Ras Kass - Soul On Ice (1996)

Many of Ya'll know what time it is when u see this name and that LP title!

Many call this The Westcoast's Illmatic! With a claim like that, we know this is HEAVY! Ras Kass is from Carson, California. Obvious from the color of this Album, he is/was a Crip. He has been featured alongside the best of them from 2Pac to Killah Priest and even flowed on beats by Dr. Dre.

Ras Kass is one of the most Lyrical, substance filled rhymers of his time. This album is personally a close Favorite!

On Earth As It Is In Heaven
This saying is derived from the Baphomet saying and emblem of As Above So Below. Ras Kass keeps it real on this even stating: You ain't from the Tribe of Yudah So why you Lion(lying) That's hella clever, but that barely touches the tip of the iceberg of his clever wit. This beat is DIRTY! a very odd sample is flipped over the west coast drums, sounding LIKE A WAR!

Anything Goes

This song continues his showcase of cleverness even flipping that old One for the money chant. At the end you hear Ras in the studio freestyling and clowning on how females fuck for a Jack n the Box Cheesecake

Marinatin'

a slow downbeat West Coast beat. This song is about Females and chilling. This song is very relaxed as is the flow, it is also a story teller.

Reelishym

Another smooth beat with that West Coast flavored drum. Ras says fuck a platinum plaque just give me respect and a dap. Ras touches on fake MCs and the state of the Music Industry and how bullshit is allowed to blanket the radio and blocks out the Real! This joint contains MAD KNOWLEDGE! Ras Kass is by far a better MC than most at the time and even today... he reaches far on this track to touch your brain and IT WORKS. There is a very beautiful vocal over the chorus that adds a nice touch to the track.

Nature Of The Threat

HERE WE GO!!!! the 7 minute 43 second History Lesson!

rather than go thru the stellar complexities of this song JUST PEEP THIS:

the Images int his video provide you with visual cues on what he is talking about.

ETC.

If I tried to explain this song, you wouldn't believe me! So peep the lyrics!

(CREDIT: OHHLA.com)

Artist: Ras Kass Album:  Soul on Ice Song:   Etc.  Chorus: (sampled from Black Moon's "How Many MC's Must Get Dissed")  Pen predator Pen predator, et cetera et cetera (7X) Pen predator, et cetera, yeah right  1st Pull: Niggaz know it's about that time without a Schoolly D Gucci I pop that pussy ass rapper and leave it up to Luke to Pop the Coochie Truly a wretched steelo -- kept you Under Seige like Seagal Cause I housed more niggaz than that faggot named RuPaul Y'all all suffer the consequences I dispense dope sentences without a prescription prefixes asphyxiate bitches who flips linguistics Representin the West, relevant to relentless sentences If renegade rebels resent this wicked syntax (then jack) Revert to revolution Ras reverse, reverberates Revolvin with written retalliation, rate repetitious Reflex flex, regret niggaz regress to less than recoup When recording, I wreck, records Reflect stupid, it's so much more than just another rap and sample Cause I model more styles than Naomi Campbell See we been burning idiots with lyrical syphillis Since E.S.T. was Ackniculous, the nickle slick meticulous ventriloquist when I throws my voice over the Western HemisFear While my peers step over a Trail of Tears Go get a job as a chandelier wit a glass jaw like dat I brings the impact to fracture mandibles, and manhandle the youth Since my mental exceeds every MC I've perceive credible Now becomes edible, kid! And yo, I'm D for wreckin when reputations collide But zhoom dum da dum, dadada dum dum Suicide it's a suicide  ("Pen predator, et cetera, et cetera") --> repeat 10X ("Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah right")  2nd Pull:  I pull bitches like a lesbian and could come the fuck off with a vasectomy, in depth I be deeper than Bosses' recipe Incite recitation forever Ras Rock Steady like Buck when breakin on ducks Who get props by association Buy if ya lyrics suck, then fuck ya record label's juice Ock, I rock hip-hop non-stop and got more juice than Snapple Intricate to simplistic stylistics I solicit It gets niggaz open like fallopian ovulation Fuckin these kids like the Michael Jackson molestations Sendin ya back as the U.S. Nation did AIDS infected refugee Haitians Uhh, yeah niggaz so what's the haps You could put up ya dukes but in the West they bust caps So bulletproof fists is the only way I'm gone miss, but peep this My mental's the bullet, my tongue's the finger that pull it Check the method, soundtrack voodoo uh and bamboo like strapped Come better you, oh sorry verbal dyslexic You better come strapped like bamboo and a voodoo soundtrack And make sure not even one bar sounds wack (bitch) Cause we take the best shit and make it classic Word to Guru, take two fuckin pulls, and pass it

Sonset

This song is about that old West Coast/East Coast beef, Ras Kass expresses how it takes more than New York accent to make you dope and to never diss where he is from! But, don't get it twisted, He shows love for New York, he aint trying to rehash the beef.

Drama ft. Coolio

This song is about a female who understood the drama about the game involved but STILL ended up on her back! DAMN!

The Evil That Men Do

one of my favorite cuts on the LP, he relates on how he ended up in Jail and how the evils men do fuck up the world and most don't even realize it til too late. He even reaches back into his past to relate how he once put baby powder on himself to try and be White cuz White's supposedly had it far better than Black's - which is true- and how he was tired of being hungry and struggling. Ras Kass is a genius with a pen!

If/then

If Bitches aint shit but hoes and tricks/ then niggas aint shit but hoes with dicks
NUFF SAID!

Miami Life

this song is all about the Police and his utter disdain for the law! NUFF SAID!

Soul On Ice

The Title Track. the beat is SICK! with reindeer tambs and all! This song contains esoteric knowledge and clever rhymes about the industry and then current events, which, today is still relevant. a vocal chop provides the chorus and he speaks mathematics fluently on each verse!

Ordo Abchao

this song is one joint that you MUST HEAR!!!!! it brings the perfect closure to the album!

Ordo Abchao means Order out of Chaos... You do the math!

CONCLUSION

If you slept on this album, you need your Hip Hop license REVOKED!

GRADE:

Lyrics= A+
Production= A

Replayability Level= 10

OVERALL= A+

GO COP THIS NOW OR LOSE YOUR HIP HOP HEAD LICENSE !!!

and I'm just keeping it real with you!