原名John Austin的Ras Kass出生在西海岸的California，他将一位非洲法老的名字Ras Kass作为自己的艺名，从小热爱阅读的他，有着出众的语言功底，因而他的歌词总是那么富有思想性。他是因为他和The Game的斗殴事件（比The Game矮一头的他狠狠的教训了The Game）。但别以为他只是靠这些负面新闻赚人气的明星，他的freestyle也一直为人所津津乐道，再加上奇特的慢拍BEAT，他形成了自己的风格。但一直游离于地下的他并没有受到主流的过多关注，虽然出过几张不错的专辑，但一直没有大红大紫，他似乎也没有迎合主流之意，依旧我行我素。\r \r Rapper Ras Kass was born John Austin in Watts, CA; a voracious reader throughout his youth, he adopted his stage name in honor of the African king Ras Rass. After releasing a pair of independent singles, Ras Kass emerged as one of the most highly regarded new rappers in some time, winning particular acclaim for his skills as a lyricist (in the space of six months, he twice earned Rap Pages magazine's Rhyme of the Month award as well as The Source's Hip Hop Quotable honor); his long-awaited debut LP, Soul on Ice, finally appeared on Priority Records in 1996. Rasassination followed two years later.