Ras Kass' 'Nature of the threat' is weak

[W-Side]

none of those verses can fuck with Ras Kass's "Nature of a Threat"

^^reading that post reminded me of the apparent fact that many fans are considering this track lyrically great


"albinism apparently was a sin the the original man, african, so the mutants travelled north of the equator, called europeans later, the first race haters"
-Ras Kass, Nature of the Threat

such evident contradiction in one and the same sentence, which pretty much dismisses the whole point of the track makes it impossible to seriously consider this track lyrically great, as a matter of fact, to even take it serious at all.

Ras Kass is blaming whites for their racism throughout the entire 7 ˝ minutes but he couldn't resist implying the supposed superiority of the original black man back when whites had just "mutated". Provided that what he says is true, the original black man forced the albino mutant to leave the continent because he looked at the white man's mutation as a sin. Now the white man pretty much flees to another continent to become.. what ? the "first race hater" ? how can a man, forced to leave the place he used to live possibly become the FIRST race hater, when the fact that he was HATED ON for his race is the only reason he now lives somewhere else ?

who started hating here ?


If what Ras Kass says was true, blacks hated on whites, whites fled, became stronger than blacks, came back and hated on who made them leave in the first place.. basically sounds like fair retaliation doesn't it (if you ignore the fact that it's obvious nonsense).

Now of course the whole point Ras is tryna make is stupid in the first place, considering whites wouldn't even be white had they not left the place where they used to live (Ras Kass is drawing a pretty much childlike picture of some black dudes becoming white out of the blue and having to run away cause everybody's shocked) so the chonological order is plain illogic. Of course whites weren't forced to leave cause somebody looked at them as sinners but... the fact that, even if you take his stories for facts, it's still 100% illogic makes those lyrics weak


I know the way I elaborated it sounds like a smartass considering how obvious this contradiction is, but I had to explain it for the retards



point is, Ras Kass failed horribly when he tried to make the white man look like an unjustified racist, and since that was his goal on the track, the rest of the lyrics can't be taken even haflway seriously either, he killed everything he said afterwards himself.

[Lord Funk]

To give Ras his due, he's said in interviews that he made several mistakes in that song.

[W-Side]

yeah, my point wasn't that he's a complete retard, he does have talent but people who worship this song as a lyrical masterpiece need to realize that that's silly

[Sikotic™]

Yeah, there are tons of contradictions and falsehoods in that track. It still amazes me when I listen to it though.

[The Predator]

''Julius Caesar was known as "every woman's husband and every man's wife (bi-yatch)"

hahaha that line is well funny

[W-Side]

Yeah, there are tons of contradictions and falsehoods in that track. It still amazes me when I listen to it though.

what is it that amazes you ? (not tryna say you wrong or nothing, I'd just like to know)

personally I think it would be amazing if it all fitted together cause that's hard to do with such a complex topic but he didn't achieve that


as for the rhyme scheme and the flow, imo it partially sounds rather clumsy, like a text written without having thought about how you gonna flow it.


my guess is people are impressed because ras kass tried such a difficult thing at all and succeeded having good lines in it but he did not succeed making a consistent track, drawing a clear picture. Any listener with half a brain will be disturbed by the obvious contradictions and he can't convince anybody to adopt or even respect his opinion which I think was his intention.

the way I see it, the pure attempt doesn't deserve to be mentioned as one of hiphop's great lyrical moments, and some entertaining lines can't save a track with such a sophisticated topic / goal

[rafsta]

i have always said ras kass is full of shit... but he is a smart man (a fuck-head still) in how he convinces his audience and builds emotion using bullshit...

[Paul]

iv never known wot people see in rass kass

[BIGMOZ]

Let me explain something...When ur blazed the fuck out of ur mind, u start thinking on all types of shit.  Some people think of the stars and the moon, astrophysical shit (back back rappers), and some cats start thinkin about race, and politics n shit.  Whatever the hell u end up thinking about, ur out ur fucking mind, and it dont really make too good sense to anyone else (if broken down)...but to u in ur own head, u just solved nuclear physics...lol



But u cant take shit away from the mans talent on the mic..  dude is sicc

[The Predator]

Let me explain something...When ur blazed the fuck out of ur mind, u start thinking on all types of shit.  Some people think of the stars and the moon, astrophysical shit (back back rappers), and some cats start thinkin about race, and politics n shit.  Whatever the hell u end up thinking about, ur out ur fucking mind, and it dont really make too good sense to anyone else (if broken down)...but to u in ur own head, u just solved nuclear physics...lol

hahaha...

[tonyscarbones]

yo sickotic

who's that broad in your sig

she nice

[Low Key]

If you look at hiphop in general thinking there is some deepseeded message in it all, you'll be greatly disappointed. The song is good because it entertains. You laugh at it because it's factually wrong. Isn't that entertaining? Just feel bad for those that actually take the song seriously.

