Ras Kass Back To Work After Prison Stretch

Troubled rapper RAS KASS is back at work following his release from prison last month (May09) - insisting his time behind bars has given him the determination to drive his career to the next level.

The West Coast MC, real name John Austin IV, was incarcerated in 2007 after ignoring the rules of his parole and flying to Atlanta, Georgia to attend the BET Awards.

The trouble stems from a previous driving under the influence (DUI) charge in Las Vegas.

He was freed on 29 May (09) and admits he has been using his prison time learning about the business side of the music industry to give his rap career a boost.

He tells AllHipHop.com, "Part of the problem that has held (me) back is having the right team, the right marketing, the right company behind him for him to be able to do the same things as other talented people such as Outkast or T.I. or Nas or Jay-Z or Eminem. I don’t need to write a rap. I’m good at that. So I wanted to focus on the business.The goal is 90 per cent business and 10 per cent music. If the business isn’t right, the music’s always gonna suffer."

And Kass is adamant rumours of his imminent retirement are totally untrue, adding: "It’s my passion. I’m not retired, it’s just I have to reassess, even before this situation happened, what needs to be done.”