D'Cruze

Jay D'Cruze, a pioneer of breakbeat, cut several standout early drum 'n' bass tracks for the influential Suburban Base imprint, tracks that evoked the peak era of rave even while anticipating the jungle explosion of the mid-1990s. Having connected with contacts at Romford's Boogie Times shop, the young D'Cruze made his entrance in 1993 via the track "World Within a World," which appeared on the shop's fledgling Suburban Base label. That imprint quickly became a leader in the shift toward the darker hardcore-to-jungle sound through output from DJ Hype, Sonz of a Loop Da Loop Era, and Krome & Time. Teaming up with the shop's proprietor Danny Donnelly under the name Boogie Times Tribe, D'Cruze put out a pair of darkcore benchmarks called "Real Hardcore" and "The Dark Stranger," with the latter turning up on nearly every worthwhile early jungle compilation. Before stepping away from the breakbeat world for an extended period amid its major crossover phase, he issued two additional classic singles in "Watch Out" and "Lonely." His comeback arrived in 1997 through further releases on Suburban Base, True Playaz (the label run by DJ Hype), and The Bomb, an outfit he co-owned with Special K. D'Cruze ranked as one of only three Suburban Base artists afforded the full-length treatment, via the 1995 album Control.