Kuba Grabowski (born 7 July 1991), better known by his stage names Quebonafide and Jakub Grabowski, is a Polish rapper, singer and songwriter. He is a member of the duos Yochimu and Taconafide, and the founder of the record label QueQuality.
With over 350 thousand albums sold, he is one of Poland's best-selling rappers. His biggest success thus far – the Soma 0.5 mg album, recorded with the rapper Taco Hemingway – has sold more than 150 thousand copies. Also his solo album Egzotyka proved successful, selling over 150 thousand copies. His albums have repeatedly won the status of platinum, gold and diamond records. The rapper has authored such hits as 'Candy', 'Bubbletea' or 'Tamagotchi'. Five-time nominee for the Fryderyk award, with one victory for Soma 0,5 mg in the Hip-Hop Album of the Year category. In 2018, his album Egzotyka was nominated for Empik Bestseller award in the Polish Music category.
Education He studied philosophy at the University of Warsaw.
Music career
2008–2014: Career beginnings Initially, he was a member of the duo Yochimu, together with the rapper and producer Fuso. Since 2008, they have released three albums: Pierwsze cięcie, Drugie cięcie and Flow witam. In 2012, he took part in several freestyle battles. Over time, he captured the attention of the hip-hop community. He won the Battle for the End of the World and was a finalist in the Grand Battle of Warsaw. He also ranked second in the Raciąż Freestyle Battle and the Battle of September. In 2013, he earned popularity by releasing Eklektyka mixtape on 31 July, with the SB Maffija label. The mixtape gave Quebo recognition in the Polish hip-hop community, and translated into invitations to concert tours with SB Maffija. More and more often he was featured as a guest rapper, and eventually on 18 November 2013 he released the single 'Tarot' with the guest appearance of Justyna Kuśmierczyk, followed by the unlicensed 'Album of the Year' released on 31 December 2013 together with the rapper Eripe. The album enjoyed a positive response from the audience. In 2014, Quebonafide became even more popular after appearing on Pawbeats's Utopia, on the track 'Euforia'. The song was broadcast on RMF, Eska, Polskie Radio Szczecin and Polskie Radio Trójka radio stations, reached the 3rd position on the RMF Hop Bęc chart.
2014–2015: Ezoteryka In 2014, he released the single 'Żadnych zmartwień' featuring Kuban and Kuba Knap, thus announcing his first official album. On 1 April 2014, the second single 'Hype' was released. On 15 July, he published the 'Hype' video and founded the QueQuality label together with a clothing store, and on 28 July, the third single 'Ciernie' was released, with a guest appearance by Deys. The next singles were Carnival (release date 19 November) and 'Trip' (2 December 2014). On 20 December, during the rapper's concert in the Warsaw-based niePowiem club, the rapper known as Pih forced his way onto the stage and, grabbed a microphone and shouted, "This is not hip-hop and never will be!", after which he was escorted off the stage security staff. On 22 December 2014, Quebo's album was illegally published online in an unfinished version, due to producers' negligence. Despite attempts to remove the tracks from the Internet, the album remained available for download. On 17 February 2015, the pre-sale of the album began, the date of its release was revealed, and the rapper announced that the Erotyka mixtape will be added to the album. Also on 17 February, four singles premiered: 'Voodoo', 'Kyrie Eleison' featuring Guzior, 'Powszechny i śmiertelny', and 'Ile Mogłem' with the guest appearance of K-Leah.
His debut album entitled Ezoteryka was released on 27 March 2015, becoming no. 1 of Poland's Official Sales Chart (OLiS). With over 15 thousand copies sold, it received a gold record award. The album was nominated for the title of the 2015 Polish Rap Album of the Year in the WuDoo and Hip-hop.pl plebiscite. The single from the 'Hype' album was nominated for the 2014 Sztos award and the 2014 Polish Rap Single by WuDoo and Hip-hop.pl. After the album's release, the rapper went on his first tour entitled Ezoteryka Tour. The album was ranked 41 st best-selling record in Poland. On 2 December 2015, the rapper recorded a minialbum with rapper Białas, making it available free of charge on YouTube. The CD version was included in the pre-sale of Białas' album Rehab. Initially released in one thousand copies, the minialbum went up to 3 thousand copies due to high interest.
2015–2018: Egzotyka On 1 April 2015, Quebo revealed that his new album would be entitled Egzotyka, with each song describing a different part of the world, including a music video recorded in a given region. On 18 November 2015, the first single 'Oh my Buddha' was released, with a video made in Thailand, followed by the second single 'Quebahombre' (on 18 February 2016) with a video recorded in Mexico. The song reached the 14 th place in the RMF radio charts. On 17 May 2016, two singles were released: 'Szejk' and 'Bollywood', with the guest appearance of Czesław Mozil, the former shot in Dubai and the latter in India. On 17 June 2016, the Hip-hop 2.0 compilation album of the QueQuality label was issued, making its debut on the 3 rd place of the OLiS chart. On 10 July 2016, the album's fifth single, 'Luís Nazário de Lima', was released with a video recorded in Brazil.
