Not beholden to any coast's style or sound, rapper/producer R.E.U.B. (Real Entrepreneur in the Underground Business of Hip-Hop) is more concerned with injecting self-awareness and artistry into hip-hop music. Born November 22, 1980, in Accra, Ghana, R.E.U.B. (real name Reubin Delle) fled with his family to the U.S. to escape political upheaval caused by a series of military coups in Ghana. Although his family settled in Fairfax, VA, Delle was raised up and down the East Coast. He officially began his musical career after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in chemistry. He found local area artists to sell his soulfully nuanced beats, and soon landed tracks for Tek (of the Boot Camp Clik) as well as for actor Mekhi Phifer's directorial debut film, Puff Puff Pass (2006). Still without any record deal, he released his first album, Pair-a-Dice, in 2004. But over the next few years, R.E.U.B. continued to work the independent circuit hard, earning many accomplishments along the way: he won first place at the 2005 Industry Standard Producer Showcase in New York City and was chosen to be a part of the "Rawkus 50" campaign, a promotional effort in 2007 by Rawkus Records to recognize the next top 50 independent artists. After being featured on the cover of On Wax magazine that summer for his independent hustle, he issued the satirical album The (Black) Rapper Show. Part parody and part critique of modern-day hip-hop, the album debuted R.E.U.B.'s production team, the Clinic, which includes himself, Proverb, and Olawale. Strikingly, though, he was still unsigned at the time. ~ Cyril Cordor