Ras Kass - Soul On Ice (October 1, 1996)

Ras Kass, born John Austin, can best be categorized in one sentence: he's the west coast Canibus. That would be performing a grave disservice, though, as he is actually much better than Canibus. Ras Kass is well reknowned for his lyrical abilities and his incredibly militant Afrocentricism, but the fact that doesn't get publicized much is that he's smarter and better read than your average rapper (the title of his debut album, Soul On Ice, is a direct reference to the Eldridge Cleaver book). Perhaps his intelligence (he graduated from high school at 15), combined with his aggressive racism, contributed to his lack of success. He has yet to release an album that has come close to selling gold (which isn't a bad thing), and his old record label, Priority, actually blocked the releases of his last two albums and continues to blackball him to this day (now this is a bad thing.) To my knowledge, he is still without a label.

I suppose he's content being your favorite rapper's favorite rapper. The famed physician Dr. Dre has repeatedly called out Ras as being in his top five dead or alive. Ras Kass has actually been a part of two different hip hop supergroups, the Golden State Warriors (Ras, Xzibit, and Saafir), and the Four Horsemen (Ras, Killah Priest, Canibus, and Kurupt); neither of them have released anything resembling a proper album.

You have to respect a rapper who presents his personal views on black versus white history, racism, homosexuality, religion, and the like, with an intelligent point of view. He even approaches the requisite rap beef in a different way. (During his brief feud with fellow West Coast-er The Game, Ras made a reference to the late Steve Irwin. Irwin's manager caught wind of this and denounced Ras Kass and hip hop in general; Ras responded with an open letter to the Sydney Morning Herald, criticizing Irwin's manager for focusing on just one line of a six-minute song that happened to mention his client (never by name), but choosing to ignore the violent, sexist, and homophobic content that Ras admits was in the song as well.) All qualities to be admired; however, it is hard to get your girl to shake it to a seven-minute-plus history lesson set to an ominous backdrop.

Not that I've tried or anything.

1. ON EARTH AS IT IS...
I suppose I should be happy that this album doesn't start with another self-important intro. So be it. Yay!

2. ANYTHING GOES
I think most people who have heard Ras Kass would agree that his selection of beats are his downfall. For someone who is so well loved in hip hop circles, you'd think it would be easy for him to secure a Dre beat.

3. MARINATIN'
Meh.

4. REELISHYMN
I have to admit, I never would have thought to sample Little Anthony and The Imperials's "Going Out Of My Head". That's because I'm not insane.

5. NATURE OF THE THREAT
The aforementioned seven-minute-plus history lesson. I imagine if I were stoned while listening to this, I would start acting like Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory. Some of his ideas have to be true, though; check out the lyrics and decide for yourself.

6. ETC.
Ras provides his multisyllabilic flow over a beat that (gasp!) actually sounds decent.

7. SONSET
Sure, the lyrics are on point, but...

8. DRAMA (FEAT COOLIO)
True story, Coolio used to be a well-respected gangsta rapper who ran with W.C. and the Maad Circle, before he hot it big/sold out with that "Fantastic Voyage" and "Gangsta's Paradise" shit. Does this mean it's a return to form here? Hell no.

9. THE EVIL THAT MEN DO
Sure, the lyrics are on point, but...actually, this isn't bad.

10. IF/THEN
From the producers of Nip/Tuck and Face/Off. This/sucks.

11. MIAMI LIFE
I like this song, but it doesn't fit anywhere in the sequencing. Priority Records actually used this song to promote the soundtrack to Tom Berenger's The Substitute (I know, I don't remember it either). This was the B-side to a Mack 10 banger. Shot a video and everything. I don't know if a Ras Kass song is ever the appropriate path to take when promoting a film, but that's why I don't work at Priority. (The soundtrack didn't sell, anyway.)

12. SOUL ON ICE
Is Ras the original punchline rapper? Not by a long shot. But he's one of the better ones.

13. ORDO ABCHADO (ORDER OUT OF CHAOS)
With a title like that, it's no wonder this was the summer jam to beat in 1996.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Soul On Ice serves as a weak debut from a very promising artist. The lyrics he spits are at times amazing, fantastic, and brilliant, but his choice in beats kills any momentum built. I suppose he didn't really have a lot of choices in his beats, this being his debut album and all, but it's hard to get into what he's saying when the instrumentals in the background distract...oh, wow! The back of the CD is shiny like a mirror! How have I never noticed this before?

BUY OR BURN? This one is tricky. Word has it that Priority Records quietly pulled the album a few years after its release due to the controversial subject matter (but they re-released Ice Cube's brilliant AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted?). As such, you probably won't find this on the shelves, unless you luck out at a garage sale. Soul On Ice is worth hearing, for the lyrics alone, and if you have the Swiss bank account to support buying this at a ridiculously inflated price, then by all means. For the rest of us, do what you have to do.

BEST TRACKS: "Nature Of The Threat"; "Soul On Ice"

-Max