Singer/songwriter Raheem DeVaughn first expressed his affinity towards music in pre-school and solidified his love for music during his early teens, when he began to envision his career path. In 2005, he released his debut album The Love Experience, which reached the no. 46 spot on the Billboard charts. With his release, DeVaughn was categorized amongst the likes of Dwele, Van Hunt, D'Angelo, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. Fast forward to 2008 and DeVaughn has built on the limited success he received from his debut album, garnering a nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards. With the popularity pendulum swinging his way, DeVaughn seeks to maintain the momentum with the release of Love Behind The Melody.
During the promotional campaign for his first album, DeVaughn sported a crown and cape at shows, a ploy to stand out as he referred to himself as the "Underground King." Since he's stepped into the limelight recently, DeVaughn dropped that nickname and -- as he states on the laid-back opener "Hello Love" -- now labels himself as a "R&B hippie neo-soul rock star" (a take on the difficulty media types have classifying him). But on Love Behind The Melody he never really fuses these styles, instead he relies strongly on his neo-soul abilities. The D.C. crooner knows how to set the mood with tender, flattering wordplay and addictive melodies, reincarnating that old school soul sound that folks like Marvin Gaye once brought to life.
"Woman" -- DeVaughn's radio smash about the greatness of women -- is produced by Carl "Chucky" Thompson, who is known for producing Bad Boy's early acts like Biggie and Mase. DeVaughn articulates his reverence for strong females with line like, "A grown woman who's confident / Better recognize one where the grown ones sit / And a grown woman knows how to tell you no / A grown woman knows when to let you go / You can have a big ole car and big ole house, but next to God nothing else amounts to her." Although DeVaughn does an awesome job on "Love Drug," it's producer, Scott Storch, surprises most with a light-hearted '90s-era R&B production. The piano man is also responsible for the more simplistic "Energy," a song about chemistry -- on which DeVaughn's high-pitched, mellow singing makes a good team with Big Boi's laid-back, structured rhyming.
The throwback vocalist flirts with the thought of serving his woman up on the swoony "Customer," while the day dreamy "Butterflies" and piano-laden "Try Again" create a more uplifting mood. Although he's at his best as a sensitive, soulful crooner who pensively contemplates love, marriage, fire in the bedroom and flattering the opposite sex, DeVaughn gets his rock star groove on with the party track "Friday (Shut The Club Down)," a riff of the Temptations' classic "My Girl." Since DeVaughn doesn't really step outside his comfort zone throughout the album, the spoken word by Malik Yusef on "Woman I Desire" is a welcomed change.
Raheem DeVaughn drops another timeless grown folks record, filled with -- sometimes overly swoony -- well-constructed songs. He might not get the commercial recognition he deserves, but then again, it's also nice to listen to an album without having the singles played to death on the radio. And while he works part-time on his technology products business as well as having a tour schedule that's overbooked and getting love from his peers such as Alicia Keys, you can be reassured that Raheem doesn't miss out on love.
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