Brand Nubian Drop ‘One For All’ Album – Today in Hip-Hop

On this day, Dec. 4, in hip-hop history...

1990: Following the release of their self-titled single in 1989, the legendary Hip-Hop group Brand Nubian stepped onto the rap scene in a big way when they dropped their debut studio album One for All on December 4, 1990 through Elektra Records.

As soon as it was released, the album received a ton of critical acclaim and quickly defined the New Rochelle, NY crew comprised of Grand Puba, Sadat X, Lord Jamar and DJ Alamo as a group of highly skilled MCs with a powerful message and enough bravado to appeal to the streetwise hip-hop heads at the time. By masterfully blending socially conscious political views, edgy rhymes that appealed to the culture's youth and production that could rock any block party, One for All became known as one of the most influential albums of the late-80s/early-90s and arguably one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.

Most of the 16-track LP's soulful, funky production is credited to Brand Nubian as a whole, but also featured tracks produced by Stimulated Dummies, Dave "Jam" Hall and Skeff Anselm. While the album reached its peak at number 130 on the Billboard 200, One for All had three successful singles, two of which, "Slow Down" and "Wake Up," landed in the top 10 on the Hot Rap Singles chart at numbers 3 and 5 respectively.

Unfortunately for the rap game at the time, tension among the members of Brand Nubian caused both Grand Puba and DJ Alamo to leave the group in 1992, but the crew would join forces again five years later, eventually sealing their fate among hip-hop heads as one of the best MC trios to ever rock the mic.

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