RVSHVD Makes Unapologetic Genre-Blending Introduction With Debut Album 'It’s Rashad'

Growing up in Willacoochie, Georgia, RVSHVD (pronounced “RA-SHAD”) would turn to songwriting to process whatever life threw his way. Combining his country, rap, and rock music influences, the 27-year-old is ready to formally introduce himself to the world with his debut full-length album, It’s Rashad.

“Even as a kid, anytime I was dealing with something, I would just go write a song about it, and that's what I want this album to do. I want people to hear this album and understand who Rashad is,” he tells Countrytown.

“Where I grew up, we didn't have a lot. And so I guess it made me want to go harder for the stuff that I wanted,” says RVSHVD. “When I listened to music, that was my escape, and that's what I felt like I wanted to do.”

The small-town budding artist held odd jobs over the years while he honed his musical talents. “I was washing cars with my Daddy, landscaping, hauling scrap. I worked at Dollar General for a little while, about maybe two, three years. And then I worked at a newspaper place where I was the one in there putting the newspaper together, all the pages, I did that. Sometimes, I would just walk up and down the road with a trash bag, pick up cans and take 'em to sell.”

When he wasn’t working and going to school, RVSHVD experimented with making music using the limited tools he had available. He didn’t have internet access at home, so he would go to his local library to burn instrumental tracks to a CD. Then, at home, he would use headphones and an MP3 player to record vocals on top. That ingenuity was the foundation of his career. 

RVSHVD originally wanted to be a rapper but began experimenting with writing country music around 2018. He received encouragement from his friends to keep pursuing it and release a full country project. “Even when I was writing it, it just came to me,” says RVSHVD. And so I stuck with it because it's what felt right.”

The Georgia native names Brooks & Dunn, Darius Rucker, Alan Jackson, and Chris Stapleton as his major country music influences. He also cites rap artists Tupac, Lil Wayne, J Cole, and Kendrick Lamar, as well as rock bands Papa Roach, Linkin Park, and Yellowcard. 

“I think that's what's so cool about this space in country music now,” says RVSHVD. “Now you can be influenced by different artists outside of country music, and you don't have to hide that part of yourself, and you can put all that in your music. And I think that's what makes it cool now. It's like country music is out there for anybody.”

As a kid, Clint Rashad Johnson went by his first name, saying, “I always thought it was cooler.” But by the time he started putting out music, he was using his middle name—which turned out to be a challenge. This is what led to the unique spelling of RVSHVD. 

“I made it back in college,” he explains. “Me and my wife came up with it; actually, she came up with it. I was going to do Rashad with the S as a dollar sign, and she was like, ‘No, don't do that.’ I was on SoundCloud trying to set up an account, but there were already so many Rashads.”

RVSHVD released his EP Memories in 2019 and began recording cover songs around the same time. 

“I started posting my covers on TikTok, and one day we was in Panama, and anytime we go on vacation or something, I always bring my studio equipment with me just in case we got some downtime, and I want to do something,” he shares. “I just decided to do a country cover of a rap song, and I had been listening to this song called Ballin’ by Mustard and Roddy Rich. And so I did a country cover of it.”

RVSHVD also recorded a cover of Rascal Flatts’ Bless The Broken Road that day, but when he went to upload it, he hit a copyright block, so he posted the Ballin’ cover instead. “I posted that one, and that was the one that took off.

“And so after that, it went viral, and I guess I was so scared of losing that moment and losing the eyes on me and that attention, I just kept going every day. I was trying to find something to post, something to cover, and I didn't really have the schedule I have now. So, I was doing everything. I was going around that time. I'm in college, I'm doing my schoolwork and then finish, then I go record a cover, and then I shoot the video, then I drop it all the same day.

“I felt like I had enough attention off the covers around that time, and I felt like it was time to put out some original stuff. And that's when I followed up with [single] Dirt Road, and then I kept putting out originals, and then last year I decided it was time to put out an album.”

The response to RVSHVD’s original music led to his Grand Ole Opry debut in 2023, performing at Nissan Stadium during CMA Fest and even having a day named after him in his hometown.

RVSHVD describes his debut full-length album as “unique, relatable, country.”

When it came time to organize music for the project, he was intentional about the sequence of the 19 tracks. It’s Rashad begins with an intro, followed by a section of deeply personal songs.

“I feel like the top half; it's a section in there with 25 To Life and Drowning Man and Down To The River and Deal With The Devil. That section right there is really personal. Those are personal songs for me. And so I wanted to put all those together, but in that section with Mapdot Madness, as in saying at the end of the day, everything's going to be okay. So if you listening to it and you feeling this, at the end of the day, everything will be fine. You're going to be all right.”

RVSHVD says Drowning Man is the most autobiographical track on the album, which he wrote with Brandon Manley and Jay Brunswick. 

“That day, I happened to have a title that I wanted to try, and I wanted to make something personal. I've known Brandon for years, and he was cool with it. And even sitting on the right with Jay Brunswick, he was cool with it, and he said he was always down to do different stuff. And so I gave him the title, we wrote it, and I showed it to my wife. She loved it and sent it to my manager. He loved it. And he was like, ‘Hey, bro, we got to go on the album.’ And that was it. And it was the first time I had wrote something really personal, and so I thought it was cool that they was willing to write that with me.”

RVHSVD includes an interlude to break up the themes of the album. “After the Interlude, a lot of them songs was made when I was touring, and a lot of my tour took place on the West Coast, and I was watching a lot of Western movies and stuff. So even with Hunnids In A Honky Tonk with Paul Wall from Texas and Wild Wild West, of course, and Outlaw.”

One of the unique aspects of It’s Rashad is the collaborations with rock artists Ice Nine Kills, Danny Worsnop of Asking Alexandria, and All That Remains. “That's my favourite part, hearing how different people and different artists would attack a song,” says RVSHVD.

One of those collaborations came about because of a t-shirt. 

“It was my first CMA Fest, and I wore an Ice Nine Kills shirt. A couple of months later, we was getting ready to put out a single for my song Hit Different, and I had the shirt on in the cover art, and my manager was like, oh, we might have to be edited out because we have to get clearance from the band.”

But as luck would have it, they got the okay from the band, and RVSHVD’s manager suggested doing a collaboration with them. RVSHVD, who had started listening to the band while he was in college, was thrilled.

He suggested the song Cottonmouth, and they loved it. “I was in Tennessee when they did the verse, but he FaceTimed me, so I got to see him do it. And then he had a show in Nashville. We went out, we hung out, shot some content. So it was cool to meet somebody that influenced my sound a little bit.”

RVSHVD is grateful to the people who have supported his career since the beginning, leading to his most authentic and robust project to date. 

“Number one, my wife. She's been there since day one. My family, my daddy, he had been trying to get me to sign country music when I was little. And so when I finally started doing it, that made him happy. My team, like my manager and my label, they really had my back.

“Anybody that I've written with, anybody that wrote on this album, is good in my book. And I’m appreciative of the fact that they was willing to go in there with me and try whatever I wanted rather than trying to tell me what they wanted to do. And my fans for sticking with me, they've been asking for an album for four years.”

It’s Rashad is out now via The Penthouse South/Sumerian Records/Virgin Music. You can check out the album here.