by Andy Kellman Maxwell Dixon, better known as Grand Puba, is best-known for fronting Brand Nubian for the groups first album — and the excellent full-blown reunion album, 1998s Foundation — but he actually made his commercial debut with the Masters of Ceremony, a group who released a 1988 album (Dynamite) on 4th & Broadway. Puba went solo with 1992s Reel to Reel, which featured the excellent singles 360 Degrees (What Goes Around) and Check It Out (with Mary J. Blige). Never the most prolific rap artist, it took three years for a sophomore release (1995s 2000), and his third album (the lackluster Understand This) didnt come until 2001. Throughout his career, his lyrical schemes have been drizzled with the influence of his Nation of Islam beliefs.