Interview: Raheem DeVaughn Talks New Music Videos, Surprise VERZUZ Appearance & Upcoming 10th Album

Three-time Grammy nominee Raheem DeVaughn has hit the ground running in 2022. Just last week he debuted two new music videos for "Can't Nobody," his duet with Keith Sweat, and Eric Roberson's "Lessons" remix. In an exclusive interview with Black Boy Bulletin, Raheem reflects on the evolution of R&B in the past decade, his surprise VERZUZ appearance, his upcoming tenth album, and his New Era Soul imprint.

Your appearance in the Anthony Hamilton-Musiq Soulchild VERZUZ was a pleasant surprise. How did that come about?

It was kind of based on a remix that we came up with for Eric Roberson's record "Lessons." That conversation started back in June of 2021. I reached out to him about remixing that record in particular, and then he went on to get Anthony Hamilton. I think he said that he got my verse and then Kevin Ross's. We had just met up a few days prior in Philly to put some effort into actually shooting the video. Anthony reached out over the weekend, at this point he already booked VERZUZ and was like, "Hey man, why don't y'all come to L.A.? Come down and perform the record!" So it was kind of organic.

If you could headline your own VERZUZ battle, would you do one? If so, who would you go against?

Absolutely, I will absolutely do one. It's a few artists... it just has to make sense. It's only a few artists that came out around my time that are still thriving. More important is the catalog and stuff of that nature. So I think Lyfe Jennings is a contender for that. I believe that Trey Songz came out at the same time as well. It just really has to make sense based on the timelines. I've been extremely consistent in terms of bodies of work and crowd favorites at concerts. I got a solid catalog!

Your record with Keith Sweat, "Can't Nobody," is at No. 9 on Billboard's Adult R&B Airplay Chart. Is there a remix on the way? Tell us a bit about the video.

Shoutout to BET and BET Her for the world premiere of the music video. I was thinking about [a remix] yesterday, but currently, a remix is not up and running. I think this song has the potential to go Top 5 but even No. 1. Eventually, I'll be up for a remix. I think it's a couple of names that could make sense.

Your collaborative album with Apollo Brown, Lovesick, was one of my of the last year. Is there another producer, or she would hop on and do a collaborative project with?

Absolutely. Right before we did that project, I worked with The Colleagues. I'm working on some stuff with Kenny Dope as well. When it comes to production and working with different producers, I'm open to working with just about everybody. It would just have to sonically combine our worlds.

How about solo music? When are we gettingmore of that?

Right now, I'm just taking my time and working on album No. 10. I'm in no immediate rush to put it out. Just kind of perfecting it, cutting a lot of different records, inserting this record, taking out other records, and playing with playlists and stuff like that, to essentially get it to where I'm 100% happy with it. In the meantime, there are other things that I'm doing, I'm doing a "Raheem DeVaughn Presents" series right now. We just did the first installment of that on January 21. The artist's name is Bee Boy$oul.

I had the opportunity of talking with Bee Boy$oul a few weeks ago about Back2Love, and it was an incredible conversation. How did you understand your role in the creation of that album?

I'm a visionary. Something I've always done for other artists, independent artists, local artists, for my area... is give feedback. I remember when Logic was working on Sinatra. One of my biggest fumbles was not signing Logic or getting involved in his career, but I'm extremely proud of him and everything he's doing. I've always been a helping hand whether it's hip-hop or jazz artists; Productive, but important, constructive criticism. For Bee Boy, what I like to do is put the battery in his back. He has a really solid project, and I'm extremely excited to see what it's doing. It's been out for about a month now and approaching a million streams for the entire body of work!

How was New Era Soul conceived? Why did you feel that it was an important step to take at this point in your career?

It's a platform that allows you to get strategic partnerships with different artists. I don't have to have the pressure of the label or any management company, I can just be very hands-on with the music and the particular artists that I partner with. We share ownership of the product.

What do you think about the state of male R&B music today?

I think R&B as a whole is in a great space and you just have to do your research, find different artists, and discover somebody new every day for the first time. I won't get into naming a bunch of names, but I think that it is in a great space. I think the millennials are doing a good job... music changes sonically over time. I think that for legacy artists like myself, it's more on us to step it up more than anything. I think it's important for us as legacy artists to extend the olive branch to younger artists, and that's something that, you know, that I pride myself on, that I've been doing.

How would you say that the platforming of R&B has changed over the years since you first got into the business?

Sonically, music changes every three to five years. It's tremendously changed the structures of songs. It's kind of like there are no rules anymore. I think the one universal thing and the common denominator is that it's about feel. Where the verse comes in, whether it has a hook or not, out of all these different things... does it feel good? Organic? I think that for me, that's the feeling that I chase, and that's what my ears are trained to listen for.

"There are no rules." What do you mean by that?

I mean, it's just no rules. You can have a record that doesn't have a hook on it. You can have a record, and for the first minute, it might just be a vibe or instrumentalists playing and vibing out. Auto-Tune or no Auto-Tune. When it feels good, it feels good.

What is your favorite R&B song right now?

"F.U.C.K." by Victoria Monét. That's a great record.

Which artists would you consider your OGs in this business? What did it mean to you at that moment when you felt that the torch was passed?

Definitely artists like Jodeci. Charlie Wilson. While I recently don't show it, Joe's also another one that's like an OG, and we do a lot of shows together. I'm always watching him. It's an honor to share the stage with artists such as Joe and Charlie Wilson. I've had the opportunity to tour with Babyface. More recently, I got a record in the can, and he's also singing vocals on it. I'm looking forward to getting to that to heat things up after this Keith Sweat record.

What keeps you coming back to R&B?

It's changed the trajectory of my life. It's also a beautiful thing to know that I possess the power to go to the studio and make a song or a body of work that people can look back on and say they fell in love with each other, made their first kid, got engaged, you know? There are so many different scenarios. It's beautiful.