Grand Puba

This article is about the rapper. For the men's club name derived from an opera character, see Grand Poobah.

Grand Puba
Birth name	Maxwell Dixon
Also known as	Grand Puba Maxwell, Grand P
Born	March 4, 1966 (1966-03-04) (age 45)[citation needed]
Genres	Hip Hop
Years active	1985–present
Labels	4th & B'way/Island/PolyGram Records Elektra Records Arista//BMG Records Koch Records Babygrande Records
Associated acts	Brand Nubian

Maxwell Dixon (born March 4, 1966^{[citation needed]}) is an emcee best known as a member of the group Brand Nubian.^[1]

Biography

He made his debut with the group Masters of Ceremony. Its album Dynamite (1988) was hailed by critics, but probably due to lack of sales, the group soon disbanded, and Puba emerged as the lead emcee of Brand Nubian. After their innovative and versatile debut album One for All (1990)—covering areas from reggae-influenced hip hop music to new jack swing—Puba left the group after disputes with its other members and embarked on a solo career. He became a member of the group again around 1997, recording a few tracks for various soundtracks leading up to the full-length album Foundation in '98. In 1999, Puba and group mate Sadat X performed on the track "Once Again" on Handsome Boy Modeling School's concept album So... How's Your Girl? Following the group's 2004 effort Fire in the Hole, a rejuvenated Puba appeared on tracks with Beanie Sigel ("Bread and Butter," also featuring groupmate Sadat X), Missy Elliott ("My Struggles," featuring his onetime collaborator Mary J. Blige), and Ugly Duckling ("Something's Going Down Tonight").

In 2009, Grand Puba released his fourth solo album, Retroactive, featuring production from hip-hop veterans like Q-Tip, Large Professor, Kid Capri as well as his fellow Brand Nubian's. Puba also appeared on the heavy posse-cut "Fresh" together with Cormega, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, DJ Red Alert and Parrish Smith of EPMD.

On the song "Old School" by Tupac Shakur Grand Puba was sampled and used in the hook. The sample originates from Grand Puba's verse on the song "Dedication" by Brand Nubian.

Discography

• 1992: Reel to Reel
• 1995: 2000
• 2001: Understand This
• 2009: Retroactive (Babygrande Records)

References

1. ^ Allmusic

External links

• Grand Puba on Myspace
• Information about Grand Puba

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Date of birth	March 4, 1966
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