In 1997, a trio from the Bronx named CRU made up of Yogi, Chadio, and Mighty Ha, burst onto the Rap scene with their major label Def Jam debut, ‘Da Dirty 30.’ Despite the album not being a commercial success, the project was heralded within Hip-Hop circles for instantly classic Rap records like “Just Another Case”, “Pronto”, and “Bubblin’.”

Shortly after releasing their debut project, group member Yogi left to work with Bad Boy’s Hitmen production crew. CRU quickly disbanded as a group, leaving only ‘Da Dirty 30’ as their collective stamp on Hip Hop.

Sadly, in 2023, enigmatic group member Mighty Ha passed away.

The Hip Hop Museum caught up with Chadio to discuss ‘Da Dirty 30’, the late Mighty Ha, the little-known second album CRU was working on (including its album title), and more.

Adam Aziz: I’ve always wondered how you guys got Def Jam to let you release ‘Da Dirty 30’, a 30-track album, especially in the climate back then when albums with that many tracks weren’t as common.

Chadio: It was really Chris Lighty. He was the guy that was always championing us. He had a lot of confidence in us. He liked our music and backed us up in anything we wanted. He would give us pushback only on stuff that he knew benefited us. A quick example is “Just Another Case.” The song initially didn’t have a chorus. We thought it was ok and had a solid story. We brought it to him, and he said you guys might want to think about putting a hook on it. I’m like, you’re crazy. This is fire, and he’s like, it is fire but trust me. It was solid advice because the hook is a big part of that song and gave it a new identity. Chris would give us the advice that we need. He wouldn’t push back hard on us. He let us be free creatively. And when it came to those 30 tracks, I’m assuming he was the one that, if they had any pushback from the upper echelon of Def Jam, he was like, leave them alone, trust me.

AA: You guys put out one album as a group, and it was 27 years ago, yet people still hold it in such high regard today. Why do you think the album has stood the test of time?

C: I agree with you, and I didn’t know it was like that until I went and read comments and heard things about how much people revered the album after all these years. It stood the test of time, and you can listen to it today because, you know, some music has an expiration date. It’s good for that time. If you look at our album, it was a little different for the time. It wasn’t really following the norm of what was going on. We kind of went a little bit left musically. We didn’t conform to what the labels were wanting. We gave them a few of those records, such as “Pay Attention,” featuring Anthony Hamilton. We were just musical. We didn’t really follow too much of what we should do. Like, let’s do what they’re doing because we’ll win. No, we just did what we felt. And that was a big part of why it still stands now.

AA: Talk to me about the late CRU member Mighty Ha. He could have been one of the biggest stars in Hip Hop. Did he ever record more solo music? Was a solo deal ever in the works?

C: I’m so glad you brought up Mighty Ha. Without Mighty Ha, there is no CRU. Some people might not remember, but Ha was incarcerated and missed a lot of things related to the CRU album. That’s why you didn’t see him as much visually. Some people would think it was just me and Yogi. Look at “Nuthin’ But”; without Ha, how does that song even feel? If someone else did the hook, or I or Yogi did the hook, it’s not the same song. You couldn’t replace him. He was so unique and eccentric. And let me tell you something, that’s how he was in life, too. It wasn’t an act. That’s who he was. He was so different. His slang. His lingo. He was an attraction when he walked into a room.

As far as other songs, he did have other songs. He never had a solo deal in the works. He was working on other music on his own, and the only reason I know is that he would call me to see what I thought. He would always say Chadio is my favorite MC, and I don’t care about anybody else. He has some other songs floating around out there.

And I don’t know if you know this, but CRU was supposed to be Yogi and Mighty Ha, and I was the DJ. You will hear Yogi reference me in our demo and say my DJ, Chadio. But Yogi heard me rhyme one time and said hold up on this DJ shit.

AA: Other than Yogi leaving to work with Bad Boy’s Hitmen, was there any other reason why you didn’t put out another album?

C: We started working on another project. It was going to be called ‘The Splendiferous Heroin Trip To Madagascar.’ It was coming out great! I think we had done seven songs. My flow was so much better. Everything was so much better! But Yogi left, and it caused us to disband.

AA: What happened to the music you had recorded for that album?

C: I have some of that on my computer but it’s not great quality. I’m working to see if I can restore it. If I can get it mastered and it sounds good, I’ll release it.

AA: Is there any specific song that stands out from what you guys recorded?

C: One song called “Three In The Morning” was going to be the single. I remember we were like, “This has to be the single.” There were no known features on the project, but we had a click of MCs we were going to expand CRU to.

AA: Who made the CRU logo?

C: That was me. I remember we were meeting, and they asked if we had a logo. We were originally Rhythm Blunt Crew before we were named CRU. Our logo was a set of lips, which had like a blunt, and the smoke was going up with musical notes. They were like we can’t do the blunt thing. At the time, that was taboo or whatever. We shorted our name to CRU, which stands for Creative Rhythms Universal. We needed a new logo, and Yogi said that’s on you because I used to write graffiti and go out bombing in the streets. I gave the team at Def Jam my vision for the logo and the album cover.

AA: What are some of your favorite songs off the CRU album?

C: “Recognize” with Black Rob. We knew Rob prior to recording that. We waited for Rob to do the album because he was incarcerated. When he came home, we hit the studio. Rob was incredible. Underrated and underappreciated.

AA: Would you agree that guys straddled the line between underground and being commercially accessible still?

C: I agree with that. It wasn’t something we sought to do. We were underground guys from the Bronx and took the roots of the culture seriously. But as we kept going, the higher-ups were pushing us. There were a lot of people rhyming over R&B samples back then and getting R&B artists on songs. It was easy to touch people with that, so we did a couple of those. We had a song with Anthony Hamilton called “Pay Attention.” We straddled both sides of the fence but didn’t do it on purpose. We were the first ones to get Anthony Hamilton on a Rap record. We have to give Mighty Ha all the credit. Ha is the one who found him and brought him to the studio. We didn’t know who he was.

AA: What are you up to these days?

C: I have a new project that I’m working on. It’s called ‘Cold Flames.’ It should be coming out early 2025.

Read more interview on The Hip Hop Museum!