First there was the smoking underground single "Won't Catch Me Runnin'" b/w "Remain Anonymous," then there was the regionally notorious radio drop for Sway & Tech's mix show, "The Wake Up Show." Who was this rapper using all these big words? But it wasn't until his team-up with fellow West Coast rap artists Saafir and Ahmad to do a song on the Streetfighter soundtrack that the microphone specialist extraordinaire known as Ras Kass became a face within the hip-hop scene and a definite force to be reckoned with
With a XXXL sized buzz, 5' 2" Ras took a Herculean step into a hectic bidding war between record labels like Buzztone/Immortal Records, Def Jam, Geffen, etc., before finally landing at Priority. Along the way, Ras Kass--a 21-year old from Carson, California--has smoked mics in several cities, wrote and performed songs on Coolio's mega-selling LP, Gangsta's Paradise, and is now managed by the Grammy-winning rapper via Crow Bar Entertainment. Soul on Ice, Ras' debut LP, is just the beginning of a new legacy in rap music, a new chapter in West Coast hip-hop, Ras Kass is a modern-day lyrical phenomenon
[The Source:] Where did you get your name?
[Ras Kass:] I was reading a book about Menelik II, a king in Ethiopia, who was battling this guy named Ras Kass for control of his kingdom, Shoa. I don't know if it translates or not, but Ras' name was John IV. You know we all gotta slave name and mine is John, and I'ma fourth
What do you feel makes you different from the average rapper today?
Just me. It's not the rapper's fault, it's the industry. They don't give a fuck about who's dope--they just care about the bottom line, which is making money--and they go on precedent. N.W.A. blew up on the West so that's all they sign. So you might have this dope MC, but in order to get his foot in the door, he's gotta talk about what he has to talk about to get a deal and to make some money. For me, I did my shit from the grassroots, I went into a record deal when I wasn't seeking it. They came to me, so I could say, "I want creative control," I did have creative control to be able to say and do whatever the fuck I felt, and that's what's gonna make me different from the average MC
In the midst of these "newfound" rap music categories like gangsta rap, g-funk, jazz-abstract, spoken word, hardcore, etc., where does the music/rhyme style on your LP fall?
Me. I am me--which is basically all my experience. I'm not gon' categorize under nothin' 'cept Ras. I been to NY, I picked up shit from there. I noticed that now even in NY, niggas is like, "Naw fuck that, that's some West Coast shit." Or nigas here, "That's some East Coast shit, don't be wearin' no Timberlands," or whatever. I pick up shit in Oakland, I pick up shit in Atlanta, I'll pick up some shit in mu-fuckin' Albuquerque--if it's dope to me personally, I bring it into the picture. My music is a little bit of everything. Of course fundamentally, I'm a West Coast artist [and] I'm an open-minded mu-fucka. You got niggas talkin' about bein' "universal." How the fuck you gonna be universal staying on your block and that's like all you know? I'm [going] to assess and use whatever I think is fly, cause I'm universal
How did you go about writing songs contained on the LP, and what can listeners expect?
Every song differs and I didn't write it in any order. I might come up with hook first on one song, I might write the first rhyme and try to find a track. In general, when I start writing a song, it's like English [class]. I do a "heading," a "body" and a "summary," and I just hook it up like that. However people started writin' rhymes, is how they usually end up doin' it. When I started seriously writing rhymes, I did it sober, no weed, no drink and that's how I do it now. My album is like this movie, right? See [listeners] can't come in half way through my movie and expect to get the whole plot. You got to watch it and all its different scenes. I can't have a movie with all sex cause that's a porno and what I'm tryin' to make is a movie. The LP is basically about human nature. About knowing the system is not geared toward us as Black people but being trapped by that, and always wanting your piece of the pie. That explains the phrase "Soul on Ice," which is a book by Eldrige Cleaver that I read. Through the chapters you see this Black man going through shit and questioning himself and trying to figure out if he's a hypocrite or not. See, that motivated me to look at myself: like, I wanna be a good brother, but hey, I love Hennessy!!! And if you listen to my album you hear that, the duality of man. You'll hear me on some bullshit cause it's time I wanna be on some bullshit, get loaded and say "fuck it!" Other parts of the album you see me frustrated. In the song "Drama," I dis groupie-ass bitches; in "Evil That Men Do," I dis myself; in "Sunset," I deal with this East-West conflict shit. I dis white people, niggas, Jews. I covered the whole gamut for this "movie," and everybody who's pissed me off, I dissed em. Shit, I piss me off, see my soul is still on ice
Who did production on the record and who's your crew?
Bird, Flip, Battlecat and I did some co-production. See you, as the MC, are responsible for your shit. If your shit is whack, it's your fault. I may not know everything, but I should have the gist, a working knowledge of it all. I used to be from the crew Western Hemisfear, now I'm down with Stratosfear, which has me, Acon Flux and Syphillis--watch for them. And of course the Crow Bar Family: Coolio, 40 Thievez, Lil Shorty, Malika, Tamiko, Tyte and all my people on the management side. I roll with the Liks [Alkaholiks], my man Xzibit, Tila [King Tee], Saafir, my nigga Bird, Organized Konfusion, Heltah Skeltah, Jay-Z, my nigga O.C., they all my fam and I hope to bring them into the picture with this project and future ones. I don't care where mu'fuckas is from, you cool and you dope, we can be down. Me, Saafir and Xzibit are currently putting together a new crew that Dr. Dre wants to do some beats for and sign to his new label. It's gonna be on--just some ole new shit with Dre beats
