Meet Rachid Ra Bell | Pop singersongwriter/performance artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rachid Ra Bell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rachid, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
Risk taking is something I’ve had to force myself into doing. I’m naturally a control freak. In order to participate in life and to embrace the veracity of life which is chaos and constant change, I’ve had to accept that control is an illusion. Showing up and taking chances in life and adapting to change is what keeps you in an active life and can even enable someone to thrive. I’ve taken risks with trying new things throughout by entire career and life. In living my life, I’ve had to take a risk, release my fear and try living different ways and in different places in order to stay in the flow of life and move forward. A risk can be as seemingly insignificant as trying a new food or changing one’s hair color, yet these small choices can impact the course of your life. Taking risks is easily the key to longevity. Risk taking is essential to growing and becoming a natural changeling which is what human beings are. Back in the late 90’s and early aughts I took risks by breaking from my traditional approach to songwriting- live in a room with others together creating. I tried to create from a distance which is to say online or virtually writing to tracks and sending emails. This is a more impersonal process that feels more transactional and opposite to how I was trained. This approach resulted in some of my best work. I was also simultaneously taking risks after parting ways with my major record label that I’d been signed to since being a teenager. I began to release music independently and intermittently with small labels and imprints and most recently on my own without any label support online via the internet. The emancipation from a record label was a gift of freedom- I began to recreate my look, my shows and experiment with a myriad of sounds- MAJOR RISKS. I was throwing caution to the wind and pleasing myself more and more instead of overthinking things. I didn’t have the pressure of worrying about meeting quotas or alienating a demographic. I learned to follow my bliss and trust the process and accept being a full artist and to create from that space instead of being so calculated so early on in the process. My audience grew with me and has remained loyal all these years later. One of the first things I did as an independent artists was dye my hair blonde and fully embrace my love of avant garde fashion. I know that sounds superficial and minor, it it truly opened up many doors for me and made it all the more fun along the way. That was a major risk in that I didn’t try to control or worry about other’s perception of me. Most recently, I sold my beautiful pied-à-terre and moved to Nashville. I had never visited Nashville before. The first time I came to Nashville was to buy buy my house and leave my native NYC. I don’t know anyone here and I have no family here. Nothing is familiar. This is another MAJOR RISK I’m taking. I didn’t just move anywhere though, I moved to Music City. I take risks this way that show consistently that I’m betting on myself as the winning horse. I take risks because fear is what destroys a career. For someone like myself who always needs to feel safe, risk-taking is a very spiritual/holy act of me stepping way out of my comfort zone, getting out of my own way and resetting my default.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a singular singersongwriter lauded as lyricist of the year by Spin magazine and ‘glorious, heavenly singer’ by the New York Times. I combine music with visceral lyrics and anthemic melodies. I deliver hyper visual performances that are stadium worthy. No one sounds or looks like me. I was coached and developed by my uncle who was a Grammy award winning songwriter/producer and my father who was just inducted into the 2024 rock and roll hall of fame. I started recording and writing professionally at the tender age of 8. I netted a record deal by the time I was 14. My first album ale out when I was 15. Despite all this early development and success, I was not an overnight success. My record deal fell away, and I became an underground, peripheral cult star. I’ve learned to always serve my art, always practice, always create, never let success dictate my discipline, to treat everyone with respect and care and to never ever give up on oneself, the world should know that I make incredible, memorable, anthemic songs, I sing like life is an eternity, like my life depends on it and like I am invincible. I have quite an extensive catalogue because I have never stopped producing music. The vault is indeed fully loaded.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Food- Culaccinos, Once Upon A Time In France, Authentique, Frankie’s, Cocorico, Little Gourmand, Drusie & Darr.
Motown Mondays to dance. Go to the Hermitage. Watch a show at Dark Matter and The Basement East. Go for Foie Gras at The Rainbow Room and listen to Jazz. Go for Los Angeles style sushi at O-Ku. Buy some sundries at the Farmer’s market and buy a Belle Chase Boule at Frankie’s Bottega and have picnic at Radnor Lake( eat half the boule and feed the remainder to the ducks & swans). As a new Yawka, I’m a pizza purist and Frankie’s, a Carroll Gardens Brooklyn legendary store, is the only pizza this New Yawka will eat in Nashville. Go vintage shopping in Berry Hill boutiques and bookend it in Green Hills at Saint Laurent. Some light antiquing in South Nashville and Franklin. Cheekwood is a must for any newbies, as well as sneaking off to some speak easies, only to end up dancing all night at ‘Night We Met’. Third man records is a good hang and inspo. One of the most inspiring and beautiful places in Nashville is The Hermitage Hotel. It is a veritable little piece of Western Europe tucked away in downtown Nashville. The architecture and history alone is jaw dropping.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Casimir Alexander of Shaken Child. Casimir is is name and Shaken child is his band brainchild. Think Jim Morrison of the Doors or Courtney Love and Hole. This is an artist that I’ve had the privilege to know personally. He is my chosen family. Renaissance men are almost extinct, but an artist who has become my best friend is just that. Casimir is equally talented as a singular singersongwriter, performer, actor, writer, poet and painter. Everyone of his skills is developed so that they have been a source of revenue throughout his life. Merely keeping company with people of such great talent is both inspiring and educational. The first thing I learned how to do, was to use my voice to its full capability and range. There is an operatic technique called Bel Canto, and he, very unselfishly introduced me to his voice teacher, who was an heir to Tetrazzini, and she became my voice coach. When she retired, casimir, again, very unselfishly continued my lessons. It’s a very rare technique that can keep one singing well into old age. Casimir used his genius to art direct photoshoots for me and my live shows. I had ideas that I didn’t know how to bring to fruition until he put his hand in. I joke that my one regret was that I never had enough time in school to have an art history minor and that he gave me a free unofficial rogue art history degree! He helped me hone my look, my instrument and to have clear direction with my dreams. He never asked for a penny as he believes talented artist should support and help one another. In this spirit, we’re reviving the idea of the artists’ salon where a collective of talented and singular artists gestate, midwife and support one another’s work. He calls it the ‘Bleu Salon‘ and I often credit our visual collaborations under ‘Maison Delusion’ which signifies two things- the ‘haus’ referring to traditional creative French fashion houses and the healthy delusion which is essentially the blind ambition one must have to pursue their dreams and the unwavering sense of self possession one must foster in order to manifest these dreams.

Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4xG2vcI9d0IVaNJb68Pxk7?si=1Ch14I4KQmSEeIFWEXsyng

Instagram: rachidprototype_ra

Twitter: https://www.tiktok.com/@raisforrachid?_t=8r4bKe9czkc&_r=1

Facebook: Ra is for Rachid

Youtube: Rafancorps

Image Credits
Maison Delusion