Cru

Cru introduced their first full-length project in 1997 with the dark and explosive Da Dirty 30, a set that found immediate favor among hardcore listeners. Crafted completely in-house, the album borrowed its title from an inquiry into corruption inside New York City’s 30th police precinct and delivered a sound at once fiercely stark and wide-ranging, pulling samples from Portishead, Sade, and Stevie Wonder. Cru’s verses confront the dangers of South Bronx streets and the broader hip-hop arena, often celebrating gangsta excess without apology yet still embedding moral lessons and pointed messages. Across the tracks, rhyme approaches shift from Onyx-like howling to plainspoken b-boy lines straight from a notepad.