Once upon a time, there was this cool thing called “music.” Then outside forces got involved, and started categorizing everything in sight. From there, groupings like “Neo-Soul” came into the picture.

One such act that has been placed into that box is Grammy-nominated Raheem DeVaughn, as he returns with his third album, Love And War Masterpeace.

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Staying in the same vein as his previous work, the Washington D.C. native fills up his latest disc with the joys and pains of love, while inviting people like Wale, Ludacris, Malik Yusef, Jill Scott, Damien Marley, Bilal, Anthony Hamilton, Dr. Cornell West, Chrisette Michele, Citizen Cope, Dwele, and Chico DeBarge into his world.

After Dr. Cornell West finishes his spoken word-type introduction, ‘Bulletproof’ starts things off, as “Radio Raheem” sings about how people live as if they can’t be killed, with the help of Ludacris. The album then gets light-hearted as D.C. representatives Wale and Raheem take care of complimenting females with ‘The Greatness.’

Afterward, the project stays on the same pace with ‘I Don’t Care’ picking up right where ‘The Greatness’ left off, as he sings about being immune to people criticizing his relationship(s).

He then slows it down on the guitar-riddled ‘Black And Blue,’ where the subject at hand is about how verbal and physical abuse toward women are not part of his make up.

Other songs that contribute to Raheem’s “Masterpeace” are the sensual and seductive sounds of ‘Bedroom,’ the Malik Yusef-assisted ‘My Wife,’ ‘Microphone,’ and ‘Revelations 2010′ (feat. Damien Marley).

Since coming onto the scene back in 2005 with The Love Experience, Raheem DeVaughn has been quietly flying under the radar, and putting nothing but good quality music, and his latest offering is no different.

With him now catching steam, and getting more attention than before, hopefully it won’t be long until he breaks the mold of being a “Neo-Soul” artist, and is just considered to be an “artist,” period.