Fernando Bustamante (born 1988), known professionally as Crudo Means Raw, is an American beatmaker and rapper. Born in New York City, he lived in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

until age five before moving to Medellin and reached popularity in 2018 when his song "La Mitad de la Mitad" reached number one on Spotify Colombia's top songs chart.

Biography

Early life

Fernando Bustamante was born in New York City to Colombian parents who immigrated to the United States to work. He lived in

before moving to Medellin, Colombia at age five to live with his mother. He began rapping in high school with his classmate J Balvin. The rapper adopted his stage name Crudo Means Raw because in his words, "that's how my music sounds, no other way to describe it. My music is raw, without hidden meanings, and the sound is organic, natural...I make music without labels, that most people can identify with. Growing up, he drew influence from New York hip-hop acts

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

and Gang Starr.

Career

In 2018, his song "La Mitad de la Mitad" reached number one on Spotify Colombia's top songs chart. He made a guest appearance on the song "Aurora" from Colombian singer-songwriter

Juanes file:Juanes ZMF 2015 jm49108.jpg, Juanes at the Zelt Musik Festival 2015 in Freiburg, Germany file:Juanes ZMF 2015 jm49211.jpg, Juanes at the Zelt Musik Festival 2015 in Freiburg, Germany Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez (born 9 August 19 ...

' album ''Más Futuro Que Pasado''. In December 2019, he released the R&B-influenced single "La Titular" with Colombian singer Mabiland. He released the album ''Esmeraldas'' on March 30, 2020. Elias Leight of ''Rolling Stone'' described his song "Novena" from ''Esmeraldas'' "complex and more convincing...a track like few others that have been released this year."

Discography

*''Amalgama beats (2012)'' *''Voyage: El Pasaje'' (2015) *''Todos Tienen Que Comer'' (2016) *''Esmeraldas'' (2020) *''La Infusión mixtape Vol. 1 (2020)'' *''War Dog (2023)''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crudo Means Raw 1988 births Living people American hip hop singers American reggaeton musicians American male singer-songwriters American people of Colombian descent Latin music songwriters People from Medellín Urbano musicians American singer-songwriters