The concept of religious blasphemy isn't all that prevalent in our secular society, nor are there many things we'd even consider to be too risqué for discussion these days. But to Ras Kass, there are still levels of truth and reality society finds it uncomfortable to touch on, and he's teamed up with producer Apollo Brown to push a number of such topics — from historical and religious facts about his own descendants to twisted tales about coked-up, drug-running magazine models — out into the open. Sonically, the first three songs on Blasphemy tell you pretty much what you can expect in terms of Brown's production here, which relies upon a sustained formula of sample-based soul melodies that build out from a repetitive vocal loop a few too many times to maintain the freshness they first burst in with at the beginning of the record.
Ras Kass, for his part, finds varying degrees of success at keeping things interesting, bouncing from the knowledge imparted on cuts like "How To Kill God" and "Humble Pi" to a tale of an open, bi-sexual relationship on "Too Much Of A Good Thing" and the pussy-colour-as-unified-human-race metaphor dealt on "Strawberry." The West Coast MC's cleverness comes and goes, but the album's production doesn't carry the load through the dryer spells.
(Mello Music Group)Ras Kass, for his part, finds varying degrees of success at keeping things interesting, bouncing from the knowledge imparted on cuts like "How To Kill God" and "Humble Pi" to a tale of an open, bi-sexual relationship on "Too Much Of A Good Thing" and the pussy-colour-as-unified-human-race metaphor dealt on "Strawberry." The West Coast MC's cleverness comes and goes, but the album's production doesn't carry the load through the dryer spells.