Raashan Ahmad

Raashan Ahmad is a solo hip-hop MC and the front man of the Crown City Rockers crew. I was born in Trenton New Jersey. At an early age my pop's had his eyes set on the gold in the hills in the West so my family moved to Los Angeles. My earliest memories are of my dad programming and playing mix tapes his friend from New Jersey would send, as well as his records, and acting like a radio announcer. Marvin Gaye, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Miles, Anita Baker and lots of good jazz, funk, and soul. This would set the foundation and the standard for my own musical taste (and record collection) to flourish.

Growing up Hip-Hop seemed to have always been there, but my first conscious memory is probably of Buffalo Girls by Malcolm McLaren and I think that's because I have a mental picture of my older brother doing a kneespin to it. Being the younger sibling, I mimicked my brother and made my entrance into this culture thru dancing. I grew up listening to Hip-Hop thanks to the worlds greatest radio station, K.D.A.Y. In 1988 I moved to Altadena, just outside of Los Angeles and got a fade (not as fly as Kanes). Around 1992 I met this insane dancer who we called Bungee. Bungee, Woodstock myself and this cat Marc started a dance crew called the Battlekatz. We were in a couple of videos and danced for some really bad performers, but as long as they gave us some food we were cool. As fate would have it one night we went to audition to open up for House of Pain. When we got there the promoter said they needed a rap group instead of dancers, so, since we drove a long way to get there we decided we were gonna be a rap group. Bungee and I rapped, Woodstock and Marc were the dancers and that's how I officially started rapping.

During this time we used to stay up all night rewinding the Roxy scene of Beat Street, the Wreckin shop video, going out to the numerous underground L.A. spots like Unity, Brown Rice and BBQ, Graveyard Shift and just trying to hone our skills. At the same time we were rollin with the older b-boys from Dena (360) and hitting the after hours open mic functions at the E-bar or The Spot. Being able to watch these cats do their thing the right way was the most inspiring thing ever. The way they put words together with the energy was the most amazing thing to me.

The next couple of years I entered the work force and met up with some other cats who would change my life by introducing me to raves. Most of the cats I grew up with enjoy teasing me about this period in my life, but it opened me up to a whole other way of thinking and feeling music and life. Aside from falling in love with electronic music, this time was a huge growing experience for me. Through a couple of chance meetings and twists of fate, in 1996 I found myself living in Boston with my road dog Tim and my homegirl Jenny, (Evolve Universal fresh gear!!). This would be the year that changed my life forever.

Boston was the first time I was truly on my own. One night searching for Hip-Hop we rolled up to this open mic spot in Cambridge and I saw rawness like I had never seen before. Cats were freestyling, beatboxing, and battling. Every M.C. had so much hunger and fire like if they couldn't get these words out they would explode. Back home I rapped a little but the energy in the spot that night spoke to me so I spit a rhyme and entered the Boston scene. About a week later in front of a club, a cat I met that night introduced to another Beantown native named Sound and Mind, a.k.a. Moe Pope who somewhere in the next twenty seconds proceeded to start a battle with me. Depending on who's telling the story depends on who won that battle.

Moe, Tim and I all ended up moving in together in Mission Hill, an area in Boston, where we spent most of our time freestyling, beatboxing, and trying to touch any and every mic in the city. Being from Cali caught up with me and the Boston winter (among other things) moved me back West. I hooked up with Woodstock and another friend from Dena, Jah-Sun who invited me to join their group the Extra Elohs. We rocked some shows but things weren't moving as fluid as they were in Boston. Moe would call me every week to tell me about this band he hooked up with called Mission: and try to convince me to move back East and join the band. He'd call me either beatboxing, rhyming or playing some guy named Headnodics' beats. After about 2 months I was back in the Bean ready to do this with all my heart. My first impression of Max, Kat, and Ethan, before their musical genius, was how genuine, honest and down to earth they all were. Ethan, Kat, Moe, and I eventually made our way back West to reside in Oakland where we met up with Woodstock and soon after Max joined us on our journey.

Big Moe Pope is now back in Boston keeping it live, and the rest of us are pushing on. The best part of being in this group is the feeling of infinite possibilities. Each member pushes each other toward growth musically as well as in everyday life. I'm exited about my future as an M.C. and a member of this ever changing group. Crown City Rockers!!!

raashan@crowncityrockers.com
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