Tha' Rayne

Tha' Rayne is a hip-hop/R&B girl group formerly signed to Arista Records and who is best known for their minor hit "Didn't You Know" and their guest appearance on Jaheim's platinum single "Fabulous". The group was formed in 2000 by super producer KayGee from Naughty By Nature who recruited vocalists Yummy Bingham, Quana and Tina-J who all thought he would give them a solo deal and then discovered it would be for a girl group. Tha' Rayne being made of solo vocalists determined the fact that there was never any lead singer in Tha' Rayne. The three original members made their first guest appearance on Jaheim and Lil' Mo duet "Finders Keepers" (2001). Then, Tina-J left the group and Tha' Rayne remained a duet for more than a year. As a duet, they were signed by Arista Records' CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid in April 2001. They released two singles, "Rock Wit Me" in April 2002, followed in July by "No Love", which would later be re-recorded by Jhene. While touring and preparing their debut album, Tha' Rayne collaborated this same year, with artists such as Boyz II Men, Jaheim, Queen Latifah, Midwikid and Next. In August 2002, after meeting Michele "Myche Luv" Colon, a young female DJ, among his management company, KayGee had the vision to create an R&B version of Salt-N-Pepa : the two original members of Tha' Rayne loved the idea and welcomed a third member, but this time with the new member playing the role of DJ. In Fall 2002, the threesome made an appearance on Jaheim's hit single "Fabulous" that set the tone for their planned debut. In 2003, Tha' Rayne released its official first single "Didn't You Know" (with a remix featuring Joe Budden and Lupe Fiasco). At this time, DJ Myche Luv had a stint out of the group and for few months, she was replaced by Qiana "DJ Qi" Drew, who enjoyed the success of "Didn't You Know", their first single making its way to the airwaves, impacting the Billboard R&B Top-75. The song, produced by Rich Harrison gained moderate airplay in certain U.S. markets as well as overseas; however, it didn't get the national buzz expected by the label, so their debut album "Reign Supreme" was delayed. Tha' Rayne didn't have the opportunity to put down a new single due to Arista's shuttering in early 2004. Reid was let go, a lot of his artists were dropped, including Tha' Rayne. The group first decided to split and have each member to go solo, but soon after, KayGee convinced original member Quana to reunite with former member DJ Myche Luv and to add Chicago based singer Deeyah, in replacement of Yummy, who would soon get a solo record deal from Motown. The renewed group, still signed to Kay Gee's Divine Mill label, recorded a full demo LP but had a friendly and peaceful disbanding a year later in summer 2005 to concentrate on their respective solo careers.