[2] In 1988, Grand Puba was looking to recruit new members to form a new band after his group Masters of Ceremony broke up.

The group recorded their first ever demo called "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That" at Jazzy Jay Studios.

The word "Nubian" came about after Jamar was reading one of Dwight York's books that he found inside the pages.

Generally acclaimed, the album drew fire for militant Five-Percenter rhetoric on tracks such as "Drop the Bomb" and "Wake Up".

A version of the Fab Five Freddy-directed video of the single "Wake Up", featuring a black man in white-face makeup, was banned from MTV.

In early 1993, Brand Nubian released their second album, In God We Trust,[7] which included the song "Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down" and the number 92 Hot-100 single "Love Me or Leave Me Alone".

That same year, the group's song "Lick Dem Muthaphuckas" was released as part of the Menace II Society soundtrack.

[7] Reviews were mixed and sales mediocre, despite the top-40 Hot Rap Tracks singles "Word is Bond" and "Hold On".

[8] Brand Nubian's original members reunited in 1997 and contributed "A Child is Born" to the Soul in the Hole soundtrack.

In 2000, Brand Nubian once again teamed up with Buckwild of D.I.T.C., releasing the single "Rockin' It", after which the members, once again, pursued their solo projects.