On 27 October 2016, Quebo released the single 'Madagascar', with a clip shot in Madagascar. The song reached the 1st place in the Hip-hop.tv station's charts. On 11 November, he made a guest appearance with the African rapper iFani in 'Sushi Dip', which was broadcast on MTV. On 11 April 2017, he released a single ''Changa' featuring rapper iFani, with a video shot in South Africa. On the same day, the pre-sale of the album began, the date of the album's release was announced and the album's cover with the tracklist was presented.
On 18 April 2017, another single 'C'est la vie' was released, together with a clip recorded in Paris, and on 28 April, yet another single 'Zorza' shot in Iceland. The song reached the first place in Hip-hop.tv station's charts. On 2 May, Quebo released the single 'Między słowami' together with the Canadian rapper Young Lungs, with a video shot in Japan. A week later, he presented the single 'Arabska noc' with guest appearances by rappers Solar and Wac Toja, with a video recorded in Morocco. On 16 May, he released the single 'To nie jest hip-hop' featuring the American rapper KRS-One, together with a video shot in the United States. A week later, on 23 May, he presented the single 'Bumerang' shot in Australia, and on 6 June, the single 'Odyseusz' with a video made in Poland; thus the entire album was released as singles.
The album was pre-ordered by 30 000 people, thus gaining a platinum status. It debuted as no. 1 best-selling album in Poland in OLiS charts and remained in 1 st place for three weeks. It was also the best-selling album in Poland in June and the second best-selling album in July 2017. The pre-ordered album was accompanied by mixtapes 'For male fans of Eklektyka EP' and 'For female fans of Euforia EP' enclosed according to gender. On 30 August, Quebo released a minialbum entitled No To Bajka EP, recorded with producer Matheo. The leading theme of the album are elements from Disney stories. The whole edition sold out in record time – less than an hour. Egzotyka was Poland's best-selling album in 2017 and was nominated for 2017 Empik Bestsellers award in the category of Polish Music. The rapper was not nominated for the 2018 Fryderyk awards for Egzotyka in the 'Hip-Hop Album of the Year' category, which was widely criticised in the media and social media.
2018–2019: Taconafide, original book and a career break In October 2017, Quebo announced a temporary suspension of social media presence. As he explained in an interview, this was expected to help him work on his new album. In 2018, the media reported that the artist was to record a joint album with the rapper Taco Hemingway. In March 2018, the rumours were confirmed by the rappers themselves. On 16 March 2018, the QueQuality YouTube channel featured the first single 'Art-B' promoting the joint album, and revealed the name of the album, SOMA 0.5 mg, the premiere being scheduled for 13 April 2018, with pre-order on a dedicated website. Within a few hours after its release, the song reached the first place on YouTube's 'Trending' tab. The artists decided to release the album under the name Taconafide, as a combination of their stage names. They announced a joint tour promoting the album in Poland, called Ekodiesel Tour. On 22 March 2018, they released their second single 'Tamagotchi' together with a video. The song broke Ed Sheeran's record in the category of Spotify's most-streamed singles in Poland. For a week, the song was a number 1 hit of YouTube's ';Trending' tab, reaching over 2 million views in 24 hours. On 27 March, the rappers revealed extras to the limited edition along with mysterious graphics announcing guest appearances on the bonus album. On 1 April, they released the entire tracklist of the main album and the bonus called 0,25 mg. They also revealed the names of producers and guests on the bonus CD: Bedoes, Kękę, Paluch, Kaz Bałagane, Dawid Podsiadło and Białas. On 4 April, they released another single, 'Metallica 808', and five days later, a single 'Kryptowaluty' with a video. On 13 April, the album Soma 0,5 mg premiered. A few days later, the bonus material entitled 0,25 mg was also made available on streaming services and artists' YouTube channels.
The album made its debut on the 1st place of Poland's Official Sales Chart (OLiS), selling over 30 000 copies and gaining the status of a platinum record. It was also the best-selling album in Poland in April and May 2018. On 4 July, the album was awarded double platinum status for selling 60 000 copies. It was also the best-selling album of the first half of the year in Poland. On 6 July, the rappers performed at the Open'er Festival in Gdynia, earlier having announced that it would be their last concert as a duo. According to media reports, the rappers attracted an audience of several dozen thousand, comparable to the evening's star Gorillaz, making it the largest audience for a Polish performer in the history of Open'er.
On 8 September 2018, Quebonafide announced a career break because of the death of Mac Miller – a very important person in his life to whom, as Quebo noted in his post, heowes who he is, "A person without whom all the things in my life would never exist". On 13 October, during the Quefestival in Katowice, he received a triple platinum certificate for selling over 90 000 copies of Egzotyka. On 19 October 2019, during the Quefestival in Katowice, he received a diamond status certificate for selling over 150 000 copies of Egzotyka. Also in 2019, the Soma 0.5 mg reached a diamond status. On 28 September 2019, Quebo made a guest appearance at Dawid Podsiadło and Taco Hemingway's concert at the sold-out National Stadium in Warsaw.
2020–2021: Romantic Psycho and an original documentary