John “Ras Kass” Austin never thought he’d have a career that endured for more than three decades. “I figured I'd have five albums, say what the fuck I needed to say, get blackballed,” he muses. “I just got blackballed sooner than I thought I would. So, the rest of the 30 years has been me fucking sink or swim.”
In the 30 years since he released his acclaimed debut album Soul On Ice (1996), Ras has been doing a lot of swimming. The Carson, California bred emcee has been consistently productive, steadily releasing solo projects, mixtapes, and collaborative group albums. His pen has stayed sharp and his commentary has remained incisive.
And this year he joins the ranks of revered hip-hop artists who first came to prominence in the 1990s that are releasing high-quality new projects here in the mid-2020s, many of which are destined to rank high within their discographies. He’s ready to drop the Leopard Eats Face full-length on February 13th, released in partnership with Soulspazm digital distribution. Ras delivers another virtuoso lyrical performance throughout the project’s 17 tracks, demonstrating that he hasn’t lost a step, providing dynamic doses of verbal slaughter coupled with moments of introspection.
Ras utilizes a roster of producers throughout the project, some familiar collaborators (Bud’da and Da Beatminerz) and others who are relatively new to the game (Amadeus 360 and King Baby Coy). He also enlists a wide array of guests, including his 1990s peers like Treach of Naughty By Nature, Inspectah Deck of the Wu-Tang Clan, and Onyx. Other guests come from a newer generation of emcees, like Carson cohort and TDE artist Ab-Soul and the group Coast Contra, whose roster includes his twin sons Ras and Taj. The twins, whose mother is singer/songwriter Teedra Moses, have been appearing on their father’s projects since at least 2010, back when they were pre-teens.
Leopard Eats Face comes on the heels of the FAFO EP, which he dropped in the early fall of 2024. Ras admits the EP was a heat-check project, to test the waters to see if fans were interested in a full new project. The response was positive, and the EP drew the attention of one pretty damn famous fan: Dave Chappelle. The stand-up legend used the track “Mapogo Lions” as the intro music to his latest Netflix special Unstoppable. As a result, Ras decided to include a slightly remixed version of the song as a bonus track on Leopard Eats Face.
I had the pleasure of chatting with Ras Kass at length about Leopard Eats Face and during our conversation, he also addressed record label executives’ efforts to silence older hip-hop artists, his sons’ success as rappers, and what drew Dave Chappelle to his music, among a wide array of topics.
What are you most satisfied with about Leopard Eats Face?
We kind of had some normalcy. A lot of times everything's behind the 8-ball. When you trim that fat and it's only your publicist guy and your engineer, and it's a smaller team, some things start feeling a little overwhelming or we're behind schedule, but I've really enjoyed that for the most part. It seems structured. There's execution and hopefully getting some positive results.
So, it's been nice. I wasn't planning on making this particular project, but it's just how I felt. I'm very interested to see what people say, my other peers as emcees or potentially people that supported, friends and fans or whatever that may be. I'm just curious to see what happens.
Leopard Eats Face is your first solo album in five years, right?
Kind of, sort of. I've been doing a lot of other stuff. We did the GUTTR stuff and I did some shit that felt more like a mixtape. I did the Apollo Brown thing and Jack Splash. I did a whole bunch of more creative, artsy things that I enjoyed, but I just felt like I wanted to do something a little more interpersonal.
I love doing those things with one producer: It's an honor to work with Havoc with the GUTTR thing and Apollo Brown, whoever. And I hope to do more in the future, but sometimes, one producer, and this is not a knock, it's just a different animal. I may hear something that I feel fits a project and it's not all from one producer. I like mixing all these different ingredients. It's hard if you just have pasta and beef. There's only so many combinations, but then if you have some other noodles, whatever, do some different proteins, the food tastes a little different. So anyway, that was probably a shitty metaphor.
On this album, you work with some producers that you’ve had a long history of collaborating with, like Da Beatminerz. But you also work with a lot of new and upcoming cats. How did you connect with them?
The internet. Instagram. Because the people hit you and they're like, "You mind if I send you beats?" And I don't think I've ever said “No.” I try to give everything a shot because it doesn't matter who. Of course, prestige-wise, we all want The Alchemist, DJ Premier, Dr. Dre, whatever. And obviously, having the ability to work with those guys is great. But then there's the future Alchemists and Dr. Dre’s and this kid that's somewhere, wherever the fuck they at, and at least the access is that they can reach out and send you beats. And if I like the beat, I like the beat.
