Growing up in England and Barbados wasn't as sweet as it sounds. As a child witnessed a brutal attack on his mother which led to his world being turned upside down. His privileged childhood ended and suddenly he was mixing with thugs, drug dealers and street gangs.Experiences that many of us could not begin to comprehend, shaped him into the artist he is today. He discovered his love for music when he was thirteen years old after hearing tracks by artists LL Cool J and Nas. These influences meant so much that when he was twenty he decided to move to the United States of America in pursuit of his dream.

On arriving in the States he lived in Brooklyn, New York when he decided to dive straight in at the deep end and called up numerous record labels in the hope that one would listen to his demos. Well, that's exactly what happened! Rkade (using the stage name Raven at the time) signed to the Universal imprint label Statra Recording, which was one of many that took an interest in him, including the likes of Def Jam! Whilst signed to the label he released singles 'Bentleez and Kadilaks' and 'Survive', which received radioplay on Hot 97 (formally WQHT) by Wendy Williams, and performed live sets in venues such as Sugar Shack and The Hard Rock Cafe.

His life became a crazy whirlwind of limos, parties and rubbing shoulders with the music industry's big players. He was lucky enough to get guidance from the artists Chaka Khan and P Diddy (known as Puffy at the time). However, he was soon to experience the more sordid side of the industry.Of course he was young , naive and bowled over by the lavish lifestyle they offered - let’s face it - how many of us at the age of twenty would turn down the opportunity? When this lifestyle lost its attraction he stopped performing and went into the accounting business. He let his music dream take a back seat and got on with his life. One day, a stranger heard him rapping and became so frustrated that talent was being squandered, that they almost had a fist fight.This incident inspired Rkade to begin writing again.

He began to build up a repertoire of material and made the decision to go back into the studio after a seven year break to create a new album in the hopes of signing to another label. His new material is a far cry from the tracks he released for Statra Recording, (although these are still commercially available). His focus is now all about storytelling, taking situations from his past, such as an attempted hotel robbery that had his life at the end of a gun, literally!

Rkade is stepping away from the stereotypical rapping style that glamorizes fame and fortune. Today his lyrics show people what can happen when a wrong decision is made and touch on topics that are relevant to the younger generation.