[W-Side]

Let me explain something...When ur blazed the fuck out of ur mind, u start thinking on all types of shit.  Some people think of the stars and the moon, astrophysical shit (back back rappers), and some cats start thinkin about race, and politics n shit.  Whatever the hell u end up thinking about, ur out ur fucking mind, and it dont really make too good sense to anyone else (if broken down)...but to u in ur own head, u just solved nuclear physics...lol

well if it's entertaining, coo Ima bump it if it sounds good. What I'm saying is this track is far from lyrically amazing. A good lyricist will not write songs with such a serious message while he's "blazed the fuck out of [his] mind". When KRS makes political songs it makes hella sense and is convincing. Check "The Truth" of his selftitled album.


hook:
It's not natural If it goes against God
It's not factual Her truth is not hard
It's not natural If it goes against God
It's not factual Gimme the truth!

Listen to the lyric as the negative is shrinkin
It's shrinkin out your life when you decide to change your thinkin
One of the first things we gotta switch around of course
Is Jesus Christ, and him dying on the cross
You're looking at the cross, surrounded in it's mystery
With Jesus on the cross in a, total misery
Now seperate Jesus from the cross so you can see
The truth about the cross, and the cross's history
The cross was created by the Roman government
It's only purpose and use, is cap-i-tal punishment
But Jesus Christ, was all about the revolution
While the cross was used as Jesus Christ's execution
See what if Jesus Christ, was hung upon a tree
Upon every church wall, that's exactly what you'd see
If Jesus Christ, was shot in the head with no respect
We'd all have little gold guns around our neck
If Jesus Christ was killed in electic chair, now get it
You'd be knealing to the electric chair with Jesus, still in it
You gaze upon the cross, and you see the execution
You yell stop the violence but the cross you're still using

It's not natural If it goes against God
It's not factual Her truth is not hard
It's not natural If it goes against God
It's not factual Gimme the truth!

So I say listen, listen, open up your third eye vision
God is not down with religion
Religion they be sellin it, listen up, God is intelligent
Reading of the bible is irrelevant
You gotta look within yourself, not a scripture
KRS-One comes to rearrange the God picture
If you sit and believe, you can acheive
If you sit and accept, you don't know, what's correct
or incorrect, take for instance Adam and Eve
The first two people on the planet, or so you believe
Their first time in heaven kids they had, Cain and Abel
Huh, now let me show you why the story's unstable
According to the story, according to what you believe
There was only Cain, Abel, Adam, and Eve
on the whole planet, now use your intellect
and tell me, what did Cain and Abel do for sex?
Upon the whole planet there was not another
Could it be for sex, heh, they were looking at each other?
Hold up! I thought the church wasn't into that
But wait, still yet, there is another fact
How did the world get populated?
Now tell me if I'm wrong, but obviously Eve had it goin on
Think for a minute, I know it gets notorious
But yo G, check out the chorus
It's not natural If it goes against God
It's not factual Her truth is not hard
It's not natural If it goes against God
It's not factual Gimme the truth!
[Rich Nice]
Yo yo...
Yo bring that back
I wanna say something on this BlastMaster session
Yo this is Rich Nice
You brothers gotta stop treating these hoes like nice girls
and these nice girls like hoes
[KRS-One]
True indeed, I'd like to welcome the rebirth of the Goddess
Word up it's all about knowledge of self
Yo Busta Rhymes, why don't you take the session over from here

now that's great lyricism right there. It ain't like no rappers make sensefull tracks about serious topics, Ras Kass just couldn't do it.. yet I've heard fans of his call nature of the threat one of the most lyrical tracks ever.. how's that ? imo it takes simple mindedness to a scary degree for somebody to take this track serious. and if it can't even be taken seriously how's it great lyricism when loads of other rappers succeed wirting such political songs that make sense (or seem to make sense, even something wrong can be put a way that it sounds kinda logical, Ras Kass couldn't do that though)

[Low Key]

I've heard fans of his call nature of the threat one of the most lyrical tracks ever.. how's that ? imo it takes simple mindedness to a scary degree for somebody to take this track serious.

Big words impress people. The track is lyrically decent, but Ras is no Gza or KRS.

and if it can't even be taken seriously how's it great lyricism when loads of other rappers succeed wirting such political songs that make sense (or seem to make sense, even something wrong can be put a way that it sounds kinda logical, Ras Kass couldn't do that though)

Ras struggles to sell 200,000 copies. Songs like Nature of the Threat are the reason why. Dead Prez's first CD was very political (and somewhat racist) but sold a lot because it wasn't going at the people that put them in their position, but Ras doesn't have a problem biting the hand that feeds him. He'd be huge right now if he stopped dissing label execs.

[W-Side]

Big words impress people. The track is lyrically decent, but Ras is no Gza or KRS.

decent to listen to and be entertained, but an absolute failure as far as the message goes

Ras struggles to sell 200,000 copies. Songs like Nature of the Threat are the reason why. Dead Prez's first CD was very political (and somewhat racist) but sold a lot because it wasn't going at the people that put them in their position, but Ras doesn't have a problem biting the hand that feeds him. He'd be huge right now if he stopped dissing label execs.

not sure about him being huge if he behaved differently, alot of people don't like off beat flows and ras' one isn't good. Only people who are very interested in lyrics would be into him and alot of em would probably not like those typa constant contradictions so it ain't exactly masses left as a potential fan base