage & cleaning expenses up to the current date, to either buy it back or rent it out if it’s no longer for sale.
Related: Gulliver’s Kingdom in Japan, where a graffitied Lemuel Gulliver laid before being demolished.
https://gizmodo.com/welcome-to-gullivers-kingdom-the-unhappiest-place-on-e-5808855
Images: Johnny PayPhone. Steven Hughes via MetaFilter.
