(born November 27, 1956), known professionally as Kool DJ Red Alert, is an Antiguan-American disc jockey who rose to fame on WRKS 98.7 Kiss FM in New York City and is recognized as one of the founding fathers of hip hop music and culture.

Red Alert's legend grew immensely after he broke the record South Bronx by Boogie Down Productions on his KISS-FM weekend radio show.

He was influenced by dance/disco deejay pioneers Grandmaster Flowers, Pete DJ Jones, and The Together Brothers, and radio personalities Frankie Crocker and Ken "Spider" Webb.

Later on, Red would also attend parties, witnessing deejay sets from Grandmaster Flash, Kool DJ A.J., and Afrika Bambaataa, though his favorite was Grand Wizzard Theodore.

[4] His allure was for the deejay's acute ability to blend vinyl records on two sets of turntables with ideal songs that had tempos and rhythms to keep the dancing crowd moving.

Afrika Bambaataa added to the young Red Alert's wisdom regarding the value of keeping a non-judgemental approach to exploring various genres of music, including rock, reggae, disco, and new wave.

The teenage Crute graduated high school as a top-ranking basketball prospect, and earned a full athletic scholarship to attend Hampton University in 1976.

After attending a total of three semesters, Red dropped out of Hampton University and returned home to Harlem to become a full-time deejay for Afrika Bambaataa and performed throughout The Bronx, Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey.

Red Alert helped ignite The Bridge Wars by breaking the Boogie Down Productions (BDP) track "South Bronx" on his radio show.

He built his fame and expanded his name recognition via mixtapes that were bootlegged amongst his fans within the Tri-state area who recorded his radio show, and eventually worldwide with the Universal Zulu Nation and the Rock Steady Crew.

Red Alert has performed on multiple international tours with Boogie Down Productions, Jungle Brothers, as a solo artist, and is currently a member of the Funkmaster Flex-helmed deejay crew Lit Digital DJs.

His most notable guest features on hip hop records are Boogie Down Productions "Jimmy," The Jungle Brothers classic songs "Jimbrowski" and "Beyond This World," and A Tribe Called Quest's "Pubic Enemy."

Funkmaster Flex was regular first choice by Red to be the fill-in deejay on his KISS-FM radio show, due to his occasional absences while on tour with Boogie Down Productions and Jungle Brothers in the late 1980s.