Son of the City by Dante Ross

Author:Dante Ross
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rare Bird Books
Published: 2023-05-18T20:05:36+00:00

I was trying to juggle Brand Nubian, Shazzy, and the Leaders. I also had to deal with a never-ending game of musical chairs in the urban promotion department. In the beginning of 1992, we finally got someone who could deliver—an OG named Ruben Rodriguez (RIP), who came over from Sony with his own attached production/label, Pendulum Records. Ruben had been Lyor’s archnemesis at Columbia and knew me vaguely from the Def Jam/Rush connection. Ruben favored long mink coats and LVMH luggage, and he called everyone baby. He didn’t dig me too much, and the feeling was mutual. He probably saw me as a threat, but he knew Krasnow was checking for me, so he played nice. I hoped the guy would break one of my records. He was capable.

More importantly, I was delivering. I remembered what Russell told me when he reprimanded me for getting into it with Hank: “Make a hit record and you can beat up anyone you want.” The Source had given a five-mic review to Brand Nubian’s One for All, which helped push the album over 150,00 records sold by the time Ruben came aboard. The record was still going strong, moving close to 10,000 a week steadily, which it would do for the remainder of the year. It peaked out at about 350,000 units—not bad for an underground record that cost $80,000 to make.

Of course, it wasn’t going to be smooth sailing. There was dissension in the ranks with the Nubians. Puba was ego-tripping, and Jamar and X weren’t having it. They were intent on being respected, and Puba was intent on being Puba. He missed gigs constantly. He was dismissive in interviews. He had his own DJ, Ron Stud (RIP). He was a wildly irresponsible cat. One day, I got a call from Pow Wow, the old Soul Sonic Force member, and Afrika Bambaataa, the head of the Zulu Nation.

They asked me in a not-so-nice way why LG hadn’t gotten paid or received any producer credit for the songs, “Who Can Get Busy Like This Man…” and “Grand Puba, Positive and L.G.” I was shocked. I thought Puba had done the beats—because that’s what he told me when I created the final credits with him. I asked those guys if they were serious, and Pow Wow explained he was deadly so. I respectfully promised to get to the bottom of it. Apparently Puba had blamed it on me when questioned by LG and Pow Wow. It started to come to light that Puba had a habit of forgetting to give people proper production credit, something that would surface again later. I love him to this day, but I would never rely on him for anything, least of all part of my income. I feel badly that the other brothers in the Nubians have to continually deal with his shenanigans. I’m long done babysitting grown men.

Puba is a wild cat. I believe he is deathly afraid of success. One minute he is a man with

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