Words by Axel Metz
Combining the musical sentiments of soul, hip-hop and folk, Raury is an artist who lets his talent do the talking.
American singer-songwriter Raury has a tendency to upstage those he appears on a track with. To be honest, it’s usually Jaden. “Falcon”, one of the best songs on Smith’s Syre album, belongs to Raury. “Losing Your Mind”, another Jaden collaboration and the best of Netflix’s The Get Down soundtrack, belongs to Raury. “Dead People”, a lesser-listened-to track on Gucci Mane’s star-studded 1017 Mafia album, belongs to Raury.
Perhaps that’s why the career of the Georgia-born rapper hasn’t taken off at the same rate as his contemporaries. I’d imagine it’s hard to continue to get work when you so consistently make those you have worked with look bad. But jokes aside, Raury is the definition of a hidden gem. He’s an artist who’s been around for some time – his debut mixtape, Indigo Child, dropped in 2014 – but one who still hasn’t yet earnt the plaudits he deserves.
Born and raised in Stone Mountain, a small suburb of Atlanta, Raury’s ascension to acclaimed professional music artist follows a fairly movie-like script. At age fourteen, he decided to dedicate the rest of his life to music. At fifteen, he would record and produce tracks in his friend’s basement. Influenced by the aggressive, romantic sentiments of 2Pac, his early work would resemble the verses of that legendary rapper he so looked up to. In high school, he played guitar in a cover band, and even threw his own music festival – Raurfest – on his 18th birthday. Upon graduating, he released a free digital download of his aforementioned debut mixtape, Indigo Child, which saw him quickly land a record deal with none other than Columbia Records – home to the likes of Beyoncé, Snoop Dogg and David Bowie.
In 2015, Raury dropped his debut studio album, All We Need, which saw him establish his genre-bending sound by mixing soul, hip-hop and folk. “Devil’s Whisper” is a particular highlight, and perhaps the best example of a track which merges all three of those genres into a four-minute showcase of what Raury is all about. Another of the album’s best songs, “Crystal Express”, appeared on the FIFA 16 soundtrack – and yes, you’ll probably recognise it.
After commercial relationships struggled, though, the young artist was dropped by his label. In a 2018 interview, Raury spoke of his discontentment with his management at the time: “I went to Coachella without any support from the label. It was like they were trying to put me in a position of fear and weakness so I could run out of money and they could control me”.
As a result, all of Raury’s music thereafter was self-produced and released for free. His 2017 single, “Odyssey”, went straight to SoundCloud. In 2019, his second album, “Fervent”, was self-produced and distributed under his own company, Into the Woods. His music was no worse off for it, though. Some of Raury’s best songs – “Cherry Blossom”, for instance – came with this later project, and serve to prove the resilience of a musician evidently dealt some tricky cards throughout his career.
But for all his lack of truly global stardom, Raury is a star in his own right. He’s one of those artists whose songs you wish would replace the commercial products that populate today’s charts, and is undoubtedly a musician content to let his talent do the talking – with good reason, too.
While you’re here, check out the other artists we’ve profiled as part of our Discover Weekly series.