Bajah + the Dry Eye Crew began performing together in 2000 in a war-torn Freetown, Sierra Leone, quickly gaining a legion of fans who lovingly dubbed them their "voice for the voiceless." Their fans have been known to go to great lengths to express their love for the musicians, even rolling out an impromptu "red carpet" to welcome them to a performance: "When we have a show in the national stadium, you see these guys making a long line, taking off their T-shirts and putting them on the floor so we can walk on it as a mat to go on the stage," A-Klass remembers. Their international visibility began when one of their songs was featured in the Academy Award-nominated film "Blood Diamond", starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and continued to grow when the crew released their single "Ease Di Tension" as a free download just before Sierra Leone’s 2007 elections, the first since the beginning of its civil war.