Dude had NY swag, lyrics galore, 5% backing and a dope crew...


but I wonder what happened?


I love Africans, but HATE the N-gger in YOU!!!

http://www.unkut.com/2009/04/dante-ross-the-unkut-interview-part-2-the-elektra-era/

You mentioned something about Serch and Bosco Money hearing something you were working on and they bugged out?

I played Puba for them. I played ‘Step To The Rear’ and ‘Who Can Get Busy Like This Man’, and them dudes didn’t know what to do. Bosco looked like he was gonna shit his pants, and Serch was like, ‘Yo, that’s on some next shit!’ I remember that clearly, that was like craze. Puba was so good back then – he was just incredible, he was just the best. If he hadn’t fucked it up? Wow, he was great. Like I look at Everlast – and I’m like, ‘He ain’t the best rapper, he’s not the greatest singer; he’s a good songwriter. He’s a great personality – meaning he’s very good at being a star – he’s a very interesting character. But he’s never as purely talented as a Puba, right? But he’s done so much more with his career. He did so many different things and went so far with his career because he’s driven and he’s into it and he’s positive about how he handles his shit. It’s a shame, you look at Puba – I mean, look at Busta, same thing. Like Busta made so much money…Puba probably could’ve made money like Busta, but he just didn’t go about it right. And that my friends – that’s the rap game!

But I don’t know if Puba ever had that star quality that someone like Busta does…he was a trend-setter though.

Nah, he doesn’t. But he invented ‘swag’! Who invented having swagger? Puba was talkin’ about all that shit way back when. He was the flyest dude, dressed the best – when he said a brand’s name, it was on. Nah’mean? He built Tommy Hilfinger! He should be getting checks to this…and Girbaud and a bunch of other shit, man. He was always a fly motherfucker.

But frustrating to deal with?

Grand Puba…I’ll say this – and I’ve said it to him – he’s the world’s greatest under-achiever. He was an amazing rapper and there really was a point when he was like ‘the dude’ – he really was ‘The Man’ – he really could’ve had a lengthy little run. And for whatever reason – and I’ve seen a bunch of people do this – he didn’t take advantage of the situation, he was really irresponsible and wasted a lot of people’s time and energy – his own included – and never got to maximize his talent. That’s a sad thing. At the end of the day, Puba definitely mismanaged his career. He was a screw-up. I still try to believe in him, but it’s tough sometimes.

It seemed like on the 2000 album that he just showed-up to the studio and did his rhyme and that was it.

Yeah, there was a lot of that. You can hear that he was just trying to get paid. He wasn’t into tryin’ to make great art, and that’s what it became for him, like it was a hustle. So many things, when they’re really easy for people, take them for granted.




*CROCKA*

word booty.

HSUBAKCITS

www.smokingsection.net



http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r9/chowyunskinny/Gold%20Chef/iron_chef.jpg

Yes Puba was dope but I liked him waaayyy better within the confines of Brand Nubian.

I don't feel like there is anything he could have done to put himself anywhere close to a Busta type of career.

Everlast? Possibly. But it would take a heck of a marketing dept. to force that into play.

I say this because Puba was pretty 1 dimensional.

He was pretty much about "Swag"(for lack of a better word).
That and that 5% Nation stuff which obviously became played out.
(which by the way,sort of made me stop listening to him & many others later on when I was finally able to figure out what he was actually talking about.)


Regardless, I challenge anybody to not like "Step To The Rear".

If you don't like that song, the problem is with YOU! Not Puba.

sad, but maybe true...that said, duke still got ALOT of bangers....

...sad, but maybe true...that said, duke still got ALOT of bangers...

damn shame...

& I like this quote >So many things, when they’re really easy for people, take them for granted.

reel to reel is one of my favorites..

but he definitely lacked "star quality" IMO. As much as I loved Puba back in the day I think he needed every star to align in order for him to "blow up" like Busta or Nas.

the reason he was circled as the member of Brand Nubian who needed to go solo & why he was plucked for the 'What's the 411?' feature (back when those kind of features were few & far between) was directly due to that quality.

