Brad Cruise

Emmanuel Torres was born and raised In Puerto Rico where he listened to a lot of classic rock and heavy metal alongside traditional carribean music.  He subsequently moved to the Baltimore metro as a third grader where he became exposed to D.C. go-go, Baltimore Club and most importantly, hip-hop.  He was performing hip hop (on college campuses and clubs in the DMV) and even formed a boy band in high school.  He quit rapping after an altercation at The University of Maryland’s Radio Station.  He joined the Army at the age of 17 and traveled the world as a broadcast journalist.  During this time he gained even more musical influences.  While at a train station in Germany he saw a copy of “The Face” magazine with a feature on the Strokes and immediately began to develop rock and roll tunes with some rocker friends.  He gigged and recorded an ep with Velocity Girls Archie Moore while in college.  Hung out with Pete Doherty on his only American tour.  Gained some more inspiration.  He then moved to Texas after 9-11 to fight in the global war on terrorism.  During his time he worked on journalistic products with T.I. , The Ying-Yang twins, Cee-Lo Green, Paul Wall and even Russell Simmons.  He decided to start rapping again but found it difficult to perform due to a family and deployments.  He got out of the Army and forged a friendship with Elliot Valdez (The production mastermind behind Brad Cruise) while Valdez was deployed to Iraq.  They went through a lot of “stuff” together as they worked in the public affairs office for the largest military installation in the free world.  They were at the foot of the massacre that happened at Fort Hood and broke the story and footage to the world.  They started recording on their spare time.  2017’s U$A was born.  Brad Cruise moved to Dallas and Elliot Valdez relocated to D.C where they began to work remotely.  In 2018 Brad Cruise flew to L.A. to work with Jermiah Raissen (Kelela, Charlie XCX) on a record and plans to head back there in the spring of 2019 to seal the deal and spread some beautiful, positive, musical vibes throughout the world.