It’s rare when you get to chop it up with one of your favorite artists or an artist at the top of his game. During a recent pow-wow with Raheem DeVaughn, however, we got to kill two birds with one stone.
Since his 2005 major label debut “The Love Experience,” DeVaughn has been one of a handful of consistent providers of unapologetic, unadulterated soul music in the past decade. In 2008, he escaped the web of the sophomore jinx with “Love Behind the Melody.” “Woman,” the lead single, is his biggest hit to date and was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. A year later, “Customer” was nominated for Best R&B Song.
In 2010, DeVaughn threw the game a curve with the ambitious “The Love and War MasterPeace,” which was also Grammy-nominated as Best R&B Album of the Year. In 2013, the momentum continues, as DeVaughn is currently riding the waves of a top 20 single with saxophonist Boney James called “Maker of Love.” James shared of the pairing, “Raheem is an artist I’ve wanted to work with for a long time, and I got an email saying that ‘Raheem DeVaughn is following you on Twitter’.
“So now that I had a link, I sent him a direct message telling him that I had a song for him. I sent him the track, and he came back with what I thought would be a demo, but instead, I got an incredible lyric and finished vocal that ended up on the album [‘The Beat’] as is.”
This single serves as a bridge to the highly anticipated fourth studio album, “A Place Called LoveLand.” To offset the smoothness of the “Maker of Love” single, DeVaughn chose the vibrant, up-tempo “Love Connection,” produced by Carvin & Ivan. “It’s a feel-good record that is a great way to reintroduce me, my sound and create a sonic connection between people.”
The follow-up track, “Ridiculous,” dipped back into the balladeer bag that makes the ladies hearts melt, as DeVaughn teams up with Ne-Yo, who wrote “I Don’t Care” on DeVaughn’s 2010 album release.
“From one songwriter to another, I think Ne-Yo’s definitely a blessing to R&B music and all genres in fact. ‘Ridiculous’ is a beautiful love song that speaks for the brother’s out there who don’t know how to express their emotions into words,” said DeVaughn. “This is a timeless joint that’ll help brothers convey their sentiments for and to someone. That’s what it’s all about.
“I think it will be one of those records that you’ll hear forever.”
“A Place Called LoveLand” reveals another facet of growth. Formerly signed to Jive Records, DeVaughn releases his new music through a joint deal between his own label, 368 Music Group, and Mass Appeal Entertainment. With 15 mixtape releases coming via the independent route, DeVaughn still feels the challenge of stepping out on his own. Of the entrepreneurial venture, he says, “I’m essentially signed to myself, and I have to wear and juggle a lot of hats, but it’s high risk, high reward. I’m ready for that challenge.”
“For the past two years, I’ve had a radio show called ‘The Raheem DeVaughn Show’ on www.blis.fm that airs every Sunday night.” The two-hour show features DeVaughn as a personality with opinions on what transpires in the world through his perspective while blending in elements of lifestyle and pop culture for all listeners to appreciate.
“This is huge for me. It’s important to have this show for the preservation of our music that I love,” DeVaughn said“but I also wanted to create a platform for myself so people can see me in a different light, on an entrepreneurial level, as well as a platform for my peers.”
While he has many things to smile about on the horizon, the discussion had a tinge of melancholy, as it came after the Trayvon Martin verdict was unveiled, thus making his current release, “Trigger Man,” featuring Styles P, all the more relevant.
On the verdict, DeVaughn offered, “The song is self-explanatory, but the verdict itself says that our country in a dire state of distress. It’s at the tipping point of chaos. … So we definitely have got to be conscious of that. It’s like a ticking time bomb with these decisions and events that are taking place. I think people are fed up as a whole— not just Black people— about the injustice, period.”
On Sunday, Aug. 4, DeVaughn headlines the fifth annual WBLS R&B Fest, along with Lyfe Jennings, Donnel Jones and Erika Campbell as part of the SummerStage concert series. Showtime is 3 p.m. at the Rumsey Playfield, which is located on the east side of the park near the entrance at East 69th Street and Fifth Avenue.