Ugly Leaders

Ugly Leaders were a hip hop group from Rijeka, the first rappers to release a hip hop album in Croatia and one of the first hip hop acts in Southeastern Europe. They were formed in 1988 by three childhood friends, David Jambreušić, Richard Lenac and Sadin Kruškić, who performed as DJ Pimp, DJ R-33 Rock and an MC, and they led the Croatian hip hop scene through the 1990s.

They began recording at the end of 1989 in a small studio in Opatija with their then manager, but unhappy with the sound they moved to a better studio, where in 1991 they made the material for Channel Is Deep & Beech. Released in 1992, it was the first Croatian hip hop album. Their first video, "Ugly Leaders Are Funny?", was shot on a borrowed VHS camera and mixed at home; the second, "Hardcore", stayed on the chart of the HRT show Hit Depo for eight months. In the summer of 1992 they were due to open for Public Enemy in Ljubljana, but the concert was cancelled.

In 1993 Robert Grizlio, known as Gigi, joined on production, and DJ R left for a while for heavy metal. The second album, Prisoners of Pain, co-produced by Denyken and released in 1994 with Croatia Records, had two singles with videos, among them a remix of "Svijet za nas" with the Rijeka band Laufer. At the end of 1994 they were the only support act when Public Enemy and Ice-T played the Dom sportova in Zagreb.

In 1995 DJ Pimp came third at the first Croatian DMC championship, and the group joined other Rijeka rappers on the compilation and tour RijeKKKa's Most Wanted. DJ R returned in 1996. In 1997 they appeared on the song and video "Ajmo Rijeka!" and recorded "On da mic" with Rob-G, and in 1999 they announced new material with "Ruke u zrak!" and celebrated ten years on HRT's Cro Session. Their last release, 2000EP, came out in 2000, the year they opened for Afrika Bambaataa in Zagreb; in 2001 they supported Das EFX and then split up.

In 2008 DJ Pimp and DJ R told the story of the group and of the beginnings of Croatian hip hop in the documentary Hip Hop Priča iz Hrvatske.