Money B is money no longer.

“It’s weird as hell,” says the 29-year-old Digital Underground rapper. “You do your show, and afterward a girl come up to you, and you thinkin’ she’s hot and you wanna get with her, and she’s like, ‘I remember you when I was in second grade.'”

Nostalgia can be an ugly thing.

But Money B isn’t fretting. He claims to look 19, and more importantly, he’s got what his Underground crew calls “the gravy.”

Money B isn’t precise on exactly what “the gravy” is, but he does say this: “Gravy makes whatever you put it on taste better.”

Much like “gettin’ busy” was the central theme on Digital Underground’s 1990 breakthrough record, “Sex Packets,” gravy runs rampant on the band’s 1998 illustrious “Who Got the Gravy?”

“We got the gravy,” Money B answers. “Wherever you play it, the party’s going to be a little bit better.”

Digital Underground formed in Oakland, Calif., in the late ’80s by the crazy, whack, funky Shock G and his many alter egos, the most famous being Humpty Hump, who was immortalized a few years later on the hit single “The Humpty Dance.”

Money B hooked up with Shock G just before recording “Sex Packets,” which went platinum in less than a year and was praised for its jazzy interludes and innovative amalgam of P-Funk samples and live instrumentation.

“Sex Packets” introduced the G-Funk sound that proved highly influential along the West Coast with rhymers such as Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur, who got his start as a dancer with Digital Underground in 1990.

“When we made ‘Sex Packets,’ we didn’t know it would blow up to the extent that it did,” Money B explains. “You have to make music that you like.”

And this is the philosophy by which Digital Underground has lived the past 10 years.

While “This Is an E.P. Release” and 1991’s “Sons Of the P,” which featured the radio hit “Kiss You Back,” were commercial successes, 1993’s “Body Hat Syndrome” and 1996’s “Future Rhythm” were much the opposite.

“When we make an album, we hope everybody digs it,” Money B explains. “But we don’t say, ‘OK, we gotta make this album so we can get back on top of the charts.'”

Digital Underground is above record sales. Where luxurious lifestyles and classy images take precedent with most rappers, Digital Underground is more concerned with partying and making music.

“I’m always gonna be a musician, even when I’m 65-years old,” Money B says. “I might not put records out, but I’ll still be making music.”

Chances are, Money will still be with his Underground posse. Ten years of rapping together has made Digital Underground more of a family than a group.

Money B, Shock G, Clee, John Doe and a host of alter-egos are the brothas who make up the ever-evolving Underground kindred.

“We’re past being just friends,” Money B says. “If we get in a fight, we’ll wake up the morning and it’s, ‘Fuck you … let’s go eat.’ We’ve gone through so many experiences with each other.”

Digital Underground expanded its crew on “Gravy” to include high-profile guests KRS-One, Biz Markie and Big Punisher.

“We went to New York and hooked up with the folks who we admired,” Money B says of the collaborations. “We hadn’t gotten an East Coast influence on an album for a while.”

Like the group’s earlier material, “Gravy” has something for everyone, from the street-style flow on “The Mission” to the good-natured humor battle on “The Odd Couple.”

“Wind Me Up,” the first single off “Gravy,” features a Bootsy Collins hook with all the funk flavor of a club hit.

“It’s a song you don’t have to think too hard about. It’s just ‘Wind It Up,’ you know, ‘shake that ass,'” Money B says. “We don’t ever say, ‘Let’s make a song for these guys and then make one for these kind of people.’ We just got in the studio and did what we felt.”

“Gravy” is undoubtedly the most fine-tuned of Digital Underground’s efforts. When recording was finished, Shock G spent several months locked up in a New York recording studio making sure each track came out just right.

Money B explains, “You gotta perfect the gravy. We tried it with pepper, we tried it with some oregano, we tried it with both. We kept trying ingredients until the recipe was perfect.”

With “Gravy,” Digital Underground hopes to save hip-hop from becoming a mecca for mass marketing. Going back to the old school sounds “that gave Humpty a chance,” the group is hoping to put the hop back in hip-hop.

“Back in the day, hip-hop wasn’t making as much money as it is now,” Money B explains. “Now, it’s big business so you have some people who are doing it just to make money and maybe aren’t even that skilled.

Digital Underground is worried that money-hungry rappers will dilute the market.

“People eat what they are fed,” Money B says. “We don’t eat ants or shit like that, but they eat ants in Africa, and they eat monkey brains in India. But it’s nothing to them because that’s what their fed.

“But everybody eats gravy. You even gotta put gravy on monkey brains.”

Digital Underground plays The M-Shop Monday and Tuesday night at 8 p.m. with Boogieshoes. Tickets are $13, $11 for students.