By Kevin Jackson—
IN the late 1980s and early 1990s, rapper Chubb Rock released several successful albums and topped the Billboard charts four times.
Known for hits such as The Chubbster, Treat ’em Right, Just the Two of Us, Lost in the Storm and Just Ask Me To (featuring singer Tevin Campbell), Chubb Rock has established himself on radio in Atlanta.
In his mid-50s, he hosts the popular Authentic Caribbean Connection on Radio One’s Magic 107.5 FM in the Georgia capital. He has a similar role for two other shows — The Ride and Digging Crates — on the station.
Authentic Caribbean Connection is driven by contemporary music from Jamaica and the Eastern Caribbean. Its success has resulted in Radio One’s television division (Irie TV) offering Chubb Rock a channel for Caribbean programming.
This is expected to get off the ground this year.
Born Richard Simpson in Brooklyn, New York to Jamaican parents, Chubb Rock moved to Jamaica at the age of three months. He lived on Princess Street in downtown, Kingston but returned to Brooklyn at age three.
He currently resides between Atlanta and Brooklyn.
A former US National Merit Scholar, Chubb Rock was a pre-med student at Ivy League Brown University but dropped out to pursue a music career.
“My cousin Howie Tee was a big DJ at the time and he was the one who got me involved in music. I started writing for people when I was 19 and my first song was Rock & Roll Dude,” he told the Sunday Observer.
At the start of his career, hip hop and rap music were making headway in mainstream America. Almost every major record label had a rap or hip hop act on its roster.
Chubb Rock was signed to three labels in his heyday: Select Records, Elektra Records and Warner Brothers. In 2008, his single, Treat ’em Right, ranked number 82 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.
To date he has released five studio albums. This summer he plans to release his first album in five years.
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