Review Summary: Ras Kass produces more rap classics and rap turds. Man...
Ras Kass is an MC of epic proportions. Picture a West Coast rapper, with every sense and feel for the groove, and put that with a Wu-Tang-esqe feel for punchy and archaic references, and you get Ras Kass’s slithering flow and killer lyricism.
Soul On Ice is Ras Kass’s lyricism at its height, completely unrelenting in fierce lyrical attacks, but the productions were East Coast sample drone at its worst, and it wasn’t exactly the most interesting record to listen to because of it.
Rasassination is simply one of the most mediocre records ever , and in general is just there to shame Ras Kass’s name.
Van Gogh seems to be a point of clarity; his beat choosing abilities are at their height, and his lyrics have generally improving since
Rasassination. Despite not being released,
Van Gogh has been leaked all over the internet, and is totally worth looking for.
Ras Kass is just as much of a kick a
ss MC as before, but unlike with
Soul On Ice, where he was totally on-point, just faltering when it came to the beats, on
Van Gogh it’s just generally one of the most inconsistent rap albums out there, with songs like “Jack Frost” standing as some of Ras Kass’s best, while “Kick Rocks” and “One Night” generally being some of the worst turds ever taken from an MC with skills that kill as much as Ras Kass. The beats, though finally being half decent, don’t stand out in much of a way, they’re just merely there. The best of the songs, however completely ignore beats. “NBA”, a song with a beat reminiscent of the horrid but easily ignorable synths of “Ether”, makes up for its lackluster beat with some ace verses from the Golden State Warriors (XZibit, Rassy himself, and the mind-tingling Saafir). “Root of Evil” features some embarrassing attempts at a choir backing, but Ras Kass’s social awareness makes the track entirely worth listening. In fact, other than two suckers, the second half of the album contains some of Ras Kass’s moodier, darker, and thus, better material.
However, Ras’s first half has some of Razzys worst material mixed with some good tracks. Other than the mixtape-esqe verse spittin of “Hot Game”, and the self-appreciating verses of Ras Kass at his best of “Goldyn Child”, the first track is piled to the brim with mediocre poppy tracks. Which just shows what the strengths and weaknesses of Ras Kass are: he’s not at all good pop tracks, and like most mixtape/ verse rappers, can’t really pull an entire album together, but here he proves that, with a decent stable of beats, he can make a viable amount of good tracks which make it just barely enough to download
Van Gogh.
