Dat p***y don’t stop poppin’! It just ain’t poppin’ for yoooooooou!” – if you didn’t sing along to this line or have absolutely no idea where it came from, where have you been?! It was the line that lead the choir at last summer’s Goodstock performance, a declaration of personal surrender for most hopeless romantics and the lyric from the 2017 “No Sudgin’” anthem written and produced by the love doctor himself, Sherwood Rahming.
The last time we caught up with him, he was on the brink of releasing his new album Sherrí that is inclusive of 10 tracks exploring “a soulful tumble through the ins and outs of love”. It’s been a year since the neo-soul and R&B crooner has left us to rethink our perspectives on the love journey, and the E-Life 242 team wanted to catch up with him as he prepares for the Sherriversary music concert set to take place on Friday, February 23.
E-Life 242. Let’s set the record straight, who is Sherrí and how is he different from Sherwood, or are they one in the same?
Sherwood. Sherri is technically one in the same with Sherwood but I guess it’s just come to a presentation of me expressing my openly intimate side where I talk about love in its ‘true’ perspective, my past insecurities on it, situations I’ve been through and how they’ve made me feel. So for whatever reason that came out in Sherri, and with that being the Creole and French word for “sweetheart”, it just sounded like the right feel for that project because I think the project is sweet. So in a sense, Sherri is just the open expression of my intimate nature.
What is the Sherrí album about and how is it relatable to your particular fan base?
Sherri is about my personal journey with my intimate relationships. And yeah, I’m young and a lot of people will probably say I don’t know anything about love, but to me I feel like I know a great deal to be able to rationalize my feelings and figure out what I want when it comes to somebody sharing their space with me. So Sherri is that progression from me looking at situations where I would like somebody and they wouldn’t like me back -trying to understand what that is- trying to understand what it means when somebody says they love you- what doesn’t it tolerate? Why doesn’t it tolerate what it doesn’t tolerate?
How long did it take to produce?
I wanna say it took me a couple of months.. Maybe four months, maybe more. I wrote one or two of the songs before that and then I realized, they go together with this thing I’m now thinking about as a concept.
So it’s been a year into Sherrí, be honest, are you still sudgin’ over dese gals?
I stopped sudgin’ over gals a good while now. The last time I sudged over a gal was like right after high school. This girl and I broke up over the summer and she tried to give me this bogus excuse comparing our relationship to a broken down Lamborghini explaining how ‘it’s a luxury but at the same time, it isn’t working’.. haha! So now you know something that I’ve never told anyone actually.
We know that ‘No Sudgin” is the most popular track on the album but what is your personal favorite?
‘Not The Same Old Love’ may be my personal favorite because it has perspectives that bring the whole album full circle, especially in the last line where Shad Fer says “By loving everyone, ironically, that’s still self love”; Jasper Wolff saying things like “you want people to appreciate you, not tolerate you”. I would also say ‘A Friend Like No Other’ because it’s sort of the appreciation point of the project – that a person can allow me to be who I am, love me and continue to share our space in the same, if not, greater capacity than we normally did before. It’s a pretty heartfelt song for me.
Tell us about the Sherríversary – what should we expect to see/feel/experience?
Right now the Sherriversary is looking like it’s going to be the intimate, soulful and lush expression of music that we don’t normally get in Nassau. It’s really a R&B and soul focused event where the idea is not about ‘the hype’ but about the chill vibes and the message that coming along with the music. So that’s what we can expect – chill vibes, some raunchiness just because ;), surprise performances and new music!
We saw that you released the #NoSudginChallenge, how excited are you for the #NoSudginCypher?
I’m excited for the #NoSudginCypher – very excited! On a scale from one to 10, I might be at a nine because I like interaction with ‘fans’ on a personal level. The cypher is gonna allow people to come up and express themselves and share a stage with me – although I may not be the biggest artist – but I feel like it’d be nice to give people a chance to express themselves publicly.
Any advice to fellow and future Bahamian musicians who may be exploring the same sound as you but are told their music is not ‘Bahamian enough’?
My advice would always be to stay true to yourself and come to the point where you realize that everything is perfect timing. You can be exactly who you are without compromise, you just need to find the people that resonate with what you are doing.
The concert is set to kick off at 8 PM on the grounds of the Antonius Roberts’ Hillside House and Art Gallery on 25 Cumberland Street. Special performances will be brought to you by Nassau’s very own Adria Jenee and Zuu. You can RSVP for free entry to the show, enlist to become apart of the #NoSudginCypher and purchase Sherri merchandise all at www.sherwoodrahmingmusic.com. Experience a night of great vibes, easy conversations and no sudgin’!
