Metal Lungies

Aaron M is the midst of a short blogging hiatus (so necessary, sometimes), hence the lack of a Remix Tuesday last week. So, I figured I’d assume the role, if only to maintain some continuity, and to hit y’all off with some dope shit. And, as you can see in the title, I’ve already acknowledged that this is a day late… but, at least it’s still Tuesday here on the West Coast! Which is fitting, considering that the subject of this post is local L.A. legend Ras Kass.

Plenty has stood in the way of Rassy being the hip hop star that he could’ve (should’ve?) been. You can’t blame him for the way Priority Records treated him over the years, and how they helped fumble the Alchemist/”Home Sweet Home” beat fiasco, among other things. But, you CAN blame him for his multiple DUI arrests that led to his incarceration — no amount of books read or 7-minute songs about the origins of Western civilization can excuse that. There seemed to be major label interest in Ras in recent years, but nothing has (yet) materialized out of all of the name-popping. For those that have followed the ups and downs of Ras’s career, it felt like a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”-type situation, where Ras could’ve latched on to a major that would’ve stopped showing interest in him as soon as he signed (see: M.O.P.), or just let all the offers pile up and do nothing about ’em (see: Copywrite).

All of that aside, though, Ras Kass remains a sort of best kept secret among those willing to peep out his catalog (see: NOT The Game). Sadly, for all the talent that he possesses, it just felt like he could never get a break. Case in point, Ras has collaborated with the likes of DJ Premier, Dr. Dre, Alchemist, Neptunes, the RZA… yet, the most critiqued aspect of his 2 commercially-released albums is the lack of quality production.

Soul On Ice is by far one of the greatest lyrical displays by a then-largely-unknown MC (granted, it’s no Illmatic, but it’s pretty damn close), but the production was very dull in comparison. In the mean time, Diamond D sells Ras one of his greatest beats — and one of the most haunting hip hop productions you’ll ever hear — and it ends up as a non-album remix, with a video no less… it bottles boggles the mind. Compare, and I think you’ll be hard pressed to argue against the remix being the better of the two.

Download: Ras Kass – “Soul On Ice”

Download: Ras Kass – “Soul On Ice (Diamond D Remix)”

Bonus (Unreleased) Download: Ras Kass – “Fuck U Up”