He had a classic voice, skills & swag/charisma/whatever by the boatload.

What he didn't have was great songs/vision as a solo MC.

That was kind of a regional thing though right? I would like to know how was Puba viewed outside of the east coast. We all know he was pretty big in the NYC area.

Old southern groups straight ripped off Run DMC and Who dini. 2 Live Crew was still doing pre-rakim flows.

Brand Nubian, X-Clan, and PE were all getting radio burn nationwide, but you have to rememeber this was when most Black stations, were

1) not called urban
2) not called churban
3) weren't the #1 home for hip hop and R&B
4) weren't playing rap music outside of night time mix shows.

NYC didn't have an all hip hop all the time station then. (it doesn't now really, but that's another topic)

Nationally, Rap music existed on the video level and the album level. Less so on the radio level, cause radio was slow to add hip hop to the mix.

This is a small slice of history that immediately changed in 92/93, but prior to that Puba was a well known name for anyone that liked rap music. If you were in high school or middle school at the time, you were up on Puba.

After that, after Dre and Snoop, when black radio started to play considerably more rap music outside of the mix shows - that's when a lot of these east coast rappers became less commercially viable.

It wasn't some stylistic preference in those days, cause most of the time your local rappers sounded corny.

one
k. orr

Same way NWA, Too Short & 2 Live Crew were for me growing up in Philly/NJ.

They were all coming through the same channels back then because space for rap music period was all pretty segregated.

He was biggin up what we were already wearing.

>He was biggin up what we were already wearing.

I was onto Girbaud already but I wasn't up on the Baggy Cowboy's until I saw him wearing them.

they were wearing both at the time and most had no idea who Puba was.

FOH

-------------------------
“The other dude after me didn’t help my case. It was just like…crazy nigga factory going on.”
Dre makes no apologies for his own eccentricities. “I was young, and searching, trying to find myself,” he says. “Never did.”-- Andre B

straight preppy. i didn't notice hilfiger till 93/94

>they were wearing both at the time and most had no idea who
>Puba was.

I only ask because naturally if the South was up on Hilfiger & Girbaud in 91/92 then I'm sure there would have been a Southern rapping bragging about their expensive fashion tastes.

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Or Hilly

Matter a fact down south dudes use to have jokes when they seen people rockin it.

don't know about Hilfiger, but my fascination with Guess was backed with Girbaud.

hilfiger dont tho

i dont recall cats on polo that tough either in the 90s


do or die

Mississippi. We were on that pretty boy shit down there hard tho in the early 90's lol.

"Down South" was not up on that shit before NYC.

And I'm not sure if anybody would be on some fly shit and not know who GRAND PUBA was in 1990.

He wasn't underground or some unknown.

Dude was not popping in the south. Nor was brand nubian. There are more than a few cats that y'all champion that never broke through down here.

>Dude was not popping in the south. Nor was brand nubian.
>There are more than a few cats that y'all champion that never
>broke through down here.

and every damn hip-hop related magazine. Puba performed 360 on In Living Color are you going to tell me people in the South didn't watch that show? Cut the bullshit the South didn't really have a lot of artists popping nationally so unless you sat around with the TV off listening to Bass music all day you knew who they were.

Just because you're on tv doesn't mean the fans of hip hop are playing your shit in the streets. MC Hammer and vanilla ice were on tv too. No play in the streets. I'm speaking Atlanta. I don't know about the other parts of the south but I do know that we always had our own little scene. The artists from NY that broke through to other regions usually have a good plaque. Puba doesn't have one. I was one of the few kids listening to east coast shit in high school. 4,000 plus students and there was a group of maybe 20/30 of us that fucked with east coast music. Too $hort was on rap city too and I'm pretty sure NY wasn't playing his shit much.

