Jeru the Damaja (born Jeru Davis) aka D. Original Dirty Rotten Scoundrel hails from Brooklyn, New York where he was born and raised. Jeru was first introduced to hip-hop in the local parks of his neighborhood at age seven and started writing his own lyrics at age ten. Hip-hop has been a part of his life for as long as he can remember.
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 on the late 1980’s. Jeru first introduced his unique “hardcore conscious” 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 released The Wrath of the Math that included the hit singles “Ya Playin’ Yaself” and “Me or the Papes” and was proclaimed the savior of hip-hop due to his honest and straight forward critique of the state of hip-hop music. In 2000 Jeru released Heroz 4 Hire completely autonomously, from the production of the album to its release on his independent label KnowSavage Records. Jeru recently released his second independent project Divine Design on his new label Ashenafi Records featuring production by new producers Ed Dantez and Sabor and the new classics singles “WAR” and “Don’t Get it Twisted” featuring Lil’Dap from the Group Home.
Jeru has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, South America, and Africa in the past ten years. In between tours Jeru has done joint projects with the gold selling UK group Groove Armada, DJ Cut Killa, Doudou Masta in France, and DJ Honda from Japan now based in New York. Jeru recorded “Verses of Doom” with Chad Muska, a professional skateboarder, can be heard on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 video game and is on Chad’s compilation album Muska Beatz. Jeru was recently named on of the 50 Greatest Emcees in Kool Mo Dee’s book “There Is a God On the Mic” released in 2004 and is looking forward to continuing that legacy in the future. Jeru is also participating on a Self Destruction Part II – Stop the Violence with the legenday artists KRS-One and Chuck D who have both been great influences on his music and life.
Through ten celebrated years in the music business Jeru established himself as a multitalented, multifaceted artist and businessperson.
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