Ras Kass was at all times just a little bit completely different. The California rapper was not like the molds that had been solid for many West Coast MCs within the Nineties. He wasn’t fairly the “gangsta” selection ala MC Eiht and he wasn’t precisely an “artsy/alternative” rapper ala Pharcyde or the Freestyle Fellowship crew. No, the rapper who’d been referred to as “Baby John” Austin was extra like a hood reporter within the truest sense. A considerate cultural commentator within the vein of early Ice Dice or later KRS-One.
Taking his stage identify from Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes IV, Ras Kass got here up on the streets of Carson, the son of a police officer and a product of the road tradition he noticed on daily basis. Ras fell in with such names as Coolio and DJ Battlecat when he landed his first take care of Scrumptious Vinyl. However a stint in jail derailed his time at Scrumptious, and he finally landed on Precedence Data in 1995 for his debut album, Soul on Ice.
Soul on Ice is among the Nineties most assured rap debuts, a clear-eyed manifesto from an MC who had no scarcity of perspective. The album opens with the verbal gymnastics of “On Earth As It Is…,” with Kass displaying off his wit and intelligence, swinging from scatological to Biblical references with out ever making it sound like he’s attempting too arduous. Ras had an ear for singles, too. Al B. Positive flipping “Anything Goes” is proof of that. So is “Miami Life,” a type of tracks that percolated all through 1996, with Ras spitting bars that referenced every little thing from Uncle Luke to Alonzo Mourning to Crockett and Tubbs.
Like lots of 90s hip-hop data, there are lingering East vs. West tensions, however it doesn’t drive the album’s spirit. Nonetheless, he makes it clear that he’s keen to rep Cali arduous on the Pac-referencing “Sonset.” His intention is squarely set on the shadiness of the music trade on “Reelishymn.”
His lyricism has at all times been with out peer, and even at this comparatively early juncture, Ras Kass was an elite rhymer. The album’s most well-known moments are usually his most pointed; the conspiracy-laden “Ordo Abchao” and the infamous “Nature Of The Threat.” The latter has turn into a signature tune for Ras Kass, endlessly dissected, praised, scrutinized, and criticized within the many years since Soul on Ice was launched. Ras Kass got here out of the gate swinging. At the moment, Soul on Ice stands as a traditional, representing a singular achievement over the past days of a California rap golden age.
Order Ras Kass’ Soul On Ice on vinyl now.
