Biography

Film producer, writer, magazine journalist and legendary rapper in the hip-hop underground, R.A. Thorburn better known to the world as R.A. the Rugged Man, was the target of a nine-label bidding war when just a teenager, and signed to Jive Records in 1992 and Priority/Capital Records in 1998 before going independent in 2004 in which he released his indie hit album "Die, Rugged Man, Die!" which became a worldwide success.

R.A.'s musical resume not only speaks for itself, but has resulted in his teaming with some of the greatest artists in rap history - from Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, and the late great Notorious B.I.G. to multi-platinum producers Erick Sermon, Trackmasters, DJ Quick, Alchemist, Havoc, Buckwild, and Ayatolah. He was featured on all of Rawkus' Soundbombing albums alongside Redman, Eminem, and Mos Def; the platinum selling WWF Aggression album which featured Snoop Dogg and Method Man; and can even be heard in the blockbuster video game Tony Hawks Underground. When asked about R.A., The late great Notorious B.I.G. was once quoted as saying, "I thought I was the illest!"

In addition to his hip-hop notoriety, R.A. writes a monthly movie column for Mass Appeal magazine, is a major contributor to The Ego Trip Book of Rap Lists (St. Martin's Press) and Ego Trip's Big Book of Racism (Harper Collins), and his writing also appears regularly in magazines like Vibe, King, Complex, Source, etc. His articles have featured guest appearances from celebrity pals like Scarlet Johansson, Dame Dash, Ice Cube, Usher, Chuck Norris and David Cronenberg. Mr. Rugged has also recently signed a book deal that will explore his maniacal love of boxing to be co-authored with Maxboxing's Doug Fischer and scheduled for publication in '08 from Testify / Powerhouse Books.

A rabid horror-film fan, R.A. the Rugged Man has written three screenplays with cult-film director Frank Henenlotter - "Sick in the Head," "Love is Hell," and "Bad Biology" - the latter of which is in post production and scheduled for release late '07 with R.A. as producer.

- IMDb mini biography by: Robert Gibbs