Born in Oahu, Raised in Kearny, New Jersey, Kalani, better known as Crusa, began his quest for hip-hop notoriety at the age of 17. A generally quiet person, he uses music as an avenue to express himself, as a way he can talk freely. Falling in love with the sounds his mother would clean to (hip hop/rock/Spanish/r&b/freestyle) he knew this was something he would like to pursue as a means of bettering himself and hoping for a better life. Being inspired by artists such as Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Jay-Z, Nas, Eminem, John Lennon and the Beatles he began to write in his room, during class at school, at work, anywhere he could find a piece of paper to record his thoughts. He recalls writing on receipt paper many times while working at Shoprite.
Wearing a lot of jewelry, especially crosses, a friend suggested he call himself Crusafix. After a long stint as Crusafix, some suggested the name might be blasphemous which caused him to shorten to Crusa, which he has gone by since. After going through a musical evolution of his own, from just freestyle rapping to now actually making full songs, Crusa is in a better place to progress and grow with his talent.
After attracting the attention of German Producer Rice Master Yen, he was asked to do a joint EP titled ‘Casey Jones’ which released in December 2014. This 4 track EP has quickly garnered a vast amount of attention by being featured on numerous online hip hop blogs, proving that Crusa’s talent will foster him a bright future.