It doesn't matter how much I liked Too Short, I was into hip-hop so I knew who he was. I knew what he looked like, I knew what he sounded like, what type of gear he rocked, I even know that he had messed up teeth and he got them fixed at some point. He might not have been bumping in the NYC streets but he had influence because of his platform.
If there was only 5-6 rap videos being shown on Yo MTV Raps or whatever I damn sure wasn't going to change the channel because I didn't like one particular video.
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Where did I say they didn't know who he was? I said he wasn't getting play down here fam. End of story.

and not just down I-95. Smh

There were only so many outlets for hip hop.

So saying you didn't know who Puba or Brand Nubian was, means you weren't on some hip hop shit.

Never said nobody knew who they were. I said they got no play down this way. A lot of people had videos. Doesn't mean people played their music in the streets. Just because I see your video doesn't mean I'm playing your music on my own time.

...i get that you're saying that WHERE YOU'RE FROM puba wasn't poppin like that, but STOP sayin "the South", cause were i'm from, cats knew who he was and loved Grand Puba/BN....your spot in the the southern states does not equal the the mindset of the whole...

>...i get that you're saying that WHERE YOU'RE FROM puba
>wasn't poppin like that, but STOP sayin "the South", cause
>were i'm from, cats knew who he was and loved Grand
>Puba/BN....your spot in the the southern states does not equal
>the the mindset of the whole...

talking about hip-hop history but that doesn't give you the right to fabricate shit. His POV just doesn't seem realistic.


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but to me cats are making Puba larger than he actually is/was. if he was that large he'd have a gold plaque or something. i'm sure he has fans outside of NY scattered here and there but for the most part he's pretty regional as is most hip hop.

i went to dillards the NEXT day & copped

fucking right he was the one who blew it up, you wasnt seeing scarface in hilfiger put it like that

...but he didn't want to improve on it. To me, he just seem like an egotistical emcee who thought nobody would/could ever out-do him. He was wrong.

name someone who had a pre-sampling, drum machine based pre-GOLDEN age classic

"sexy" (masters of ceremony)

a BONAFIDE golden age CLASSIC (5% manifesto no less)

"one for all" (brand nubian)...

I feel 2000 is a classic and that REEL to REEL definitely has classic joints on it...

those were solo projects

he produced classic joints for positive k and lyte

Brand Nubian Foundation is a CRIMINALLY SLEPT ON RECORD and that was released in the late 90s????

who else had such a run?? who was around in 85 that was around in 97'???

for rhyming and producing no less?? lol


y'all keep listening to DANTE (i never did nothing but be in the right place at the right time ) ROSS...lol

He's not the only voice regarding Grand Puba. If Puba was really lazy he would have just stayed in Brand Nubian and not gone solo. But he knew what was possible in the game and went for it. As you said Puba was around for a LONG time, AND he was NICE. I'm more of the opinion that he didn't know how to really craft a solo project. He works better in a group setting for a full length. I love his solo singles but never felt compelled to hear his solo albums. I'd rather the Brand Nubian albums.

And furthermore yes the Foundations was a great piece of work, and even then Puba was stealing the show...AGAIN!

>He's not the only voice regarding Grand Puba. If Puba was
>really lazy he would have just stayed in Brand Nubian and not
>gone solo. But he knew what was possible in the game and went
>for it. As you said Puba was around for a LONG time, AND he
>was NICE. I'm more of the opinion that he didn't know how to
>really craft a solo project. He works better in a group
>setting for a full length. I love his solo singles but never
>felt compelled to hear his solo albums. I'd rather the Brand
>Nubian albums.
>
>And furthermore yes the Foundations was a great piece of work,
>and even then Puba was stealing the show...AGAIN!


...Puba had no idea of what to do as a solo...but within BN he shined cause he had a struture to really work with...he had his own voice, and talked about alot of different things, but didn't know in which way he should go on his solo and i think many of those songs lacked the spark he usually brought to the BN joints and collabos he did....

