Rashad Rayford

Rashad thaPoet Rayford has been hailed as one of the most consistent artist in Nashville.
He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Huffington Post, The Tennessean and the Nashville Scene among others.

Rashad’s company Elevate Your Vibe,LLC is a non traditional speaking company that blends spoken word poetry, inspirational speaking and business talk to help companies tell more concise stories.

Rashad has taken that same drive and attention to detail that he used as a poet and become one of the most sought after speakers in the market.
He has the innate ability to transform any crowd in any industry and Elevate their vibe through his wordplay and high energy talks.
His goal is to leave people more inspired and more in tune with their own stories and their own authentic voice.
His new book Elevate Your Vibe: Ten Ways To Grow You is a self development book that gives the reader ten practical ways to Elevate to their highest self.

Rashad is The MOTH story hour Nashville GRANDslam champion.

His blend of soulful jazz and hip-hop have been captivating audiences for close to 7 years.
He is an 8-time Nashville Industry Music Awards (NIMA) winner and a 3-time SEA nominee (Southern Entertainment Awards) including a nomination for Southern artist of the year for 2018.

Rashad is continuing to make waves for himself.
As an activist he has become one of the go to voices in the artist community.
Rashad is usually backed at shows by the incredible Street Band Clan.
His shows are super energetic and soulful.
His blend of Jazz, Blues, Soul, spoken word and hip-hop is unmatched.

RTP was the first and only hip-hop artist to perform at BNA (Nashville International Airport) and to grace the Musicians Corner stage, he has sold out the City Winery and been involved with shows at TPAC and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. He has also graced the stage with the incredible Nick Cave as a part of his FEAT. series.

Rashad opened the second annual Black Music Honors show, featuring artists such as The Jacksons, Guy, Oleta Adams, Slick Rick and Donnie McClurkin among others.
He has opened for Big Boi of Outkast), Talib Kweli, Ghostface Killah, Slum Village, P.J. Morton,
Black Milk, Saul Williams, Sho Baraka, Homeboy Sandman, Oddisee, Fantasia, Bilal, Robert Glasper Dwele, Mali Music, Nick Cave- Visual artist and others.

Rashad has given speeches at major corporations and universities.
He caters his speech to whatever the function calls for, he also incorporates his famous 3 word freestyle into his performances.

To date he has 15 albums ( spoken word and hip-hop) and several awards under his belt.
His work earned him the honor of presenting a TED Talk at TEDX Nashville.

He has also curated curriculum on Civil Rights and Spoken Word/Hip-Hop for the Downtown Public Library in Nashville.

He now leads workshops on Hip-Hop for The National Museum Of African American Music (NMAAM) and is also a mentor for Southern Word, teaching literacy in schools using spoken word.