Rasheeda has been making southern-fried hip hop, more popularly known as crunk music, for years. She is ready to release her fourth album when many of her hip hop peers have either slowed down after two albums or stopped rapping altogether, the Queen of Crunk is ready to take her place at the forefront of the music scene and prove to the world that she is just Dat Type of Gurl.
Her hip hop highness has been cranking out spitfire, take-no-prisoner rap songs since the early 90s, back when she was barely a teenager herself and most of her friends were just shunning their pigtails and bobby socks. Since that time, she’s not only ruled supreme over the Crunk Kingdom but she has also established herself as one of the sexiest women in hip hop, unafraid to cut to the chase in her music and say what every woman wants to say and every man wants to hear.
Rasheeda’s latest offering, Dat Type of Gurl, is going to be released on D-Lo/York Entertainment/Imperial Records, June 19th, 2007. She explains the inspiration and the vibe of the current album, “I call it a classy, ghetto-fabulous, street masterpiece that takes you from the street to the bedroom, to the ups and downs of relationships to an up close and personal tour of how I’m living.”
The lead single, “My Bubble Gum” is the next female anthem. The song talks about being a special kind of woman….that has the confidence to tell her man exactly what she wants and exactly how to do it. The kind of woman that makes her own money and is just as comfortable at a family reunion or cook out as she is hanging out at a club. That theme of always being a true, southern belle and genuine Georgia Peach is a dominant theme throughout the album. There are relationship songs, bangers, true life lessons wrapped up in fictional stories ; all laced with the crunk beats, banging bass and expressive rhymes.
Besides the playful hit single, the album has “Touch Ya Toes,” a self-explanatory heater that finds Rasheeda wetting the musical appetites of old and new fans. “This song is a sexy club number. Fellas wanna see the ladies bend over in the club,” she explains. “Lyrically it’s catchy and it’s sexy.” In keeping with the same feel of this song, Rasheeda also has “Let It Clap” featuring the mulitplatinum crooner Akon. Rasheeda shows her naughty side with “Georgia Peach,” she describes the cut as a “sexual but tastefully done song that is really quite self-explanatory.” She adds, “It’s definitely for the ladies.”
“Pack Ya Bags,” featuring R&B singer Kalenna, is a straight-up kick-your-man-to-the-curb anthem. “This is a relationship record,” Rasheeda explains. “Your man’s no good, you’ve been putting up with his lies and cheating for so long and now you can’t take it. It’s time for him to pack his bags and go.” “You Can Get It” featuring Nitti is another burner. Rasheeda describes the songs as “a crazy street anthem with hot and sexy lyrics”. Speaking of features, Rasheeda’s album also showcases the talents of other mulitplatinum artist, Birdman and Jazze Pha and awards winning songwriter, Kandi (formerly of Xscape). Keeping it close to home she also has Pastor Troy, Fabo of D4L and her homegirls, Diamond and Princess of Crime Mob.
Rasheeda says being frank in her music comes naturally for her. “I’m a woman in a male-dominated industry. I have to bring it and bring it real.” One thing Rasheeda has always done throughout her colorful career is stay true to herself and her identity as an artist. “The subject matter on the album is basically my experiences. It’s about things I have seen and things I have wanted to address.”
Never one to be boxed in, Rasheeda says “Georgia Peach” represents a departure from the music on her previous releases. “The album is definitely different because I have grown so much as a woman and a mother and my life has taken a 360-degree turn. I’m a very focused and driven woman who is secure and confident. I know who I am and what I want and that shows on this project.”
A native of Decatur, Illinois, Rasheeda started out as a member of the teenage hip hop trio Da Kaperz. When she decided to go solo, she quickly caught the attention of Motown Records, for whom she released Dirty South in 2001, an attention-grabber that featured the dirty south anthem “Do It (Do Da Damn Thang)” with Pastor Troy. Her follow-up was 2002’s A Ghetto Dream, released on Kirk Frost’s Atlanta based D-Lo Entertainment. Her next album, Georgia Peach, had the critically acclaimed singles “Vibrate” featuring Petey Pablo and “Rocked Away” with Lil Scrappy.
As Rasheeda furthers her journey, she says she has no plans to stray from her course, still recording for D-Lo which now has a joint venture with York Records and is distributed through EMI’s independent division, Imperial Records. Rasheeda says she knows it is now her time to rule the hip hop kingdom and she plans to do it her way. “I’m distinctive, I have my own sound,” she says, “and I put out my own music. I don’t feel like I sound like anybody or look like any other female. I don’t try to mock anything, I just try to go out here and do what Rasheeda does. When you come out as an artist you’re also a person that people look at. I want people to see me for just what I am — not for something that I have to put on.”

Rasheeda - Rocked Away (CDS)