>He's not the only voice regarding Grand Puba. If Puba was
>really lazy he would have just stayed in Brand Nubian and not
>gone solo. But he knew what was possible in the game and went
>for it. As you said Puba was around for a LONG time, AND he
>was NICE. I'm more of the opinion that he didn't know how to
>really craft a solo project. He works better in a group
>setting for a full length. I love his solo singles but never
>felt compelled to hear his solo albums. I'd rather the Brand
>Nubian albums.
>
>And furthermore yes the Foundations was a great piece of work,
>and even then Puba was stealing the show...AGAIN!

Puba was a beast and he was my favorite MC when All for One dropped but I don't think he had "IT" to really blow up as a solo artist.

>who else had such a run?? who was around in 85 that was around
>in 97'???

puba's 12 yr runs is up there with the most impressive...

he's the only beatmaker to last from pre-sampling to after

and one of the few pre-rakim rappers to survive post rakim

take ya heads out the sand

>puba's 12 yr runs is up there with the most impressive...
>
>he's the only beatmaker to last from pre-sampling to after
>
>and one of the few pre-rakim rappers to survive post rakim
>
>take ya heads out the sand

krs is the ONLY other person you could come up with!

and he's top 3 all time!!!!

in a post saying Puba is lazy

not too mention "step up front" and just about anything on all for one is better than KRS "productions"

i didnt say puba was thee greatest. i pointed out this post is a reach.

if he's lazy...why have few have done what he has done?

**AND KRS DIDNT HAVE A PRE-SAMPLE CLASSIC..!

"Highly iffy." I can't think of any KRS album overrun with wack beats. Shit even Spiritual Minded got bang. Whatever man. His personal productions? The Desolate One? D - Nice? FO

d-nice produced d-nice

I thought he did

louis armstrong aint ill?

what does it being 15 years ago have anything to do with anything?

R.I.F.

is the convo about who is the hottest now??

cats thinking they smart but special eddie

....and was probably the biggest Party/Club Record when it dropped

We all know that Grand Puba was Pete Rock's ghost writer for all the raps he did on "Mecca & The Soul Brother" & "Main Ingredient", but I also heard he was also wrote a few songs for Mary J. Blige and a few other r&b & rap artists as well; is there any proof of this info?

these johnny come latelys dont know shit...

in the early 90's

...and you KNOW Puba would have been a WAY better look than Craig Mack, Mase or Lox on Bad Boy ...he was actually PERFECT for Bad Boy

...as much as people wanna shit on Puba in this post for his lack of motivation, his performance on The Foundation record was top notch, thats two CLASSIC Brand Nubian records with Puba 2 for 2

you mean for being "lazy"? i dunno, cuz Puff hooked up with Big and from all accounts Big loved hiphop but was more focused on making money for the fam than making hiphop til he was convinced it would pay off....if that's all true then puff woulda been able to motivate puba too...

But Puba was way more engaging and talented than craig mack.
this might have changed the course of badboy all together

-------------------------
“The other dude after me didn’t help my case. It was just like…crazy nigga factory going on.”
Dre makes no apologies for his own eccentricities. “I was young, and searching, trying to find myself,” he says. “Never did.”-- Andre B

>But Puba was way more engaging and talented than craig mack.
>
>this might have changed the course of badboy all together
>

changed it for better or worse?

ad Boy was about partying and selling records... and I think Puba would have been on the sideline just like Mack.

He would've fit perfectly, IMO.



Since 1976

because the older heads just go in on you. One For All isn't a classic to me. I don't care what rating the source gave it. I look at all of the LP's from that year and there are plenty of other albums i'd take over it. Foundation isn't a classic either. It had a few bangers but was pretty boring like the previous Brand Nubian LP. Puba's catalog doesn't scream out great to me. No classic albums and limited subject matter.

just makes him look JCL

lol...

its pretty much universally accepted...

i personally dont think chronic is a classic...but hell if imma actually argue that with ppl

>just makes him look JCL
>
>lol...
>
>its pretty much universally accepted...

oh really. classic singles maybe but i have never heard anybody in my hood call that album a classic. that's from the cats my age on up to the older heads in their mid 40's now. maybe it's universally accepted on the east coast.

