Rah & The Ruffcats - Orile To Berlin (2024)

ALBUM RELEASEDATE: JULY 12th 2024

As one of the most sought after and technically sublime working
bands in the German live music scene, Berlin based Ruffcats are
something of an institution. This eight-piece outfit made up of some
of the country’s most revered session musicians, pool all of their
diverse influences and come together as Ruffcats to create a unique
take on the music they love.

Since forming in 2007, and via their live jams at Bohannon Soul Club
in Berlin, Ruffcats have found themselves acting as the backing band
for artists such as Georgia Anne Muldrow, Sweet Charles, Lady Alma,
Jaguar Wright, Miles Bonny & many more.

In and out of the studio, they have also worked continuously with
German soul singer Flomega, and in 2013 the Ruffcats were the
touring band for the first Voice of Germany winner Ivy Quainoo.
In the meantime, and for over a decade, Rapturous Apollo Helios,
better known as RAH, has been making a name for himself as one of
Berlins' most outstanding rappers, songwriters and vocalists.
Originally hailing from Lagos, Nigeria, RAH’s music has always been
influenced by his environment as well as a rich history of black
music from hip hop to soul and, of course, Afrobeat.

Since relocating to Berlin, RAH has made waves in the German
capital with his weekly Swag Jam sessions. At these live events he
has not only been able to show off his prowess as an exceptional MC
and something of an improvisational genius, but also attract such
luminaries as Erykah Badu and Bilal to join him on stage.

Having crowned his journey from Lagos to Berlin with the release of
his debut album, How Far? in 2018, RAH began the next stage of his
sonic adventure by hooking up with long-time friends, the Ruffcats
band. Their first single together, the Curtis Mayfield influenced
Shifting Sands, dropped the same year to huge acclaim, and it wasn’t
long before both parties looked towards working on a larger project
together. After a pause for the pandemic, their collaborative process
really began to bear fruit, and following the release of the warmly
received singles Agidi, MoonSun and Sorry, they now present their
debut full length LP.

Entitled Orile To Berlin, the album marks RAH’s migration from the
area he grew up in Lagos to the German capital he calls home today.
It’s an LP steeped in Afrobeat and highlife but with funk sensibilities
and a hip hop attitude. Produced by Jochen Ströh, producer for Ebo
Taylor classics Love & Death and Appia Kwa Bridge, and mixing
engineer for Pat Thomas and Kwashibu Area Band, it has a strong
production pedigree. It represents the band’s own version of Afrobeat
within the unwritten laws of this music, and without trying to make
a Fela Kuti copycat record.

The album draws on original Afrobeat influences with tracks like
Agidi and Rodeo reminiscent of the golden age of the genre, albeit
with RAH’s distinctive rasping hip hop vocals and perhaps a more
concise and to-the-point framework than the Afro-political anthems
of 1970’s Lagos. Whatsmore, the latter in particular points to how
these socio-political issues have changed very little over the past
fifty years or so, as RAH himself explains:

"Rodeo is a song about the hurdles we face as people in a fast-paced,
ever-changing and unbalanced world. It’s an analogy to a rodeo sport
of trying to rope, steer and ride an aggravated bull."

"Similarly, Ide Osun (Mantra) is a song that talks of resistance against
injustice, and acknowledges the effects of racism, socially and
economically, as is experienced from an African's perspective. As the
lyrics illustrate, Anywhere u look, black people still suffer it the most,
although rather than being a plea for help or relief, it empowers and
revolutionises with lines like I believe in my ability, I survived with
tenacity. I apply this energy Just to magnify my identity."

Much of the subject matter is more personal, though, from a simple
proclamation of love on MoonSun and the regret fuelled Sorry to the
life affirming call to action that is Wake Up, featuring Berlin based
garage rock icon King Khan.

Elsewhere, album opener, Yeah Yeah Yeah, is a song that looks deep
into human nature and examines the lengths a person will go to in
order to survive and thrive Like Cain and Abel, Jesus and Judas, like
Brutus to Caesar, Samson and Delilah, and the intense and relentless
Kaya, translating from the Hausa language as ‘baggage’, concerns
itself with what weighs us down in our lives, as RAH himself
explains:

“This song hits at the fact that everyone has baggage they carry
throughout their lives. Past experiences, traumas acquired or
inherited. The verse talks of the struggles and baggage my mother
carried and how that is inherently passed down to her children.This
shapes our personalities and who we go on to become."


The album concludes with a mellow Afro-soul beauty in the shape of
Inside Out, featuring up-and-coming German vocalist Melane
Nkounkolo. It’s a mesmerising piece of music that once again
illustrates the broad church of sounds that The Ruffcats work within.

RAH and The Ruffcats burgeoning relationship continues to move
forward, with more recordings and live shows planned, including a
German club tour kicking off in November this year.