Kool DJ Red Alert

2023 Honoree - Legendary Artist Award

Kool DJ Red Alert holds his Public Leadership in the Arts Award

Kool DJ Red Alert holds his Public Leadership in the Arts Award which was presented at the Mayors Arts Breakfast held during The United States Conference of Mayors Winter Conference.

Biography

A pioneering hip-hop DJ, Red Alert is heavily responsible for the emergence of rap music on the radio airwaves during the early eighties. As a radio personality, he rose to fame on his mix show “Red Alert Goes Baserk” on New York's KISS 98.7 FM (formerly WRKS), which first aired in 1983. Red Alert is of West Indian descent by way of Antigua and is credited as the first DJ to spin dancehall music on his FM radio.

Born as Frederick Crute in Harlem in 1956, Red Alert has been a member of the Universal Zulu Nation for almost 40 years. He has broken several legendary hip-hop acts including KRS One's collective Boogie Down Productions, Native Tongue crew acts Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah, Black Sheep, and Monie Love on his radio show. Red Alert's management company Red Alert Productions once represented several of the Native Tongue acts. He was also widely responsible for helping burgeon the career of late rap industry impresario Chris Lighty.

Accolades and awards in Red Alert’s honor include appointment as an Ambassador to Music by the United Nations; 1997 Mixshow DJ of the Year by Gavin Magazine; Lifetime Achievement Award from music trade publication Impact in 1998; one of the 50 most influential people in music by Rolling Stone magazine; the only hip hop deejay honored with a display in the Radio Section of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland; an honorary location on the Bronx Walk of Fame, a series of street signs recognizing prominent natives of the borough.