Raheem DeVaughn Has A Message For The World

R&B singer/songwriter Raheem DeVaughn is no stranger to what he now calls his passion- making “feel-good” music. Being the son of a great jazz cellist, Abdul Wadud, and having a mother who loved music as well, it seems like he had no choice than to become a great artists. Nevertheless, he embraced his destiny and began to recognize his musical talents as blessings from above that needed to be heard and shared with the world.

The two-time Grammy-nominated musician has been making waves in the music industry for almost a decade now. His career tipped off in 2002 when he was signed by Jive Records and released his first album The Love Experience which sold over 250,000 units. His second album, Love Behind the Melody, debuted at number five on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling about 45,000 copies in its first week and boasts of two of the greatest songs of 2008, “Woman” and “Customer”.

When you listen to a Raheem DeVaughn album, whether it’s his first album, the countless mix-tapes, or his latest album, expect to be made aware of what is going on; not only in your bedroom, but also in the world around you. There aren’t many socially conscious R&B artists in the music industry today to tackle some of today's most thought provoking issues in their songs such as domestic violence, political and environmental issues, all the while accompanying the melodic words with enthusiastic action. All of these things are what makes Raheem DeVaughn not only a standout recording artists, but a stand-up type of guy that many young and upcoming artists might want to take out their pen and pads to take notes on.

Released on March 2, 2010, DeVaughn’s third studio album, The Love and War MasterPeace is sure to be his best album to date. The album was released as a deluxe edition including a bonus disc with an additional 12 tracks which collectively gives this album a total of 28 songs. One of the most critically acclaimed tracks on the album titled “Nobody Wins a War”, totally negates the recent “We Are the World” remake debacle. Raheem recruited heavy hitters such as Jill Scott, Anthony Hamilton, Bilal, Ledisi, Dwele, Chico DeBarge, Chrisette Michelle and a host of others to help bring attention to the current demoralizing wars that are killing our soldiers and taking innocent lives all around the world. Other great tracks include the first single on the album entitled, "Bullet Proof" which features Atlanta rapper Ludacris, and my personal favorite on the album "I Don't Care".

I recently got the chance to sit down and talk to Rah and pick his brain a little bit in regards to how he’s feeling about himself and the music world today. Check it out.

How are you?

I’m good… I’m good.

Great! So tell us who were some of your early influences?

Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder. Those are some of my earliest right there.

Your sound has been compared to the great soul singers such as Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Donnie Hathaway. How do you feel about that?

It’s pretty humbling. You know, there is a lot of stuff that I don’t do, that those guys do, so that’s definitely an honor, being compared to icons and greatness, it’s all good.

I read that your father was also a musician. How was it growing up with a father who was also musically inclined?

It was dope, but I wish I would have taken more advantage of the situation. He definitely tried to give me all of the opportunities to learn and how to play different instruments. But I was really reluctant when I was younger. I didn’t know that I was going to be doing music at anytime. Had I known that I would be doing what I’m doing now, I probably would have taken the opportunity to learn how to play five different instruments and that type of thing.

So when did you realize that music was what you wanted to do?

I started pursuing it in early summer of 93. That’s when I really started. I always had a passion for it. And I always knew that I could sing. I got into writing songs when I got out of high school.

Before you signed to Jive, you were working in a music store and singing in spots around the D.C. area. At any point did you ever become discouraged from continuing?

Nah. I think the only time I ever felt like that was after I got signed. Cuz you realize that being on a label there is multiple artists. It’s easy to be looked upon like cattle. So it’s pretty much what you make it. I’m not the type of cat that would throw in the towel; I’m not a quitter. I never have been. Definitely, I would say the more lower points when I had those thoughts was in those quiet moments after inkin the deal versus tryin to get the deal. Cuz when I got signed, I wasn’t necessarily trying to get signed. I was just doing what I loved to do and making a living from it by any means necessary so without compromising my manhood and my spirituality, which is the same values that I live by now.

In 2005, you released your first album “The Love Experience”. What was the feeling for you when it was a completed project, how did you feel?

That album was pretty much completed when I got signed in 2002. So 99% of what I came to the table with as a demo was already what I was going to put on my album. The roughest part of that situation was sitting around waiting on them to put out the album. From that process I learned patience. I learned a lot about myself. I learned that sometimes you gotta jump start things yourself, which I did.

