Artist: Ras KassTitle: Revenge Of The Spit (Mixtape)Rating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Conan Milne
Another mixtape? It’s been eight years since his last major label backed album touched down, and in Hip-Hop’s rapidly changing climate it might as well have been eight decades. Yet, revered Carson, CA lyricist Ras Kass still doesn’t seem ready to treat us to that painfully overdue solo. Instead, he tests the waters with another street mix offering, Revenge Of The Spit.
Fortunately, Revenge of the Spit features several cuts that can stand tall among the cream of Rassy’s impressive back catalogue. While few MC’s would be eager to touch the instrumental to Jay-Z’s “Dear Summer” after the way Jigga dominated over said beat, Kass more than manages to hold his own when compared with Hov, putting a nice spin on the track. On “Hit Me On My Blackberry”, the West Coast vet jacks a 9th Wonder production and in turn makes the listener ponder why we haven’t heard these two talented individuals together before. Of course, it would make sense to list some of Ras’ ever-reliable punch lines, but doing so would mean listing approximately every second line featured. Let’s just say that those who chose to suggest that prison had compromised the rapper’s talent may very well eat those words after giving Revenge Of The Spit a spin.
While its easy to dismiss Revenge Of The Spit as just another mixtape, it contains more than a few hidden gems and should be filed under essential for the many Ras fanatics out there impatiently anticipating the “real” follow up to Rasassination. With this offering, the microphone Mike Vick clutches on to his relevance in the rap game and the majority of the material suggests that his next album will be worth the wait. A special plea to the subject of this review however: please make sure that the next record you serve up isn’t stamped “For Promotional Use Only”.