Ras Kass

Lyrical, streetwise, and fearlessly sociopolitical, MC Ras Kass represents the West Coast with deep collaborative connections far outside his region. He debuted with "Won't Catch Me Runnin'" (1994), a hard-hitting track he co-produced and released on an Atlanta-based independent label. Soul on Ice (1996), his full-length debut for Priority Records, landed amid accolades for his pen game and vocal precision. The follow-up Rasassination (1996) trumped it from a commercial standpoint, landing just outside the Top Ten of Billboard's R&B/hip-hop chart with help from the charting "Ghetto Fabulous," featuring Dr. Dre and Mack 10. Dozens of mixtapes and collaborative projects, including several as part of the HRSMN (with Kurupt, Killah Priest, and Canibus), have followed since then. Soul on Ice 2 (2019) and Quarterly (2022), along with the RJ Payne and Havoc collaboration GUTTR (2024), are among his most noteworthy later releases.