Ras Kass has once again been causing a stir in the hip-hop world with his Kickstarter project and hilarious ‘Save the Ras Kass’ campaign. The Wrap Up caught up with West Coast underground legend to discuss how you can help save an endangered lyricist today…
The Wrap Up: Kickstarter is a pretty new concept in the hip-hop world; what made you decide to go for that sort of campaign to cover the manufacturing costs for the new album 'A.D.I.D.A.S.'?
Ras Kass: It was just time to unlearn, is the best way to explain it. Whatever I thought I knew, some things just didn’t fly and I just wanted to try a different approach. I know where I’m trying to go and obviously the situations I tried before, they didn’t work. So, we started trying different angles at solving old problems. Kickstarter was the natural evolution of trying creative new business models. When we put out The Quarterly there were people that said, ‘well how come you didn’t create a CD for this?’ and I’m like ‘well if I have to spend that $5000 and you want one, I appreciate it but there’s the small problem that I spent $5000.’ So, we just came up with some creative ideas, just rolled with it and we’ve been blessed to have a great result. We met our goal in five days and that was a blessing. I’m appreciative of my fan-base for allowing me to basically give them what they wanted.
TWU: Right old ways of marketing records don’t seem to be working, which is worrying for the independent artists. When you talk about the endangered lyricist, is that what you are referring to?
RK: I think it’s deeper than that. Jay-Z has put himself pretty much in a position to become the first rap billionaire but I’m talking about the Ras Kass, people that maybe for whatever reason aren’t. Nas, he put himself in a position to at least be heard by the world and whatever happens then after that is about what politics does. I don’t buy a Jay-Z album, not because I don’t like Jay-Z but because Talib Kweli may need that record sale more. 50 Cent is still on his way to being a billionaire whether he sells one copy or a million in first week. So, I probably won’t buy a 50 Cent album, not because I don’t like his music, it’s just that there’s somebody that needs it more. I want to support Hip-Hop and make it better so I may have to buy a Common album, as opposed to buying an Eminem album. That’s what the ‘endangered lyricist’ is about, it’s about keeping the balance. No bees, no pollination, no trees, no oxygen, you know what I’m saying? I remember going to the studio when I was working on Goldyn Child and Nas came in like the day he dropped ‘Ether’ and was like ‘Goldyn Child didn’t come out. I went to the fucking record store and that shit wasn’t out.’ I was just like wow he gave a fuck! Nas is literally having a career-changing thing with ‘Ether,’ wakes up and thinks Ras Kass’ album’s coming out. We give a fuck and we support each other.
TWU: It’s promising to hear you talk about supporting other artists, as many rappers don’t tend to. Is that where the ‘Save the Ras Kass’ campaign idea came from?
RK: On my demo I had a song called ‘Blood’s Thicker Than Water’ and I said something like “I gotta save myself first, my family and my race before I save some goddamn whales.” People care about how you mistreat a dog and then they mistreat humans every goddamn day. It’s like priorities are so fucked up in this world I live in. So, ‘Save the Ras Kass.’ I would say it as a joke, like save me. It’s a satire. Really ‘Save the Ras Kass’ goes hand in hand with endangered lyricist but ‘Save the Ras Kass’ is more part of the webisodes that we’re going to do. It’s sarcasm. It’s satire; just take it with a grain of salt. Of course to a certain degree there’s some truth in it but overall it’s really for you to laugh at. It’s kind of funny, like I put myself like I’m a baby seal or I’m the hole in the ozone; I’m an endangered species. I’m a natural resource that’s being polluted. Sometimes rappers are so serious and I always just wanted to be a real human being. Some of the hardest people in these rap songs, you meet them and they’re really not people because they’re selling you a fucking concept. I could be Ras Kass from the West Coast on some gangster shit but that wouldn’t be true to the fact I want to read a book and I love my mom. I want to sell me, so that’s my whole thing about ‘Save the Ras Kass.’ He’s an endangered species; he’s just an honest human being in rap music, which you don’t find very often.
TWU: Have you had good responses so far?
RK: People are enjoying it, I think they get it. This was never about money; this was about a movement. It was a very inside joke, like Xzibit knew the joke, David Banner knew the joke and I kind of tried to share the joke with the world and I think the world gets it. I don’t want anything for free. It’s not ‘Save Ras Kass,’ it’s ‘Save the Ras Kass.’ We don’t want another Van Gough, like why did Van Gough have to die for people to say, “Oh he was really good?” I was taught you show people you appreciate and love them while they’re alive then you don’t have to be crying at a fucking funeral. So, show the Ras Kass that you love them while they’re alive! We’re so blessed, so many people from different genres of music are supporting it; it’s like an act of solidarity.
TWU: What can we expect from the ‘Save the Ras Kass’ campaign next?
RK: It’s like the fall from grace and not necessarily me, I’m just kind of making myself the object of ridicule because I don’t give a fuck. I can make a joke about myself and so I’m actually talking about lots of people. What you’ll see in these webisodes is kind of like a downward spiral. So, I have all this jewellery on, I got a chain, big earrings, I got my watch on and diamonds all over the place; I’m shining and I’m walking down the street and see a pawn shop and I’m so frustrated. Then you see me walk into the pawn shop, I come out and I’ve traded all that in and I’ve got headphones on. It’s just funny to me, so I traded all that in because I love Hip-Hop so much, I just wanted to be able to hear the rap music. You just see this downward spiral; it’s just that fall from grace and I’m kind of making fun of that and using me as the vehicle for it. We’ve all experienced a fall from perceived grace and it’s funny because if you’re not a grounded person and you believe that all these video girls love you then you didn’t know who you were. Like can you have some piece of mind without those things after a billion-dollar corporation gave you those toys to play with? When they take them away what is your reaction? The whole point of it is exaggerating that fall from grace.
TWU: So, finally how does ‘Save the Ras Kass’ tie in with the 'A.D.I.D.A.S.' project?
RK: What we did with the Kickstarter campaign was, we’re manufacturing 1000 CDs and 500 vinyls. The vinyl has one song off of the 'A.D.I.D.A.S'. project and on the B-side is ‘Save the Ras Kass,’ an actual song where I just kind of address it from the lyrical standpoint and explain what it stands for. Just trying to be creative, find new solutions to old problems and be creative in the process.
Ras Kass’ album 'A.D.I.D.A.S.' is coming soon! Also, don’t forget to look out for the webisodes and do your part to help save an endangered lyricist on www.savetheraskass.com
Words: Han O’Connor
Online editing: Joseph ‘JP’ Patterson
