Sean Rasul

18 February 2005

Chicago born, San Angelo based hip-hop artist Sean Rasul will perform and sign copies of his new
CD, "The Showcase," from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at Hastings Books, Music and Video, 3504 Knickerbocker Road.

"The Showcase," in stores now on Rasul's Country Cool record label, is an eclectic blend of socially conscious street poetry and progressive hip-hop. The sound is a dash of Prince with a swirl of Earth, Wind & Fire, set firmly in the modern urban music genre. - San Angelo Standard Times

28 January 2005

Local hip-hop musicians Big Sid and Sean Rasul will open for Bone Thugs 'n' Harmony at 8 p.m. Saturday at the San Angelo Convention Center. Tickets are $25.50.

Bone Thugs 'n' Harmony are known for their '90s hits "Tha Crossroads," "1st of tha Month," "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" and "Look Into My Eyes." - San Angelo Standard Times

July 2005

There is much about this album that I really like. Its cool, laid back, poetic, based on personal observations, and thus thoughtful. A mix of song and spoken word commentary put together in a conceptual format. Influences from now and then, particularly Curtis Mayfield, with a bit of hip hop...all produced by Madukwu Chinwah.

After the intro we get straight into the hypnotic "Beautiful," Mayfield-esque, throbbing bassline and a simple, catchy hook. "Come Here Girl" is a persistant meet-that-girl commentary.

"Ride With Me" (featuring Big Sid) is just so catchy! Neo-soul beats with the Curtis falsetto again, riding on the bass with a chorus that begs you to hum it for the rest of the day. A "car" song somewhere between william DeVaughn and the Lost Boyz.

"Old Brotha" (skit) is a story about the streets of Chicago, showing how these little pieces of obseravation can in a small way shape a part of your being. Short and spoken, but a key piece to the whole story behind this album's make-up and leading into the more moody and deeper, both lyrically and vocally, "Can Man" (featuring Madukwu Chinwah).

"Supermodel" (featuring Madukwu Chinwah) is a bit like Prince to me. "Senorita/Senor" (featuring Gibeth) takes us down a more Latin path...not one of the stronger cuts. "Mo' Beautiful" is a spoken word piece. "Bye Mama" is a personal acoustic piece about leaving home.

Tracks: 1. Who I Be (intro skit), 2. Beautiful, 3. Come Here Girl, 4. Ride With Me (featuring Big Sid), 5. Old Brotha (skit), 6. Can Man (featuring Madukwu Chinwah), 7. Supermodel (featuring Madukwu Chinwah), 8. Senorita/Senor (featuring Gibeth),9. It Ain't Over (skit),10. Mo' Beautiful, 11. Bye Mama
12. Outro (skit)

Visit: www.lifeandsoulpromotions.co.uk - Life & Soul Promotions - United Kingdom

March 2006

Misha is back from the Holidays and I hope everyone had a wonderful time. This week I would love to recommend you listen to the artist, Sean Rasul.

I wish I could hear more of this kind of writing from urban musicians.
I played the song Ride With Me and his voice tickled me, his words are honest. It is just what I wanted to hear today! Chicago hood life comes alive in his sound and his words. Sean's character and talent creates a cool and teasing glimpse at street life. Sean mixes old and new style and many genres which will make his music ageless, but also captures the character of his subject.

Sean, you are too much...I don't need to write any more, just listen to this song and I am sure you will agree. I would like to soak in a bathtub of your music, that wouldn't be bad.Hey Sean, I want to buy your new CD. Send me one to NY?....Hurry!

Read the review at http://indizoo.com/pages/blog_forums_misha.php - Indizoo.com

1 December 2008

Probably more hip-hop orientated than the last album, but the visual patterns portrayed through the visions, the poetry, the mood and the theme come across very strongly.

The piece is very much conceptual, and the words illustrative. It mostly is very visual, with the laid back poetry and rhymes setting the scene and flowing quite nicely. Occasionally eg on "Hooked" it veers into the more derivative, but by and large it is fresh and deliberate.

"The Next Soldier" is slightly different with almost a reggae, kinda funky vibe,otherwise it is broadly poetry an hip hop, before building into the closing 8 minute ‘epic’ which is harder where the conclusions are drawn on the piece.

- Life and Soul Promotions - Mike Ashley

16 July 2005

The French translation reads:

One of the Soul albums you'll have to rank among the best this year; Sean's voice is indeed a little bit nasal at some passages, but definitely pleasant. The album is produced by Madukwu Chinwah (N'Dambi, Yodchai, Erykah Badu) which guarantees its quality. It's a godsend (windfall) for the young artist, whose album was first released in May by Country Cool Records, and is signed this month at Orchard.

Visit: http://donelljones8.over-blog.com/article-584182.html - DonnellJones8.over-blog.com

August 2005

Sean Rasul’s debut CD release on Country Cool Records has already rustled a few feathers in the Dallas and Chicago areas of the United States. The album is entitled "The Showcase," (produced by) Grammy Award Winning songwriter/producer Madukwu Chinwah, who is responsible for Erykah Badu’s hits "Rimshot," "Certainly" and "Love of my life/An Ode to hip-hop."

