SoundNexx

RAHEEM'S 'LOVE BEHIND THE MELODY!'
Currently, I am a big Raheem DeVaughn fan, but I have to admit that when I first discovered him I was very skeptical of him as artist. I still remember it like it was yesterday actually. It was on a Saturday back in the early spring of 2005, and I had the TV on BET J trying to get some soul music in my ears before I headed out for the day. All of sudden I hear the Earth, Wind & Fire “Can’t Hide Love” beat come through the speakers of my television. I immediately turn my head toward the screen expecting to get a glimpse of Maurice White and Phillip Bailey putting the boogie down, but that’s not what I saw! What I saw was this unknown kat with corn rolled braids singing over one of my favorite EW&F samples instead, so immediately my grin turned into a definite frown. I wasn’t feeling it, but I skeptically finished watching his “Guess Who Loves You More” music video anyway. In my mind I had already written off this Raheem DeVaughn dude as just another neo-soul gimmick that was trying to slide into the (always swinging) music business door by using a hot old school sample. This type of trickery had been used hundreds of times in the past, and I wasn’t falling for it. As far as I was concerned I wasn’t the slight bit interested in finding out anything more about this artist. Our musical partnership was over before it had even started.

So, a couple of months later I was up in one of my favorite local record stores Record Time and I was rummaging through their promo albums/used music bins and I stumbled across a promo copy of Raheem DeVaughn’s “Love Experience” album. I didn’t recognize his name at first, but I put the CD in my pile of stuff I planned on checking out at their listen station. When I eventually opened up the CD cover, I realized that it was that corn-rolled headed, beat stealing neo-soul dude again! At the point of my discovery, I was about to just throw the Raheem CD back in the bin and not even listen to it, but my curiosity got the better of me. So, I went a head and put the Raheem album into the player, and I when I first heard the "The Love Experience” song (track 2) I was totally impressed! I made it to “Guess Who Loves You More” song (track 3) and that even sounded better to my ears this time around. By the time I reached “Is It Possible” (track 11) I knew I had something special in my hands, and I had almost missed out on it. So, needless to say that I scooped that joint up with the quickness, and at the low cost of $6 you know it was a wrap! There was still approximately a month and some change before the official release of his album on June 28, 2005, so I went on a personal mission trying to turn everyone that could onto Raheem DeVaughn and The Love Experience.

I made another discovery as I was on my Raheem DeVaughn crusade as well. I was actually a fan of Raheem’s music before I heard his album. He had actually been featured on a few tracks on Jazzy Jeff’s “The Magnificent” album back in 2002, and it never dawned on me that he was the same dude. That was a dope album as well that was slept on. I can admit that I was totally wrong about Raheem when I first formed my initial opinion about his whole career based on the first single off of his album. We all make musical mistakes, but in 2007 he is a household name to most when it comes to male soul singers. It’s been over two years since we’ve had an album from Mr. DeVaughn, but he is about to release his second album “Love Behind the Melody” on November 27, 2007. I have heard a few tracks off of the new joint and I’m really diggin’ them! The lead single off of his new is called “Woman” that just so happens to be causing a slight buzz on the internet right now. If you haven’t heard that track yet, check it out below…



LOVE BEHIND THE MELODY TRACK LIST:

01. Love Behind A Melody
02. Some Kind Of Way
03. Desire
04. She's Not You
05. Four Letter Word
06. Cocaine Dreams
07. Rich Girls
08. Mo Betta
09. Butterflies
10. Lovesick (Empty)
11. Try Again
12. Energy
13. Marathon
14. Woman
15. Love Drug
16. Customer
17. Friday (Shut The Club Down)

GET FAMILIAR FOLKS:

www.theloveexperience.com

www.myspace.com/devaughnenterprises