By Pietra Romano
At the beginning of the year, North Campus alumnus Shane Ragoonan was still part of the band that ignited his musical passion—Galaxy Beat.
But after discussions with his wife, Rosa, about his future as a musician, he left the band for the second time since 2021.
“My wife always told me—and she said this with all due respect because she loved the band—‘If you ever want to go high, if you ever want to succeed, if you want to go to that next level in your musical career, you can’t be in this band,’” Ragoonan said.
The 31-year-old decided to fly solo, releasing his debut EP—Who Is MC Ragoonan?—on his birthday, Oct. 11.
Heavily immersed in hip-hop and rap, Ragoonan released the project’s first single, Life is Beautiful, in June.
“This isn’t, you know, Galaxy Beat or anything else, this is me,” Ragoonan said. “This is raw, this is who I am, you know?”
To bring the EP to fruition, Ragoonan recruited the help of a high school friend, artistically known as McFly, and his cousin-in-law, Jean-Phillippe “Phil Jr.” Roche, who mixed and mastered songs.
“When they hear it for the first time, and hopefully the 20th and 100th time, that it’s just something they can connect to,” Phil Jr. said. “You know, some people run parallels to [his] experiences and they don’t really know how to express [them]. I think Shane’s done a great job in being able to do that.”
Growing up, music was a big part of Ragoonan’s life. His father was a rapper, DJ and dancer and his grandfather, Glenn, was a musician. When they were kids, Ragoonan and his younger brother, Shandon, pretended to be their favorite hip-hop and rock artists, including Nirvana, Alice In Chains, DMX, and OutKast.
While in high school at Miami Lakes Educational Center, he recorded music during his classes and released the tracks on SoundCloud under various names including King Tut, Papa Shango and $hane.
In 2016, while Ragoonan was a student at North Campus, he joined forces with two friends to create Galaxy Beat, a rock band that dabbled in rap, funk and punk. He was a songwriter, vocalist and keyboardist under the alias Kemosabe.
They performed at venues such as Estefan Kitchen, Churchill’s Pub, Thank You Miami and North Campus.
After leaving Galaxy Beat, Ragoonan was hesitant to pursue a solo career. Doubt filled his heart and he wondered how the public might receive his work.
“My wife knows that I am a huge Ozzy Osborne fan. She told me, ‘Listen, Ozzy did not become famous by staying in Black Sabbath, he went out, became solo, and he became an even bigger artist. Remember that,’” Ragoonan said. “That just always calmed me down.”
In 2026, MC Ragoonan plans to release his first full-length album, titled Opulence Season. He also hopes to perform again for the first time since last year.
“There’s just so much emotion that goes into it, it’s me betting on myself for the first time,” Ragoonan said. “And I say me, but it takes a village. […] So you know, in a weird way, I am solo, but I’ve got a whole team behind me.”
Who Is MC Ragoonan is available on all streaming platforms, including SoundCloud and Spotify.
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