Ras Kass has reflected on some of his past mistakes, with one of his biggest being a fumbled Roc-A-Fella West deal that was down to too much brown liquor and not enough forgiveness from JAY-Z.
In a new My Expert Opinion interview, which dropped on Friday (June 30), the Soul on Ice rapper told the host about the “Roc-A-Fella West Coast” proposition, which was happening at a time when many labels were having different “divisions” of their labels based on location.
“Roc-A-Fella West Coast,” co-host Mr. Mecc said, addressing some of the stories he’d heard Ras Kass had been involved in. “Who even knew that was a thing? I never heard of that shit before until I spoke to him.” The West Coast rapper then explained what happened.
“I was brought out, and that was kind of the idea, you know — to bring the West Coast out,” Ras Kass said. “So I stayed at State Street — at Jay’s house in downtown Brooklyn — so I came out for a summer and started recording with Jaz-O. […] I ended up going back to L.A. and just… time changed, you know what I’m saying?”
He went on: “I think I was picking the wrong production, to be honest, at the time. One time, me and Jay went to the club together. And I got too drunk — back then, I was drinking Hennessy — and I was like, yo, we might really get down.
“So I just kept drinking Hennessy [because I was nervous] and just waiting for the water to pop up, and then he got on the mic and rhymed, and killed it, and then he called me to the mic. And I was too drunk. I think I fumbled on that one, that n-gga is unforgiving. That was the one opportunity that, if I had gone back, would have changed everything.”
Despite the fumble, Ras Kass went on to have a stellar career and is still making music now. Last month, he connected with M.O.P. for a new action-packed animated music video titled “How the Block Sound.”
Against the backdrop of Amadeus360’s hard-hitting production, both Ras Kass and the Mash Out Posse went bar-for-bar on the record. The video animation was done by Carlito Way, who also created the animation for hit TV show The Boondocks.
As for Hov, he was spotted rocking the stage with longtime friend Pharrell last month in support of the debut of the Neptunes producer’s first collection as creative director at Louis Vuitton.
Hov popped out to surprise guests at the end of LV’s Paris fashion show while models walked out in the last looks. Besides performing “N-ggas In Paris,” he and Pharrell teamed up for their hit collab “Give It to Me” and more.
The show debuted LV’s Men’s Spring-Summer 2024 Collection, with the stage spanning the bridge in front of the Louis Vuitton headquarters and the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned Cheval Blanc hotel.
Stellar career…not even Dre could help him achieve stardom and those Aftermath beats and Jazze Pha sound etc of Rasassisnation are sick af to this day
Dre never gave him a beat. He has explained that in the past. That was one of his protegees who did Ghetto Fabulous, Stooby Doo, who was dope as hell by the way. Dude went and did video game music production because he was so fed up with the game, lol.
Rassassination is SUPER TRASH. I just like the jaz o beats. I own it on vinyl so im not a hater, i just never felt that. Pause.
Underrated, but he fumbled the bag.
Drinking has gotten in the way of Ras’ success. Too bad, still one of the dopest from the west.
Ras is a super talented lyricist. Soul on Ice incredible and provided a nice balance in 96 along Chino XL and Dr Octogon, but this would’ve been bad business. He spent alot of years being a drunk and missing in action.
How to kill God is still one of my favorites from him.
Ras Kass is one of the biggest what ifs in hip hop history to me. It seems like every time there was a move to be made, he made the wrong one or fucked his career off, going back to getting a DUI after signing his first deal with Delicious Vinyl. He even had a co-sign from Pac when he was locked up before he got out and got killed. Then he didn’t strike when the iron was hot in that aftermath when dudes like Master P were filling the void, and he was on some other shit. He had it all to be a superstar and fucked it off. By the time he got done with his label politics with Priority, it was like a cautionary tale of what not to do in the music business because he concentrated more on fighting label battles in public that fans don’t care about.
Very eloquently put. I’ve been a fan of Rassy for decades now and everything you said about him was facts. He made terrible moves at every turn when the Universe was trying to make him a star. But man, do yourself a favor and check his sons’ group, Coast Contra. They might be the best group I’ve heard in YEARS. Absolutely beasts on the mic. Nothing but pure talent in that camp!
Will do. Always like to know about some rappers who are spitting that aren’t on my radar. Yeah, Ras’ career is a hip hop tragedy. First time I heard him back in 1994/1995, I was like this dude going to be a super superstar, and he just kept getting in his own way. Like even Prince and Michael Jackson’s careers suffered fighting the public record label battles in public, and you’re a new rapper making this a central part of your intro to the game.