Ras Kass rose above his various legal problems and label snags to put together INSTITUTIONALIZED VOL.2, one of the tightest rap albums of the year. With a formidable combination of street knowledge, book smarts, poetic sensibility, and pent-up aggression, Ras speaks from a conspiracy theorist’s point of view, relentlessly attacking Capitol Records, the U.S. government, and religious extremism. The beats are appropriately hardcore and anti-pop as the West Coast mic assassin rips tracks by Ski, Tony Rock, Sega, Domino, and Blue Sky Black Death. Ras picks apart the behind-the-scenes politics of the music industry in a furious lyrical tirade on “Behind the Musick,” rocks over a familiar Black Sabbath sample on “Ironman Thug,” and takes umbrage with ground previously covered by Killah Priest on “B.I.B.L.E.”--a track likely to offend his HRSMN cohort.