Author Topic: NEW Ras Kass and MC Eiht Interviews (Read 195 times)

jtothai · « **on:** April 09, 2006, 01:30:38 PM »

I'll paste the Ras Kass interview, theres enough MC Eiht interviews posted in here, here's really gridning on the promotion of this album, thats a good look for Eiht!
http://www.thaformula.com/mc_eiht_of_cmw_compton_4_life.htm

ThaFormula.Com – You’re one of the few artists that rep the city of Carson and basically put C-arson on the map...

Ras Kass - It's a great thing man, because really before me, nobody was reppin' Carson. Everyone came out and did the Compton thing. Snoop and them had Long Beach. I named my city C-Arson. But if you look we got Boo-Ya Tribe, Bishop Lamont and a few others putting it down for Carson.

ThaFormula.Com - Can you speak a little bit about the original version of "Soul On Ice" that most people never heard....

Ras Kass - The album was basically done and then that's when we went into like negotiations with Priority Records and I was doing my own negotiation with Patchwork Records. So basically, it took like another year for the record to come out. So in the meanwhile, I did these other songs which ended up making it on the "Soul On Ice" album. So it was like 50 percent different then the original version of the album.

ThaFormula.Com - Do you still have the original version of that album and do you ever plan on putting it out?

Ras Kass - I have that stuff. It's still in storage, but a lot of that stuff is still in litigation as we are still battling on who owns the masters and stuff like that.

ThaFormula.Com - When you completed "Soul On Ice", did you feel that you had recorded a classic album?

Ras Kass - I mean that was my goal to be honest. As a fan I wanted to make an album that moved me the way a Rakim or an Illmatic album moved me. I wanted to try and duplicate that from my perspective. So the fact that some people feel that I achieved that is definitely a blessing.

ThaFormula.Com - Do you feel that you gave the West a lot of respect lyrically with that album?

Ras Kass - Yeah, because for the longest, East Coast cats could never accept that I was from the West. They would say that I had to be from the Bronx or from Brooklyn. I'd say, nah homie, I'm from L.A. So you know it was great because I actually had Rakim, Nas, Kane, and others embracing me as a peer. I was totally embraced by the collective Hip-Hop foundation. Those are the things I wanted then and I'm really blessed to have gotten them. What I didn't ask for was to have my business right so I wasn't getting fucked. So what I learned is that you get what you ask for. You gotta know what you want.

ThaFormula.Com - So when you were getting all these accolades for "Soul On Ice," financially things weren't very good?

Ras Kass - I mean I ain't never been broke and even if I was you would never know. The thing is, like the saying goes, I worked for everything I got, but I didn't get everything I worked for. All you ever really want in life is everything you worked for. In this business you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.

ThaFormula.Com - Now most rappers after dropping a classic album on their first attempt go through the famous sophomore jinx on their second LP. Do you feel you went through that with your second album?

Ras Kass - Hell No!! The real Hip-Hop kids tend to be just as hypocritical as like the corny industry commercial people. Because they have a different expectation, like I am supposed to wear a backpack or whatever. But I'm the same nigga that was drinking Hennessey, fucking bitches and possibly shooting a nigga on the same record that niggaz wanna call a classic. I had a song with Coolio on that album. So I was already doing me and being me. So I watched two albums that are essentially the same album be critiqued two different ways.

ThaFormula.Com - Do you feel that people will always compare your new music to your first album and do you ever feel like it's almost like a curse?

Ras Kass - Nah, because I made a decision a long time ago that I was doing me and I have to admit that I am probably a lot more of a selfish artist then most people. Maybe sometimes it affects my career, but I don't think it hurts me. At the end of the day I'm making the music for me. A lot of artists will tell you that's not a good business move and that may be true, but at the end of the day I get to sleep better. I mean, I ain't broke. God blessed me enough to where I can take care of my kids and keep my lifestyle without opening my asshole up. So what the fuck am I gonna cry about? I mean all you got to do is take the beats away from both of those records and listen to the lyrics. After that, you tell me if I ever change, because I don't.

ThaFormula.Com - I was a little surprised at some people’s negative reaction to you doing a track with Dre on "Rassasination..."

Ras Kass - I think I played a part in helping pave the way to make it cool for Mos Def to do a song with Nate Dogg. Because before that, I was catching shit for it. Because at that time there was two different West Coasts, there was the one that I was a part of and then there was the gangsta one. But my music always reflected a nice balance because I'm both of them. I didn't grow up with a backpack on, I grew up in Watts. I'm intelligent but I grew up in a West Coast lifestyle. So for hip-hoppers to try to penalize me for being honest, I thought it was the ultimate hypocrisy. But I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Dre, RZA and a guy like Easy Moe Bee. A lot of people don't know that Wendy Day gave 2Pac the Makaveli book when he was in prison. So he used to write her these letters. In one he had written his perfect album. It had Black Moon with a beat by so and so. It just so happens that Pac wrote me with Easy Moe Bee, and then Pac died. So when I saw these letters, the two songs I did with Moe Bee was my tribute to 2Pac. So I don't give a fuck what people say and anyone that can't respect that can eat a dick.

ThaFormula.Com - How was the chemistry between you and DJ Premier when you guys recorded the "Golden Chyld" track?

Ras Kass - Primo had been owed me a track. Actually it was supposed to be for Rassassination, but Preme is a super busy dude. So this time I told him, I'm not letting him off the hook. So I didn't let him off the hook and he blessed me with a crazy track.

ThaFormula.Com - So where are you taking this new album lyrically in 2006?

Ras Kass - Ras doesn't really change man. It's in the bible man. I remember it because my mom had this little sign in our kitchen. It said, "God is the same today, yesterday, and forever.” Ras Kass is the same today, yesterday and forever. I only evolve, I don't change too much. I'm just doing me. My life is real and that's what I'm gonna be talking about. Some of it may be socio-political. Some of it may be personal, some of it may be on some nigga shit getting money or fucking with this bitch from Toronto or whatever. I've always believed in honesty and I try to be honest about who I am as a person and that's where my music is.

ThaFormula.Com - Now I heard a Dre track from you featuring Busta Rhymes a while back on KDAY. What exactly was that from?

Ras Kass - It's gonna be for Vol. 2 of "Institutionalized." It's just that muthafuckas be leaking shit. (Laughs). It's not something I planned on getting out there. But it's all good.

ThaFormula.Com - So do you feel that the "Golden State" project is pretty much over with?

Ras Kass - I always feel like I'm Golden State, Xzibit is Golden State, and Saafir is Golden State. Me and Xzibit always work together, so there is the Golden State. We exist because we still breathin' and still fuckin' with each other.

ThaFormula.Com - But do you feel that a Golden State album will ever end up happening?

Ras Kass - I think it's a high probability. It's just that life takes everybody in different directions and you got to go where your life takes you. Saafir chose not to rhyme for a while. He is really getting into his religion, which is a good thing. So his focus wasn't rap. Me, I had my own demons to fight as far as changing my label situation, because it was just pointless. Xzibit is also changing his label situation because he felt it wasn't beneficial to him. So we gotta go our paths and if it's meant for us to meet up, I'm sure we will do it, Same thing with The Horsemen.