STYLE OF SELF LOVE

Tell everyone who you are and where you are from?.

I go by the name of Rayven Justice, a singer-songwriter from Oakland, CA.

Let’s talk about your single and the motivation behind it. All right, well I just dropped my new single Cheated. The album was called Ray. The single basically is just a man’s point of view of being cheated on. I feel like no guy had really spoken on our side of the story when it comes to this scenario, and I just wanted to articulate that myself. Check out the video! I just felt like it was a strong message to put out. It’s something that men don’t even like talking about. It’s uncomfortable to talk about, but I feel like it’s a gem! I got a lot of positive feedback.

Who came up with the concept for the video?

My videographer and I were in Vegas. We were riding and I played him the song. We just started plotting, throwing ideas out, we both came up with ideas at the same time, or he passed some crazy ideas to me I never thought about doing, like I’m the victim in the video. I’m always being the guy that’s, you know “the guy,” that gets the girl. He was like you should reverse that idea where you’ll be the one that’s getting hurt. I’ve also had dreams of being an actor, so I was just like that would be cool to just touch bases on my acting side. We shot the video in Los Angeles; it was a whole motion.

What do you think is missing in today’s music?

I listen to a lot of 90s R&B, that’s what helps me with my music today. I pull from that stuff all the time. I just study that era as far as music and try to pull from it and put that into what I’m doing today. I just heard some of the old school Usher songs and watched the videos and I’m like we don’t even make songs like this anymore! We don’t even make videos like this, so you know it was just my idea of bringing that style back. So, people could see something refreshing and I want to continue doing that. I feel like that’s something that’s missing out of the new generation of music right now.

Who are some of your influences?

Usher, Avant, Donell Jones, Pretty Ricky as a group, Pleasure P, Chris

Brown of course. There’s been so many got to include John B. Is just so many people that had hits in the 90’s and the early 2000s.

So, all I do is just get on Apple Music and type in 90s R&B essentials and just let it play. If I hear something that catches my ear while I’m studying it, why do I like this song? I ask myself questions all the time, every time I hear a song. I might think the beat is fire, or the concept is cool. It may have a tempo to make me want to dance. So, I put all those different ideas into my music. I got the 90s as a footprint. It’s like a big blueprint that I just observe and study from to help with my sound today. I try to find a balance of both worlds from then and now. It’s like trap R&B of the 90s that R&B is completely different from the R&B sound today. So, I try to find a meeting ground for both styles of music.

Why do you think that people are asking for that old R&B sound to come back?

I just feel like everything has its turn. Four years ago, it was all about R&B, whoever was singing it was our time to shine. Cats like Adrian Marcel and a few other people. There was a whole R&B rant over the mustard beats. So, I felt like we had our time, then it went back to the rappers. Now it’s coming back to our team. We get bored over time, as soon as we get burned out, we want the old thing back, we just want something different to listen to. It’s always going to rotate. It’s slowly coming back to the singers. I just feel like everybody needs a little love in music now. We’ve been facing so many murders as far as artists are concerned. All types of senseless gun violence and I just feel like people just need something to feel good, some feel good music. We got to get love back, 90s R&B gave us that. That soul, that’s why I always pay attention to the 90s. I got to have that soul in my music. So, you feel the music you’re not just hearing it. I think that’s what we all need.

Where can they find you as far as listening to your music or checking you out on social media?

Everything is my name Rayven Justice, on all social media. My music is everywhere.