IamCruz

His name is Carlos Cruz but most people call him Charlie, Cane or Los. He was born and raised in Washington heights & Dyckman all his life to Dominican parents with 2 brothers and 2 sisters. He has been a hip-hop head since the late 80’s and early 90’s. He grew up listening to a lot of great hip-hop artist such as Nas, Jay-Z, De La Soul, Common, Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kweli), Dr. Dre, Souls of Mischiefs, Boot Camp Click, Heltah Skeltah, Smiff-n-Wesson, KRS-One, Rakim, Kool G Rap, Big L and the list goes on and on..

He started rapping for fun when he was 14 years old. At the young age of 17, he started taking rap seriously. He started recording music at his old friend JL’s home studio in the Bronx. His friend JL had the setup in the living room and the recording booth was in the closet. It wasn’t the best space but he was a brilliant engineer and made a lot of music. From the beginning, he started making music with his friend/cousin L-Burnz. They grew up in the same neighborhood and lived in the same building. That’s when they came up with the record label title, which was the number to the building they lived in, Forty-6-Forty Records.

After that, he started recording mixtape tracks under the name “Citizen Cane” for an unofficial mixtape he made called “First Down”. First Down never got released. Most of those tracks along with several more ended up becoming his first official mixtape “Hard Candy”. Released in 2008. He titled it hard candy because it meant its radio friendly but don’t bite because it's too hard. He worked with different artist but he mainly worked with 2 groups he's involved with. FM Mu$ik with artist J-Craft, Rayniel, Joe GM, & Gizmo and a group called R.F.C. which stands for Rare Form Crew with artist Vic Sosa, Franchise, and Producer L-Burnz.

After the mixtape was released, he started performing in different showcases and venues all around New York City. With places like The Bowery Poetry Club, Mojitos, Snitch, Sugar Bar, Nuyorican Café, And Many others to name a few. The next couple of years after, He worked on digitally mix EP called “Charlie”. It was supposed to be a radio friendly album full of club bangers and tracks for the female listeners but after recording a few tracks, He had to stop recording due to financial problems. So He focused on work and saving money for a little bit.

After a while, He noticed he never really left hip-hop alone and he would always catch himself freestyling in ciphers with different people either at house parties or just hanging out on the block outside. He decided to get back to work in the studio and record his second official mixtape in 2011 called “Raising C@nE”. With moderate promotion, a few self made videos, and a heavy street buzz, the mixtape had a lot of positive feedback. Now he's currently working on his official album titled Real Talk, No Gimmicks with hopes to release 2012. Executive produced by engineer L-Burnz & Himself, this album will be straight underground from the raw and rugged beats produced by Brownwater Productions (Atmos & E-Plus) to the lyrics and flow with gritty energy.

Productions from lead producers Atmos & E-Plus gives this album a rough edge and returns hip-hop to its natural form. Other producers like The Illy Jackz, Deejay LU, Chrisdawise, Luckyhandz, and others to name a few will be on his next LP early 2013 called “The Composition” which is a sequel to where R.T.N.G. will leave off.

Mixtapes
First Down – 2003 (unreleased)
The City Dreams Mixtape – 2004 (unreleased)
Hard Candy – 2008
Raising C@ne – 2011
Cruz Control - July 2013

Contacts
www.Soundcloud.com/therealcharliecruz
www.Twitter.com/realcharliecruz
www.Reverbnation.com/therealcharliecruz
www.Facebook.com/therealcharliecruz