Richard Andrew Thorburn (born January 10, 1974), better known by his stage name R.A. the Rugged Man, is an American rapper from Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. He began his music career at age 12. At 18, he signed to Jive Records. R.A.’s legend, perpetuated by the P.R. biographies at his various labels, say he was dropped due to violent and disgusting behavior, but in interviews he disputes many of the more extreme stories told about him, adding that Jive just didn’t know how to break new artists at the time. Since then, he has worked with Mobb Deep, Smut Peddlers and Notorious B.I.G, as well as producers Erick Sermon,Trackmasters, DJ Quik, Alchemist, J-Zone, RZA, and Ayatollah (Lamont Dorrell). He was featured on all three of Rawkus’s Soundbombing albums, as well as the platinum-selling WWF Aggression album. In 2004 R.A. released his long awaited debut album “Die, Rugged Man, Die” which was both a critical and commercial success. In 2013, R.A. Released his second album, Legends Never Die. The album was released on April 30, 2013 by Nature Sounds. It is the follow up to 2004's Die, Rugged Man, Die.