Sean’s debut covers Spoken Word, Hip-Hop and R&B influences. Its most stand-out song for me are "Ride with Me" w/Big Sid. Mr. Rasul has taken a very experimental vision with his music and has chosen to use underground rapper, Big Sid and (Latin singer) Gibeth. Sean's is an act that covers different musical genres like Jazz and Soul, to Hip-Hop and R&B.

"The Showcase" has twelve cuts, all of which are produced by M.Chinwah, who is also responsible for the entire production of ‘N’Dambi's – "Little Lost Girls Blues," that was an instant hit in the Soul/Jazz scene.

Sean Rasul may currently be unknown but with more help and promotion, his future career looks promising. The entire album is an interesting blend of different musical genres.

One other song of Sean Rasul's that is stuck in my mind was "Can Man" featuring M.Chinwah. "Can Man" is about a hustler who Sean would see almost everyday picking up cans, and turning them into pots to collect cash or change to survive on. The different thing about this hustler was that he didn’t ask for a dime, as all the others on the same street would. Sean Rasul tells us his life experience in a skit called "Old Brotha" with a Spoken Word piece before the song comes in full swing. All he had was a shopping cart, cloths and cans, that’s why the song is called "Can Man."

Sean Rasul doesn’t hold back on self-expression, just like legends like Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke, Sean uses the same musical methods. His voice has been compared to the high falsetto of Mr. Curtis Mayfield, and I do agree, there is a major resemblance.

This overall, is an ok debut, I look forward to watching Sean Rasul grow and perhaps use his first musical gift, his vocals on his second album. I wasn’t too impressed with songs like "Come Here Girl" and "Bye Mama." There is still need of some growth for Sean Rasul, if he still hangs around talents like Madukwu Chinwah then this artist could turn out to be a new modern day soul man.

Matthew Daniel [Just Soul]

www.justsoul.net - Just Soul - United Kingdom

12 August 2005

Call it ''alternative soul'' if it helps wrap your mind around it.

Take one part beat poetry, one part hip-hop, add a pinch of stringy falsetto, shred it and pour it through a microphone. That'll give you some idea of the new school of old school that Sean Rasul is trying to produce from his modest Country Cool record label.

The San Angelo (by way of Chicago) soul-man performs Saturday at The Oasis with his band Natural Selection.

Rasul isn't you're typical twentysomething trying to get a career in music. For one, he's in his thirties (though he looks closer to his late-teens)...He's Islamic - ''Rasul'' is Arabic for ''The Messenger'' - and eloquent enough to justify that choice to the Christian reverend who raised him.

He's a different breed of guy.

He's the same guy who proudly tells others about the time he climbed Mount Fuji in just 12 hours.

Stop being impressed.

''The average time is like six or seven hours,'' Rasul admits, laughing a bit. Halfway up, his body quit on him, leaving a trail of vomit up the mountainside. He finished nonetheless. Now a Mount Fuji pin commemorating the ascent is tacked to the ceiling of his car.

''They told me, 'You made it up Fuji in record time - we're just not saying what record that is,''' Rasul said.

The lesson is, Sean Rasul isn't the type of guy who settles for what's easy, a work ethic that suits him well in his music and his life.

He joined the Air Force at a time when all of his friends back home in Chicago were telling him, ''The military is no place for a Black man,'' he said.

What his friends didn't know was, they were the exact reason he joined.

''I remember sitting inside a fast-food joint with my friends watching some guy mop the floors and hearing my friends say, 'I'll go out and sell crack before I ever mop a floor,''' Rasul said. ''I was like, 'What?' That guy's got an honest job; he's not going to get killed or arrested or get someone else killed. That job was something no one else could take away from him, but that didn't matter to them.''

Rasul pays tribute to another hard-working Chicagoan on ''Can Man,'' from his debut album, ''The Showcase.'' The Can Man, whose real name Rasul never got, collected aluminum cans in Rasul's neighborhood every day during Rasul's youth.

''He could have just as easily asked me for $5, but he didn't,'' Rasul said.

''The Showcase'' is full of such authentic rhymes. Even when Rasul is rhyming about cars, he's rhyming about GMCs, not Mercedes or Hummers. Not surprising, considering his producer and all-around cohort Madukwu Chinwah also produced Grammy-winning material for the equally real Erykah Badu.

The album was released earlier this year and is beginning to pick up momentum in unexpected places. Rasul sold only 40 copies in all of his native Chicago. But a recent touring gig through Europe saw the album in high demand.

One part beat poet and one part R&B mini-mogul, Rasul is admittedly a bit of an acquired taste. Some don't get his Prince-like voice or socially conscious lyrics. It's surely a far cry from the sluggish Houston sound that is beginning to explode in the hip-hop scene.

''They want Mike Jones,'' Rasul said, referencing the Houston rapper who beat down the door for the Texas hip-hop scene earlier this year. ''It's a party atmosphere.''

But if there's one truism in physics and music, it's that every force has an opposite force pushing against it. Rasul seems ready to be that alternate force.

''I notice that the commercial music scene is turning a lot of people off; they're singing about sex, money, flashy type things,'' he said. ''The traditional soul music is being pushed further away, so there's an energy when people hear real soul music.''

By John Boyd
- The San Angelo Standard Times

April 2009

Sean Rasul is an independent artist from Chicago, Illinois. Sean submitted his song "Champion" to a Broadjam licensing opportunity and it was recently placed into a major cable TV reality show. - Broadjam