>
>i personally dont think chronic is a classic...but hell if
>imma actually argue that with ppl

One For All ain't The Chronic though.

it for damn sure aint...

instead of being the same 3 funkadelic songs recycled it actually crosses about every genre in music!!!

classic hip hop
rock, reggae, jazz, new jack swing influenced joints all in one

classic joints made with james brown, the young holt trio and edie brickell lol

we won't even get into the rapping

...might be the two GREATEST hip hop albums of all time

smfh @ anyone trying to shit on one for all...

and even question its classic status

honestly...it destroys all credibility

I'll just call One For All a classic that doesn't move me.

Cause that's just as dated as 1-4-All

one
k. orr

Mainly west coast music got played because it had harder content. East coast wasn't really getting play like that. That's why when I heard some I knew it had to be something serious. My uncles and their crew had PE, EPMD, Eric B & Rakim, BDP, Slick Rick, LL and surprisingly even De La bumping during the late 80's. I can't front though they only played Buddy, Potholes and Plug Tunin. They clowned that album for the most part. I came across BDK and Kool G on my own later on.

One For All is a classic that doesn't move me then. It ain't that serious fam.

...exactly...so funny. LOL...

"It wasn't big in my hood"

really? REALLY? You really love where you grew up because if it didn't happen in your hood it didn't happen.

He said one for all is universally accepted as a classic. Really? It takes a nation, paid in full, the great adventures of, etc. are universally accepted classics. One for all isn't in that category. Now if you wanna call it a regional classic, cool because i've heard more than a few cats from that region co-sign that notion. There are only a few indisputable classics. One for all isn't one of them.

Fab is the laziest people just give him a pass because he has hit records.
Kurupt is up there too. Dude has been haphazardly throwing big words together for a while now.

Did he get a regular job?
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Puba made that nasty ass line sound smooth as silk.

Puba wins.



lurkin since 1999. werd.

...duke was/is nice with his....I change my mind, duke ain't lazy, just maybe never reached his full potential...great MC.

dude is still got it.

Top 10 fave mc in my book

I like that album except for the autotune joint.


*CROCKA*

word booty.

HSUBAKCITS

www.smokingsection.net



http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r9/chowyunskinny/Gold%20Chef/iron_chef.jpg

Nowadays I'm on some extra be careful (shit)
I take precaution, before I slide up in the slit
Man (fuck) that I put aluminum foil on my (dick)
Cause if you catch it, boy that (shit)'ll kick you quick
Better yet, you can pass me a Ziplock
A bag of boom, and a 40 then some boot knock
I get stiff and it's hard like Charles Bronson
It's kinda (fucked) up what happened to Magic Johnson
But anyway, you know the resume
Time to drop the Girbauds and parlay, HEY
I rock the world over big botty girls
Won't hit the skinz if she gotta jheri curl
cause when I jump into my thing I make the bedspring sing
And you can ask my old fling, who's the bedroom king?
Hit the skinz hard, she'll hang on to the bedpost
Then I drop my load, then get up and make some french toast
Run and get the paper and it won't be the Post
After that you know the flavor I'm ghost!

another lil quickie...

you can knock tha boots
if u wanna spend tha loot

but the way i heard tha scoop
thats not tha move troop

thats not ur everyday shit.

>Won't hit the skinz if she gotta jheri curl


>Then I drop my load, then get up and make some french toast


It's what makes Puba grand. lol

...thats my shit right there. Game. Set. Match...slick wordplay/flavor...dope...

and loved grand puba and brand. Must admit it was me and all the friends I had that came down herefrom up north though.