Based in Ocean Beach, Crucial Blend plays reggae with ska-punk roots and hip-hop flavor. According to singer/guitarist Ryan Hughes, the band got off to a shaky start. "For our second gig as Crucial Blend, we played at the Andaz in downtown San Diego. It was an art show with a model runway and a lot of cool artists, but they had us get there, like, four hours early for an interview, and we got extremely inebriated in the remaining time before we played. Needless to say, we played really bad. And it was all on video."

They released Disconnected in 2014 and embarked on their first west coast tour in 2016, doing dates all the way from San Diego to Seattle. Through the years, they've shared the stage with Morgan Heritage, Mike Pinto, Marlon Asher, E.N. Young, Ballyhoo, Tunnel Vision, Bumpin' Uglies, and others.

Their 2017 EP Full Grown includes a cover of Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf," also shot as a video. Other tracks recorded around the same time but saved for a future release include a cover of the Outfield's "Your Love."

A new EP dropped in late 2018, Enough Already. Their next full-length appeared in April 2020, No Bad Daze. A late 2021 EP, Cruel World, was nominated in 2022 for a San Diego Music Award, their third SDMA nomination.