The Adobe Flash Player is required to watch videos on this page

RAS (ridersagainstthestorm)

Quick Links
About the Artist
Music
Achievements
Press Coverage
Stage Specs
Return to RAS (ridersagainstthestorm)'s profile

At-a-Glance
One-Sheet

Hometown	Providence, RI
Genres
Band Members	JBRO and TIGER LILY
Achievements
Upcoming Shows	None

Contact Information:

Expand All Expand All

Expand

About the Artist

RAS is the hip hop duo of the century. Selected as 2008 Lennon award-winners, RAS has only begun to leave their musical mark on the world. This husband-wife team is going to make an impact on the entire universe with their uplifting lyrics, harmonies,...

Expand

Music

Expand

Achievements

Feature on OurStage Radio in Winamp

November 2009 Converse "Get Out of the Garage" URBAN

October 2009 Alternative Hip-Hop

Expand

Press Coverage

50 STATES in 50 WEEKS - week 8: RHODE ISLAND by OURSTAGE.COM - BLOG - AUGUST
RAS – Husband and wife duo RAS (Riders Against the Storm) might just be the next big thing in hip hop. Their song “Speak The Truth” won the Lennon Award in the hip hop category in last year’s John...

HIP HOP DUO USES COMEDY as a tool for change by PROVIDENCE PHOENIX
N HOUSE FREESTYLE Serious about being funny Although African-American comedians have long been an integral part of America’s pop culture — through stand-up, Saturday Night Live, and the big screen — some local artists felt the need for a local black comedy troupe that would tackle hard-hitting issues. As Ghislaine Jean puts it, “We wanted to get together and do some of the art and comedy that we don’t get a chance to see here in Providence.” And thus In House Freestyle was born, in the living room of Jon Mahone’s house, in July 2003. Although the group disbanded after that initial summer, Jean went on to start a theater troupe, the Cornbread Circle, at the Met School.....

HIP HOP HUMOR by BROWN ALUMNI MAGAZINE - ONLINE
What's so funny about racism, police brutality, and Hurricane Katrina? Plenty, according to African-American activist, educator, and actor Jon Mahone '99. He's the director of In House Freestyle, a Providence-based sketch-comedy group aimed at raising awareness about social issues affecting the black community. The group started five years ago, when Mahone; his wife, Ghislaine Jean Mahone; and a group of like-minded artist/educators began performing skits, music, and poetry in their living room. Since then, In House has moved out of the house and into theaters, schools, and community groups around Providence, using comedy to promote change....

OURSTAGE - FEATURED ARTIST by OURSTAGE.COM - BLOG - OCTOBER
According to their bio, RAS has a helluva mission on their shoulders: to “fight against whatever mainstream media and culture offers the masses today …uplift and create spaces where atrocities against people of the African diaspora can begin to heal … through remembering the past, exposing lies, expressing emotion and resisting self-hatred.” Not a job for the faint at heart. Luckily, the husband and wife hip-hop team has a whole lotta heart, and some mighty voices to back it up. Winners of the 2008 Lennon Songwriting Award for hip-hop, RAS (Riders Against the Storm) is comprised of Rhode Island MCs Tiger Lily and JBro. Together, the duo vacillates between confessions of self-consciousness and chest-thumping demonstrations of verbal prowess. In “Never Alone,” JBro likens himself to Bobby Brown, “stressing every little step,” against a throbbing bass line and fluttering keys. Though lyrically anxious, the melody is self-assured. But its songs like “Ready or Not” that really show RAS at the peak of their potency. A remake of the Fugees hit, the track brings the drama with sweeping strings, reiterating percussion and the electronic hiss of synths as Tiger Lily and JBro chant, “RAS is right on target / First in the flame with the power to spark it.” It’s an explosive mantra for a duo that’s determined to burn down the house.

ARTISTS ON A MISSION... by ITZAGOODLOOK
R.A.S. is a unique hip hop duo that lives by the statement, "IT'S BIGGER THAN HIP HOP." And together, Jonathan ‘Jbro’ Mahone and Ghislaine ‘Tiger Lily’ Jean-Mahone are more than just rappers: they are performance artists that have worked in the Providence community for nearly 10 years. Their relationship was formed in the midst of community struggles for Police accountability, and educational reform; their love for each other was nurtured by a common interest in youth, arts, and education. Both have dedicated their lives to using arts as a tool for social change.

Local hip-hop duo makes final round in nationwide by Providence Journal - May 2009
Riders Against the Storm are husband and wife Jonathan Mahone and Ghislaine Jean-Mahone. The Providence hip-hop duo Riders Against the Storm has advanced to the final round of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. The husband-and-wife duo — Jon Mahone and Ghislaine “Tiger Lily” Jean-Mahone — are one of 12 Lennon Award winners nationwide in a variety of musical genres. Their award was determined by online voting on May 1, and in July a panel of judges will award one of the 12 groups a prize package worth $20,000. Riders Against the Storm formed in 2004, Mahone says; the couple got together through their work with Providence schoolchildren. Mahone is a former Providence high school teacher, and has run several after-school arts programs. Their song for the Lennon contest, “Speak the Truth,” was recorded in 2007, Mahone says, and was inspired by a trip to see the Denzel Washington movie The Great Debaters with a debate team he was coaching. He was inspired to write the hook that night, and they already had the beat by producer Jacob Belony — based on a sample of the Jackson Sisters ’70s single “I Believe in Miracles.” As such, the song — which you can hear at the contest site www.jlsc.com or at the Riders’ MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/rasridersagainstthestorm— is an, organic, soulful groove with an inspiring message. That’s also the thrust of the Riders’ live show, which Mahone says they’ll take “wherever we can” — recent venues have included Lupo’s (opening for KRS-One), the Providence Black Rep and AS220. And they’re currently finishing up a stand at Rites and Reason Theatre, in Providence, where they’re doing a show of hip-hop and spoken-word pieces called Saviour Self, which Mahone describes as a look at their history as a duo and “our struggles to find ourselves. You spend a lot of time listening to other people, maybe to voices in your head that aren’t telling you the truth, and trying to find that center so you can be who you’re supposed to be.”

Expand