JERU THE DAMAJA

Jeru the Damaja aka D. Original Dirty Rotten Scoundrel spent his early years in East New York, Brooklyn being introduced to hip hop music in the local parks "before it was popular" as he says.

Influenced at the time by soon to be legends like Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, KRS One and Kool G Rap. Jeru created and took on the persona of "the Damaja" (because he damages the mic) that is part conscious truth teller and part true to the streets Brooklyn hard rock. Jeru the Damaja then hooked up with DJ Premiere and Guru, collectively known as Gangstarr, shortly after they moved to New York in the late 1980's. Jeru first introduced his unique hardcore Brooklyn style to Hip Hop audiences on "I'm the Man" a track on Gangstarr's 1992 Daily Operations album.

The East New York native then cemented his place in the Hip Hop world by releasing the 1993 classic single "Come Clean" from his legendary album, The Sun Rises in the East. After a two year hiatus, Jeru then released his album The Wrath of the Math that included the hit singles "Ya Playin Yaself" and "Me or the Papes" and was proclaimed the saviour of hip hop due to his honest, straightforward and thought provoking lyrics.

Since the release of his last album Heroz 4 Hire, Jeru has been touring extensively throughout the United States, Europe, South America, and Africa. In between tours Jeru has done joint project with the gold selling UK group Groove Armada, DJ Cut Killa, and DJ Honda from Japan now based in New York . A song Jeru did, "Verses of Doom" with the production of Chad Muska, a professional skateboarder, can be heard on the Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4 released the end of 2002 and is on Chad's compilation album Muska Beatz.