MEET BRAD CRUISE: RAPPER & ARTIST

This is Brad Cruise.

Brad, tell us more about how you first got into music.

I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, but I started rappin' in metro Baltimore during the beginning of the “Golden Era” of hip hop.

I used to jump in freestyle cyphers as a freshman in high school.

I developed my flow and started writing a lot.

My older brother, Gabriel, used to quiz me on the elements of hip hop to make sure I understood the culture.

I fell in love with the culture and started studying Nas, Biggie, De La Soul, A tribe Called Quest, and OutKast.

One day, I got recruited by another emcee who went to the same school.

He already had a band in place and he needed another emcee so I filled the void.

We became a pretty damn successful act called “ThUndercats".

The name was a play on "The Underdogs" and the "ThUndercats" cartoon.

We became one of the hottest outfits in the city performing at clubs, college campuses, VFWS, and venues in Baltimore.

We were like a conscience Mobb-Deep/Styles or Beyond.

We made our own beats using turntables, samplers and drum machine alongside a keyboard interface.

We had DJs.

We also rapped over drum and bass music. We love jungle music. It was crazy.

We did a lot of sold out shows where we even had different break dancing crews battle and the winner would get money.

We did shows with some great local and nationally recognized bands.

Sometimes, we would split the bill with punk rock bands.

Most of our friends were in punk outfits.

I joined the Army, my fellow emcee started up a group called Sex Cult, and our DJ formed Spank Rock, so we split.

I think it was my fault, I wanted to learn other forms of music.

I always had an open heart, mind and ear with music so, eventually I branched off and started tinkering with different styles.

I learned how to play guitar, produce, and sing rock n roll.

I then started a pop-garage rock band called, “The Yanks”, we put out a great record.

Then, I went solo and that’s how Brad Cruise was born.

I basically decided to take my experience and use it to try to connect with as many listeners as possible.

Before I discovered hip hop, I was traditional Puerto Rican music, rock and roll and John Denver (she loved John Denver).

I grew up listening to oldies like Michael and Madonna as well so it was a pretty big bag of influences.