You have said that “you are your best marketing tool,” that’s a concept that I feel is lost on a lot of artists. How do you feel about that?

Oh definitely. But at the end of the day, the company that you sign to, they need to meet you halfway in whatever you’re doing. If they don’t then there is no balance. I feel like the world and the music lovers understand the type of artist that I am, but I don’t feel that where I’m signed, they wholeheartedly understand or get it. But it’s no different than being in your workplace, and you being a writer, and knowing that you might be the dopest writer, but based upon the politics, the powers that be don’t get it.

Now, the title track from “The Love Experience”, I have to ask, the lyrics sound so personal, like it was something that you actually went through?

All my music is personal.

So everything that you sing about is something that you’ve gone through and not just lyrics?

It’s something that I’ve either gone through, want to experience, or have experienced through somebody else, a personal thought or view. I’m very attached to my music. Even if it is a song that somebody else is singing that I’ve written, It has to be something that I can deliver conventional because it’s something that I believe in.

Your latest album The Love & War Masterpeace, it has been said that it is one of your most intense albums yet. Do you feel the same?

Yeah, I feel like it’s some of my best work. But if the world don’t know about it then… I’m not into making music for myself. I make music with a message for the people. And it’s a message that people need to hear. At the end of the day, the real is how to get it to the masses for the people to hear it.

Your lead single Bullet Proof- what inspired it? And why make it your lead single on this album?

Well that was a chance that the label took with me. I think that was dope! They got a good look from it and I wanted to make music that reflects upon the times directly, so it was just parallel with what is going on. With that record, people probably said, “Well why make a record like that?” and my response would be, “Why are we living in a world like this?”. So I just wanted to touch on this topic and give a little shock value and give people a little something to think about.

Well it’s very reminiscent of Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues” because just as you have done, he sang that song for what the world was going through at that time in his career… and now here you are with your own modern day version of his song and that’s what I really really liked about it.

The track "Nobody Wins a War," is filled to the brim with powerfully insightful artists with great talent such as Jill Scott, Dwele, Chico DeBarge, Bilal, Ledisi, Chrisette Michele, Anthony Hamilton, and Citizen Cope. What made you do a track like this?

Once again, I used the opportunity to work on this album to work with people that I always wanted to work with that I thought was dope or people that might have thought that I didn’t think they were dope or whatever the case may be. I just really wanted to push it to the limit on this album with the creativity. So that’s what we did. This record was already written and I had already had a version of it with just me on it. But I was riding one day and I was thinking that this record is one that is bigger than Raheem DeVaughn just being on it. And with the message, I knew that it could have a bigger impact if it had multiple artists on it. I always wanted to do a record like a We Are the World type or “You Will Know” type of vibe so that’s what I was trying to make happen.

Which song on the album means the most to you?

Maaan, I can’t even say. It’s so much music because it’s a double CD with 28 tracks including the interludes, it’s just so much music. Every song serves a specific purpose from “Black and Blue” which is a song that I created for my initiative towards domestic violence. From that to Bullet Proof, to Revelation 2010, to Greatness which is like Woman part II; to Bob, every record has a specific purpose.

How was it working with Dr. Cornell West? I’m sure each session was powerful?

He’s on all the interludes. Dr. West is such a prolific writer, speaker, and of course intellectual. It was a great experience. He has such an infectious spirit because he has the type of voice to when he talks, people want to chime in and listen to what he has to say, even if they don’t know him or are familiar with him.

You once described yourself as a "R&B hippie neo-soul rock star," break that down for us.

I mean, it’s pretty self explanatory. You know, when you do interviews, people always try to put a brand or a label on your music. They don’t realize that a lot of times they are putting the artists in a box. I get the whole like, people’s attention span being so small sometimes that they just want to know who you are summed up. Artists, musicians, and entertainers, just enjoy making good music. And I’m a lot like that; I just want to make timeless feel good music. But, the best way to describe is that brand because it’s a little bit of R&B, a little bit of neo-soul, a little bit of rock, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Ultimately, it creates a fusion which is the same ingredients that I use in my music.

