July 6–13, 1995

disc quicks|Hip-Hop

Grand Puba

A little too soon to call an album 2000, perhaps? Not for Grand Puba. Based on how long it took to deliver this new record, it's quite likely Puba is counting on it to carry him through the end of the decade.

After appearing on two of rap's more accomplished and entertaining releases — Brand Nubian's 1990 debut One For All and his own 1992 solo effort Reel To Reel — Grand Puba seemed to fall off the face of hip-hop. Three years later he has resurfaced, first freestyling in a Sprite commercial and now with his long overdue second solo work, 2000.

Puba carried those first two records on the inventiveness of his rhyme style: a little Slick Rick swagger, some Biz Markie pop culture referencing and tone deaf singing, and a lot of Puba's own distinctive whine and boast. On 2000, Puba recaptures all of that and sounds like he's never been away. As before, he packs scores of name-drops and song snatches — from Erkel to "Little Drummer Boy" — in between his own self-aggrandizing hyperbole and earns more than a few chuckles for the effort.

Also tried-and-true Puba, the tracks on 2000 favor a heavy bounce and melodic soul groove over the more raw and rhythmic funk backings of most rappers — which means there's more music and fatter hooks than usual. Plus a bonus: Virtually none of the pseudo-Islamic race theories that have occasionally popped up in Puba's lyrics.

The only disappointment: not enough material. 2000 offers a mere eleven songs, many of which lean more on a hired R&B singer's croon than on the raps. But not to worry — 2001 is just around the corner.

— Roni Sarig