Chubb Rock

Chubb Rock rose to prominence as a leading rap figure in the late 1980s and early 1990s, recognized for an authoritative yet agile delivery and a commanding physical stature. Born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in Brooklyn, he enrolled at Brown University to study pre-med but left those studies behind to pursue music full time. Backed by his first cousin, DJ and producer Howie Tee, he joined the Select label—also home to U.T.F.O. and Whistle—and delivered his debut album, Chubb Rock Featuring Hitman Howie Tee, in 1988. A 12-inch remix of “Caught Up” made little chart impression yet exerted considerable influence.

The follow-up, And the Winner Is…, again produced with Howie Tee, reached the Top 30 on Billboard’s R&B Albums chart the next year; its single “Ya Bad Chubbs” peaked at number 15 on the Rap Singles chart and enjoyed regular airplay on Yo! MTV Raps. Two further Select releases appeared in the early 1990s: The One in 1991 and I Gotta Get Mine Yo! in 1992. The former contained his biggest success, the number-one rap single “Treat ’Em Right,” another MTV favorite.

Activity slowed for the rest of the decade, though Chubb Rock participated in Crooklyn Dodgers ’95 alongside Jeru the Damaja and O.C., supplying the DJ Premier-produced “Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers” to the Clockers soundtrack. In 1996 he appeared with Biz Markie and Prince Paul on the Red Hot Organization compilation America Is Dying Slowly. His fifth and final Select album, The Mind, arrived in 1997. Later output remained sporadic, including a contribution to Prince Paul’s Politics of the Business in 2003, the album Bridging the Gap in 2009, and a guest verse on Eric Roberson’s “Summertime Anthem” in 2011.