Search - Ras Kass :: Van Gogh

Getting Closer To His Niche (Rating: 7 out of 10- -3.5 stars

Chandler | Atlanta (College Park), Georgia | 02/16/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If you haven't realized already, Ras Kass' third album on Priority/Capitol Records was supposed to come out in late '01/early '02, but was shelved (I'm not sure that it maade it to shelves and was pulled off later on), due to heavy bootlegging of it. I managed to obtain my copy about two years ago, and wondered why the hell didn't they just go ahead and release it, because it could have been the album that he needed to place him into where he was trying to get to.



"Van Gogh" is a little more made for mainstream audiences than his previous albums. It sort of fills the voids that his previous two album had. Soul on Ice suffered from weak production, even though the lyrics were great. Rasassination also suffered the same problem, but even the lyrics wern't as great as the preceeding album. "Van Gogh", the production is much better, even though it's a little more comercial than before, done by DJ Battlecat (who produced the majority of his first album), Ric Roc, and Rocwilder.



The songs themselves are good, as Ras seems to follow the same formula that he did on his second album. "Back It Up" was supposed to be his first single that featured Kokane, as it was a club type song. "Goldyn Child" was played on Music Choice back in '01 a whole lot (I could have sworn that it had a different beat than whats on this album). "Hot Game" is a great track that Ras uses to get a repetative rappers and samples the hook from Sunshine Anderson's "Heard It All Before". I like the song "What You Want" featuring a singer named Mike City, as Ras rides the song nicely. Later on in the album Xzibit and Saafir teams up with Ras Kass for "N.B.A." that makes you wonder why they didn't have more colabs together than the few they had ("3 Card Molly", "Golden State", "Plastic Surgery"). "Ah-Ha" will keep your attention because of the hook, and the beat is nice too. "TV Guide" follows a nice concept as Ras flies in televison channels and shows into his rhymes. The album closes off with his thoughts about Christmas on "Jack Frost".



Although this album great, it still suffers from some bad concepts. "Kiss U" couldn't keep my attention, even though it was bold of Ras Kass to start that song with the "Home Sweet Home" beat that The Alchemest gave him (which later became Jadakiss & Styles' "We Gon Make It"). "4 Much" sucked as he tried to use an idea from his "Ghetto Fabolous" song into a new one. "Understandable Smooth" was another one that can put you to sleep, as the entire song samples a popular song (I think it's Patti LaBelle...I'm not sure but if you heard it you would recognize it).



Overall "Van Gogh" is a dope album. Ras seemed to be focused on mainstream success with this album, but unfortunately the record label wouldn't allow this album to come out. In fact all of his albums on Priority are out of print and sell for high prices (Soul on Ice sells for about 60, and they wonder why people download). Find this album if you can, especially if you're a fan of Ras Kass. Luckly he was smart and stole the masters for this album, and placed them on a few compilations and mixtapes, as well as releasing them as singles. Peace.



Lyrics: B+

Production: B+

Guest Appearances: B+

Musical Vibes: B-



Top 5 Tracks:

1. N.B.A. (featuring Xzibit and Saafir)

2. What U Want?

3. Hot Game

4. Back It Up (featuring Kokane)

5. TV Guide



Honorable Mention Tracks:

1. Jack Frost

2. Ah-Ha"

Underappreciated genius, just like VAN GOGH.

gavin redmond | rep of ireland | 02/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Like alot of people who have this album, I got it through the ONLY way that i could, i got somebody to download it for me. Its an absolute travesty that it will never see the light of day correctly. Its a definite step up from "Rassassination", albeit a slightly more commercial step at times. However his lyrics are scarily good on every last track. He really is one of the true lyricists left in the game over the last 5years and he was locked up for some of that!!!! On tracks like "Hot Game", "Goldyn Chyld", "Kiss U", "4 Much", "NBA" feat.Saafir+Xzibit, "Root of Evil", "Van Gogh" and "Understandable Smooth" he shows exactly why he is held in such high regard throughout the underground. Tracks like "Back It Up", "What U Want", "Is This Love", "Sex" and "One Night" show the more commercial side of the album. All in all its an excellent addition to the trilogy before he went inside. The 3 he's released since he's got out arent as focussed as these were, probably to do with the mixtape format alot of his new songs are in but this was an album that wouldnt made him one of the big players on the west coast had Priority not screwed him over. Try get this ANYWAY you can."