By Odeisel
The Planet is a friend to the indie artist as well as the mainstream machine and we try to keep our finger on the pulse of all that is good. We recently caught up with Neo Soul champion Raheem DeVaughn, fresh off having his single Love Connection becoming the number one added song on urban radio, a feat made all the more impressive when you consider that Raheem Devaughn is an independent artist, with presumably no major label greasing the radio wheel. Also popping is a recently minted partnership with Kevin Liles that has Devaughn’s management machine firing on all cylinders. With an album Welcome To Loveland coming this summer, The veteran crooner has a lot going on. Find out what’s good here!
Planet Ill: You have the #1 song on urban radio with Love Connection. That’s not easy to do for an independent artist. How did you get to this point?
Raheem Devaughn: We’re just grinding man, we still got a lot of work to do; we’re just getting started. It’s the number one added record and it’s great. The feedback has been great on the single. We dropped it on Valentine’s Day. It’s been received extremely well on urban radio. I’m excited about it.
Planet Ill: Your album drops in August, A Place Called Loveland. Tell us about the album. What does that title mean as far as what you’re trying to convey to your listeners?
Raheem DeVaugn: It’s a relationship think tank. It’s an eclectic ride. Eargasmically, I’m touching on every aspect of what goes on in a relationship, so there’s sort of like a dope storyline that goes along with it. Full of beautiful interludes and definitely I consider myself and I think others consider me balladeer and a socially conscious singer. For the Love Connection record to be doing so well and be a simple record and to still feel like a Raheem DeVaughn record, that was important to me for a first single.
We following up with an intense single, it’s called Ridiculous. We’re looking at treatments now for shooting the video. This album will have a lot of ballads. Even down to the track listing, putting people on cruise control from when they want to have some company, you know, ride out and get back to the crib and do what you do.
Planet Ill: You changed your management up recently. You’re down with Kevin Liles now?
Raheem DeVaughn: It’s a partnership. My original manager is still heavily involved in the day to day, but I did recently do a management situation with KWL. My team and his team as the components that are involved, we’ve always with the exception of Kevin, we’ve worked together and I’ve always been a fan of Kevin, him being from down in Baltimore, me being from D.C., it’s only right, keeping it homegrown. He represents Baltimore, I represent D.C. and Baltimore, I went to Coppin State for a few semesters.
Kevin is about doing stuff that he’s never done before and making it successful. He’s definitely a great mentor. It’s a blessing for me to be on his team, it’s a blessing for him to be on mine as well. I’m looking forward to it. I don’t look at him as a manager situation but moreso as a partnership
Planet Ill: He has an extensive major label history. Your history has been decidedly strong in the indie market. What have you gotten from his inclusion in your strategy that has helped you to get to this point?
Raheem Devaughn: I learned that as an artist, discipline. We live by the same philosophy music first. Nothing moves without the music. If you don’t have the hits that you need, if your music is not defining who you want to be and the type of artist that you are, nothing moves without the music, so music first. I think we’re both big on perception being reality. If it’s a song that I’m adamant about, nothing that I do in any form or fashion, I’m not a corny dude, so it can never come off as being corny. I’m big on swag; I like to refer to it as persona. I think that those things are essential. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
Planet Ill: is this the first time you’re working with outside writers?
Raheem DeVaughn: Nah, it’s not the first time. I’ve always had some writers in the cut. I’m in a place where I sought out more to go find great songs. I’m starting to work on other endeavors, you know. I have a radio show right now. You need the time to like go in and create and you don’t always have that luxury. I believe that there’s a lot of good songs out there with nobody to sing them. I’ve really been on a quest to go find those records.
Planet Ill: Let’s talk about your radio show for a second. The self-titled Raheem DeVaughn show.
Raheem DeVaughn: Yeah , every Sunday the Raheem DeVaughn show comes on, courtesy of Blis.FM, which is an internet radio company that I partnered up with as far as branding. We have over 20 other shows that we offer throughout the week. Our show comes on at 7PM to 9PM EST every Sunday. Not only can you watch it, we stream it out live, it’s smart phone compatible.
We have everybody on the show. We had Miguel, who just recently won a Grammy, Kendrick Lamar, who recently went Platinum. We do all genres of music. Independent artsists, you know, the Eric Robersons of the world. We have everybody on the show man Trina Braxton, Trina and Traci Braxton, from the Braxton Family Values, she hosted with me last summer for example. So there’s no telling who’s going to be on the show at this point. I’ve had Anthony Hamilton as a co-host before. It was on the humble, you know? It’s always cool, fun and exciting, whether I’m physically there or not. I can stream on my phone iChat and all that cool stuff.
Planet Ill: What place does love have in this market, where everybody is popping Molly and trying to get their threesome on?
Raheem DeVaughn: It’s cool. After all the bottle popping and whatever and everything somebody still wants to be intimate, wants to lay up and have an intellectual conversation and you dig it, I provide the soundtrack. It’s cool man. I kind of gives me an advantage to stick out like a sore thumb. I’ve always kind of just did me and just let people kind of gravitate to the music. I try not to do what everybody else is doing or what I feel like I should be doing versus what I want to do. And that’s just making great music and timely music. Making music that’s great and that’s truly timeless is all that really matters.
Planet Ill: What is love to you?
Raheen DeVaughn: I’m still really finding out. I’m on a quest to find that out. It’s definitely an emotion of happiness. It’s immortal. It’s a number of things, man. To me, it’s melody, words. But as far as that means, as far as finding that person I’m still trying to find doing some soul searching. If you love women, what is love? The things that we love and the things that we desire are not always the things that are best for us. You come to the conclusion that you can’t really love somebody else fully complete until you love yourself, or have evaluated yourself in that aspect. What I do realize is that I have this gift or I have this mojo of making these songs that are called love songs that bring people together. Being newly appointed “love king” that’s really where that title comes from; you bring people together. Whether it’s for a moment or a lifetime, you bring people together. But as far as what it truly is, that’s one of the keys or the secrets to the universe. Still trying to discover that, along with other things.
Planet Ill: Give us a powerful event in your life that you haven’t written about.
Raheem DeVaughn: Probably the birth of my sons. I haven’t made that record yet. Like when Jay-Z came out with Blue IV [Glory], something of that nature. But probably everything else man I feel I’ve covered or attempted to cover. Whether released or unreleased.
Planet Ill: Any closing thoughts?
Raheem DeVaughn: Definitely tune into the radio show every Sunday evening. Become a fan at Blis.FM. You can FaceBook friend me at the Raheem DeVaugn show. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Raheem_Devaughn. Of course, A Place Called LoveLand will be out this summer. It’ll be my fourth in-studio album. It’ll be available everywhere, iTunes, Amazon your local record stores. As well as my foundation I’ve started, get excited about supporting the Loveland Foundation, travelling to the world of philanthropy (sic) work; giving back, taking it step by step, day by day trying to change the world and lives in a positive manner.
Raheem DeVaughn – Welcome To LoveLand – Planet Ill by Illsideradiopodcast on Mixcloud