A few months ago, you dropped Fuck Around and Find Out…
Yeah, FAFO was kind of like the prequel to Leopard Eats Face. You Fuck Around and Find Out that Leopard Eats Face.
What would you say are the differences between FAFO and Leopard Eats Face?
The song “Who The Victim” on FAFO is extremely political, and Leopard Eats Face is a lot less political. It’s more about just the fucking carnal, carnivorous street, emcee brutal, more street shit, but also more lyrical and just industry shit. So, I wanted to separate the political side too. That was another reason why I wanted to get that out of my system and then focus really on Leopard Eats Face from some emcee shit on the project.
On Leopard Eats Face, you're collaborating with a lot of emcees who made their names in the '90s, like Treach, Smif-N-Wessun, Tray Dee, Chip Fu and Onyx. Frequently, in hip-hop, there's this perception that, "Oh, rappers in their 40s and 50s just need to retire.” Do you feel like people are now more accepting of older rappers continuing to release music?
I'm glad that you brought this up. First of all, rap music is the only genre where people created that, I would dare to say, bullshit narrative. It’s bullshit. They never did that to Country Western. Suits developed that and then the suits told the artists and the execs. Shit runs downhill, and the execs parroted that shit, and then now, to where even our fans started parroting. And that was a rich white man executive's opinion. You know why he didn't want the older guy? Because it's easier to pimp out the younger guy. They never did that to Dolly Parton. They never said that to fucking Bruce Springsteen. It's bullshit, it's fucked up and it's strategically, racially picked about the n****r music. So, let's stop that.
I remember a more esteemed rapper than myself—Lord Finesse—and I were somewhere and he said, "Ras, rappers don't tear their Achilles." I understand how the body ages and you're putting that strain on it, LeBron and your knee, or you're playing football and people hit you. So, they're taking a whole bunch of damage. With us, 10,000 hours, as long as I'm of sound mind and my throat's okay, I should be getting better, period. I don't tear my Achilles. Even if I tore my Achilles, I can bar up.
I think that narrative should be flushed down the toilet and called out for what it is. It was a slight to the way that we made money as rappers in an industry that felt like it just needed to demean us to get rid of us and then people parroted it. But no, all I have to do is stay of sound mind and body. And really, honestly, the bar got dropped so low that it can be emulated by anybody. That's how corny this new shit is.
Because that's what they wanted it to become. They wanted to commercialize it and distill it. And then you get the most generic version that even grandma likes. Or take K-Pop. K-Pop is only R&B. People steal shit, call it whatever they want to call it, and forget that the n****s were doing it 25 years ago. This is bullshit. And you just have to call out the bullshit. It's like, steal it from us and then sell it back to us. That's fucked up.
And they tell us that we’re too old to do it. But meanwhile, you'll never tell Eminem that he's too old to be fucking Slim Shady. It's not attacking, but I'm putting it out there. I call myself the elephant whisperer. So, I see the elephants in the room and I'm like, "Bro, come on, man. Y'all don't see this big pile of elephant shit in here? Come on, man. Who's with me?"
You mentioned that Ab-Soul appears on a track. He’s also from Carson, and he’s a longtime admirer of your music, and he recorded the song “Threatening Nature” that was a reference to “Nature of the Threat.” Is this the first time that he’s appeared on one of your albums?
Well, I always say it like this, because of our age brackets, when they were cutting their teeth and going through their struggle, I was probably fighting with Capitol Records. And so that's kind of what the generational things become. I would always say that about Nipsey Hussle. And I was aware of Nipsey, but I was older than him and I was already with a record deal dealing with other fights while he was putting work in. That's why they become a whole class of people who were doing things and opening up and whatever. Same thing with Ab and them, they're younger than me. I was busy mad at Capitol and moving to New York and on the run.
I've always been a fan. All of them. Just from Schoolboy Q to Jay Rock to Kendrick, I always thought, "Man, they got a squad. Them little young n****s get it. They get it. They got it together." Top Dawg? They got a great squad and they're all unique and they all stand out and they all blend. They're amazing.
