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Rashad

News

• Performance of 'Tell `Em What They Wanna Hear' by Rashad featuring T.I & Young Dro

Other Links

• myspace.com/grandhustlerashad

Bio: A throwback R&B crooner with an urban edge, singer/songwriter/producer Rashad Morgan wants you to feel him—like heartfelt lovers felt Marvin Gaye and churchgoers feel the spirit. This is the essence of soul and only a true music disciple raised in the heart of Motown can really understand it.

“Good music is all about feeling,” maintains Rashad. “It’s one of the highest forms of expression. If people can’t feel your music, you might as well not even do it.”

Not doing music was never an option for Rashad. Born on Detroit’s Westside, young Rashad grew up in church (both his grandfather and uncle were pastors), where he first fell in love with music. After his mother passed away when he was four, Rashad went to live with his aunt, who encouraged his musical interests by making sure he played instruments like the drums and the trumpet. His father, also a singer, would occasionally do stand-ins for the Temptations. “They called him David Ruffin, Jr,” laughs Rashad.

Apparently, his father’s talent rubbed off on young Rashad, who started singing old Motown songs at talent shows in elementary school. By age 12, he was singing in the church. One of those church performances led to his first record deal. While singing at Detroit’s Chene Park Amphitheater one day, Rashad was introduced to a woman named Peggy Body who knew New Edition member-turned-record exec Michael Bivens. Peggy told Bivens about Rashad’s talent and pretty soon, 13-year-old Rashad had a deal with Biv 10 Records in 1998.

The label paired him up with another young singer named Antuan and together they became the duo Antuan & Ray Ray. However, their group was part of a larger conglomerate of kid acts known as the “Biv 10 Pee Wees,” which dropped the album, “Adventures of the Biv 10 Pee Wees,” in 1999. The CD didn’t sell well, resulting in the Pee Wees’ dissolution in 2000.

Far from discouraged, Rashad graduated from Mumford High School in 2002 and went off to study music at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. He discovered an unused recording studio at the college and began recording and producing his own songs. He spent so much time in that studio that he stopped going to class and ultimately left Lincoln after the first year.

Around that time, his old singing buddy Antuan, who was now in a group out of Wyclef Jean’s camp, invited Rashad to New Jersey. Taking Antuan up on his offer, Rashad spent the summer of 2003 in Jersey learning the music business, networking, producing and “seeing what we could get into.” When the group didn’t work out, Rashad moved back to Detroit for a while and then relocated to Atlanta in 2004 to do production work for Big Ticket Music Group, owned by Atlanta Falcons running back Warrick Dunn.

“This is where I met a few engineers and learned ProTools,” recalls Rashad. “Big Ticket never did sign me, but I was recording more songs for myself and I learned a lot.”

Returning again to Detroit in early 2005, Rashad hooked up with a local production duo named Sicknotes, who produced a few tracks for rap group D12, including the song “How Come” (D12 World, 2004). Through Sicknotes, Rashad met his current manager Chris Lear. “A lot of people knew about him,” recalls Lear. “There aren’t too many successful artists that come out of Detroit these days, but I felt he was different. I knew that he had a place in the industry."

Upon Lear’s advice, Rashad put together an independent album, “People Call Me Ray Ray,” and released it in September 2005. The CD contained the single, “Just Lay” which spent three weeks as a “Battle of the Beats” champion on Detroit’s Hot 102.7 station before being put in regular rotation. “Just Lay” was followed by the song “What They Want to Hear,” also a local radio favorite that evolved into a huge regional and growing hit nationally.

The gifted songwriter/producer came to the attention of Grand Hustle Entertainment—home to Southern rap star T.I. Jason Geter, president of Grand Hustle, got his hands on a copy of “People Call Me Ray Ray” and immediately flew Rashad out to Atlanta. Soon after he was signed.

Now, Rashad is anxiously preparing for his Grand Hustle/Atlantic Records debut, a project he describes as a “classic R&B album.” Written entirely by Rashad, “A PLACE FOR ME” is a magical blend of traditional R&B and his unique style of writing and producing. Of course, some of Grand Hustle’s finest—T.I., Young Dro and P$C—will appear on the album’s edgier tracks, including the first single, “Tell ’Em What They Wanna Hear,” which features both T.I. and Young Dro. There are also heartfelt ballads, 90s-era grooves, and memorable melodies with a very modern edge.

“It’s real creative,” says Rashad of the album. “It’s urban, but smooth and a true reflection of where I am coming from. I’m just being myself.”