You’ve been a busy man, 8 mix tapes in 7 years? And 3 albums…

… And 4 independent albums on top of what you already named.

Wow! I didn’t know about those. So how do you prioritize which ones need to be done first?

I kind of just do’em on a humble. I have to get motivated to do the mixtape thing again because I get bored. Once you do something or create something, then you can stand back like a proud papa and watch other people do it. So if you keep track of what I’ve been doing, I’ve been putting them out sinc e 2002, late 2002/2003. Like, now, there are other artists that are doing the same thing and still doing it til this day. So I had to get motivated to do some of my more recent mix tapes, so what I do is all originals and it’s like a album but with a twist. You know, this is all I do; all I do is music. There is no excuse if this is all I do. There is 24 hours in a day so I can do 2-3 songs in one day.

So now I hear you got a movie coming out titled “Who Do You Love”. So what got you into doing the movies? Is this something that you think you will want to continue to do?

Most definitely. Hopefully the movie comes out and does well in whatever market they decide to release it in. From there, hopefully it will spring me into some other situations. I’m definitely down to do more movies and plays and whatnot. But definitely, music is still my thing; it’s my passion and that’s where I started.

Tell me about the DMV Movement.

The DMV Movement is now called the 368 Movement for me. I recently started my own indie label called 368 Music Group; 368 being the acronym for the DMV. There is a lot of talent out here, and one of my personal goals is to see the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia areas become the next Atlanta. I feel like we’re on the brink of that right now.

So there’s a lot of talent in those areas? Because we don’t really hear too much from those places.

It’s a lot of talent. I mean, it’s crazy out here right now. The only thing holding us back right now is radio.

You mean like they won’t play the local music?

I mean urban radio. Not that they won’t play it, but you gotta like, get in bed with it. What they don’t understand is- there are a few things; the fight that they are going through right now with trying to keep the listeners, what they don’t understand is that when you support your city, the city will support you. I’m not saying play every artist from the area because every artist don’t deserve it, every artist doesn’t put in the work that others put in, and they just don’t have great and professional material. But the more supportive you are, the more they’ll chime in and support you. In two cities in particular that I feel that this could be like are Oakland and San Francisco. As soon as I touch down off the plane and I’m listening to the radio, I’ll hear an artist in their top 10 on the radio that doesn’t have a top 10 record, but in their urban format, they’ll have a artist that I’ve never heard of that’s from the bay. It’s the same scenario in Atlanta and on the west coast in L.A. What I’m saying is this; once urban radio starts to support the local artists, then we’ll be getting somewhere. Like in Baltimore, they have an urban radio station that is very supportive of their local artists and you will hear a Baltimore artist on the station having a hit record.

So do you feel that’s why a lot of artists are migrating to places like Atlanta?

Yeah, but that’s not what needs to happen. It needs to happen from here. If you don’t crack it open from where you live it won’t happen. You could be the hottest thing on the street, but what I’m saying is, I have one of the hottest albums to come out in the last five years. I’m not saying that because it’s my album but keep in mind, I’ve put out two other albums in the last five years, this is my third album in five years. But if they’re not fully goin hard on the local artists like they do the out of town artists, the streets is watchin that.

You’ve also partnered with the CDC to put out several PSAs on HIV/AIDS awareness; Why so much interest in mankind and the well being of it all?

Ahh man, because without mankind, there is no world. I mean, this is definitely a big issue you know, among other things. I’m still being briefed on the whole thing, but definitely the partnership is in existence and it’s coming along as far as my involvement.

I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what is your spiritual belief? I ask because you seem like a very humble dude and it seems like it’s deeply rooted in some type of spiritual faith.

I believe in God, I believe in the creator, and I believe (laughs) there’s a spiritual war going on. I feel like we’re currently living in the times that the scriptures from the Bible and the Koran talk about.

Ok... ok… last question - any advice for the aspiring artists out there?

Definitely keep in mind that as an artist, you make message music. You have to decide on what your message is going to be because ultimately your purpose in life, whether you’re a writer, athlete, public figure, or a person of influence, whether you know it or not, your purpose in life is to bring people closer to God. That’s what a person’s main goal should be and I feel that if you’re not doing that, then you’re not doing nothing.

Raheem DeVaughn Has A Message For The World

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