So, I always feel like it's disingenuous to want somebody pop to be like, "Well, you're my little brother, I was with you all the time.” I wasn't with you all the time. You were with them all the time doing y'all stuff and congrats to that. So, it's always been very supportive and loving. I pulled up on him and then we ended up really just kind of rocking and getting to know each other, not just socially, but like, "Man, I'm a fan and good to see you."
So, to answer your question, yeah, it's the second song we've done because I went to do something for him for his next album. And then I found something for mine. So, we got two. That's my brother. And I love what he does. If he needs me, I want to be able to do whatever he needs me to do. Do a hook, say the intro. Who gives a shit? Hopefully that's how we keep rocking. He's great for the city.
Ras Kass’ new album ‘Leopard Eats Face’ arrives February 13th
When did you first notice that your sons were interested in hip-hop and rapping?
They were interested when they were younger and then they lost interest, which was good for me. I did not want them to do music anyway. I really did not. I know how treacherous and heartbreaking this business can be. Anybody that would want that for their kids is insane. I was not interested in them having to deal with the fucked-up shit I went through. My goal was that they would be taller and they had a big interest in basketball, so that's what I thought they would do. Thought that'd be great. But really, preferably, I wanted them corporate: one judge and one accountant. A banking n***a and a legal n***a. That's what I wanted.
But people are going to decide what they want to do. So, we were doing songs while they were in Miami. Went to the studio a couple of times, knocked out songs with them. When we did those songs, RioLoz (a fellow member of Coast Contra), that was still a friend, but I don't know that I had met Rio yet. But we knocked out songs when they wanted to rap, a long time ago. Probably 10 years ago. They were probably 15, 16.
When did they make it clear to you or let you know that they were interested in pursuing a career in hip-hop?
They graduated high school and said they were coming out here. So, once they graduated, they were like, "We coming out here and we want to do music." And I'm like, "Fuck. Really? Sure? You don't want to go to college or nothing like that?" They're like, "No, we want to rhyme." I'm like, "Fuck. Alright." And I just remembered that my pops, when I told him what my dream was, he was the realist. But I kind of felt like, "Hey man, you ain't supporting me." So, I didn't want to be that same guy. I just was like, "Alright, well, we going to figure it out. Let's go."
I was like, "Well, at least go to a music institute and learn some shit." Because we're not P. Diddy. We're not fucking Quincy Jones where you come over here and you got a big mansion and all the resources. This shit is a war of attrition, so it's going to be hard. My last name ain’t “Ross,” we going to be in the paint. But they pulled it off, man.
You said it was a war of attrition and you taught them about the blue-collar hustle. What else was important for you to impart to them about hip-hop as a business and as a career?
I think, overall, they got it honest. Their mother is an artist too. She had a record deal. She wrote platinum songs. So, I think they had an infrastructure. And that's the only thing I tried to impart on them. I had no one to ask. My parents didn't do music. They didn't know none of this shit. At least they had my little sisters, Berkeley Law, music, entertainment law, and a singer in her own right, their aunties. So, I was like, "You got an embarrassment of riches as far as information and the people who have experience in this now. So, utilize that."
You've been in the game for more than three decades as a solo artist, but I know, over the years you've been an affiliate with a lot of different crews. There was the Golden State Warriors with Xzibit and Saafir, which never quite came to fruition. Western Hemisfear. You've done group projects with Four Horsemen, Semi-Hendrix, Jamo Gang, GUTTR. What makes you enjoy the group dynamic?
Less work.
Really?
Absolutely. You get a different ingredient with those producers or those ears, those points of view, those concepts that maybe I wouldn't come up with normally. Maybe that choice of production, maybe I wouldn't go in that direction on my own. Having somebody pull another aspect of your creativity out is cool to me. I enjoy it. Everybody's experts. We start designing some new shit, we're like building a brand-new shoe or designing a new car. Their feelings, their experiences and their ears are going to be different than mine in every given situation.
I mean, Dre would always say that I get triggered by what happens and what people say around me. That's how I write most times. So, I write from experience, even if it's just the experience of being in the studio and what people say triggers me. I'm like, "Oh, yeah, I did want to talk about that. That's crazy you even mentioned that word. That word triggered me to go into thinking about this other shit." So yeah, it's energy. I love the energy.
Did you ever feel like there might've been a world where you would've been affiliated with a group for most of your career rather than being a solo emcee?
I think it's dope to be in a group and strengthen numbers. My groups? The first one fell apart by no fault of my own. And so, I was kind of on a path, so I basically always had to make my teams. Xzibit had the Likwit Crew, Saafir was Hobo Junction. They already had cliques. Even with the HRSMN, at the end of the day, Canibus was with Wyclef and Lauryn Hill and Lost Boys. He could go on tour and run with his squad and they were superstars. The Fugees went diamond, never get it fucked up. With Kurupt, as soon as Snoop would say, “We going on tour, Dogg Pound,” he was out. I never had that.
Finding a friend out of a clique that I'm socializing with, I'm cool with people, but I always tended to make a friend somewhere and then that'd just be my bro. So then maybe my bro in that other clique and I would be like, "Well, why don't we just do some stuff together?" It was always just me organically having my friend who maybe I was closer to within different cliques is how we would make up these little mini groups.
What are you hoping that your listeners get out of Leopard Eats Face when they listen to it?
Good question. It's an experience. I think it's an emcee’s album. Hopefully, it's an indication and a direction and it gets some degree of support because I want a sustainable fan base with 500 to 1000 people coming out [to shows]. I don't need the Coliseum, but everything needs to be supported. I always say, "If you like Royce 5’9”, you'll love Ras Kass. If you like Eminem, you should like Ras Kass. If you like Nas, you'll like Ras Kass. If you like Kendrick Lamar, you'll like Ras Kass. If you like Common, you'll like Ras Kass. So, what the fuck is the disconnect? Buy my shit, support my shit too.
Country Western, pop and jazz still exist. So, people with this either/or dichotomy with fucking rap is stupid. Again, support me too. I hope they have a great experience, understand that there's whatever Big Three or Top Five or all that bullshit. There's a lot of amazing talented people and we do need to be supported. So, I feel like this, and this is not a disrespect, but if 10 million people can buy Drake’s music, how come 200,000 of them can't turn around and support the n***a that ain't Drake?
Were you expecting “Mapogo Lions” from FAFO to be used in the opening credits of Dave Chappelle’s Unstoppable special?
They had to talk to us and we had to do paperwork and all that. I was able to chop it, see Chappelle. He showed me the special before it came out, showed me the intro. I'm like, "Fuck, that's amazing, bro. This is a great opportunity."
Did Chappelle tell you what drew him to that song?
When the FAFO project came out, apparently, his friend in Ohio, who's a local DJ, I believe a white kid too, was playing this shit. And Dave heard it and was like, "What the fuck is that?" Then they said he just played it fucking 25 times in a row after that. It just resonated with him because of something that his mom said to him when he was a kid. The goal of music is to either inspire you or make you reminisce or whatever that is, or cry or you remember how you feel about loving this girl, whatever. But it hit him and resonated with him.
He walked out to it when he did this surprise thing. He wasn't even going to film it in DC, and then he was just like, "I just felt some type of way." It was at the last minute, ordered cameras in the thing and did it. He said, "I came out to that shit. They went crazy, like they knew this motherfucker." I'm like, "They ain't never heard this song." He's like, "That shit is banging. It's dope. It's got the right energy." And I was like, "Thank you, bro."
It was really nice, especially with that kind of platform, that he gave us a shot. I'm grateful. He gave me a great gift. We put ”Mapogo Lions” on as a bonus song on Leopard Eats Face now. It's been given one of the greatest platforms, like damn near Super Bowl shit. They actually played it at the end of the Jake Paul fight too. Netflix picked it up too. They looked out for us.
So, your song was the soundtrack to Jake Paul getting his ass beat?
Yeah, it was great. It was a win-win that night for me.
So, we always ask the artists we interview to share their top five albums of all time. What are yours?
Yeah, I can't do five of all time. I've tried to come up with five that really mean a lot to me. I think Ice Cube’s AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted. It was like the perfect marriage of East and West at the time. Cutting edge, Cube talking that shit, being a lyricist and being sociopolitical and being gangsta. With The Bomb Squad and Sir Jinx. Awesome. Just amazing.
Nas’s Illmatic. I think OutKast’s ATLiens is an amazing album. I love that album. I think Clipse’s Let God Sort ’Em Out is really dope. That first song hits different. Talking about their mom? That shit's crazy. So, I'm going to get in that. And then I love Duran Duran’s Rio.
Pre-order Leopard Eats Face via Bandcamp.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited from the original transcript for length and clarity.
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