In 2016 the conservative-leaning New York Post surpassed Kaseem Ryan's career as a New York City firefighter, in which he was a first responder on 9/11 and rose to the rank of captain. You see, the Position disgusted with the “anti-cop” rhetoric in his raps and felt the need to lift the veil on the rapper known as Ka, one of the genre's most mysterious figures.
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Ka approached rap music differently than his peers. He produced most of his songs and music videos, often during his time away from saving lives as a firefighter. His words seemed brutal, humble, calm and wise all at the same time. His beats evoked a cold winter's night when the only people out were revelers and night revelers looking for that last fix before the sun came up and the block warmed up again. He would host pop-ups to sell his latest albums and meet his fans. Most of the time the only way to hear his music was to go to his website and buy it directly from him. And he would handle every online order himself. He was truly a man of the people and for the people, and he believed in the sanctity of hip-hop to its core.
In 2012, while sitting with Out Da Box TVKa explained his creative process and how he felt about the state of hip-hop at the time. “I am a purist. To me hip-hop is a beautiful art form that I feel like is not respected as such right now,” he said before making a small parody of the non-rhyming trend popularized by acts Jay-Z and Lil Wayne. “I was offended about all that shit,” he added. “Holy, B, it takes time to sculpt. [The] The Sistine Chapel was not completed [on] how fast could you do it? shit took years. David wasn't sculpted, you know, “Yeah, I did it in a day.” There is no time for art. When I do a verse, it takes me a long time to do the verse, and when it comes to the verse, I speak from a lifetime of experiences. It took me a lifetime to write it.”
His approach was as profound as his music. There are lines from his work that stick with you. In the song “I'm ready” from his 2013 album The Knight's Gambittowards the end of the chorus he raps, “If judged by a scale, I pray my justice is heavy/ I'm ready, I'm ready” in his cracked voice as if he's already facing the prospect of what awaits him beyond this life. I'd say his justice was heavy indeed, judging by the outpouring of kind words from his peers and fans. Frequent collaborator and half of their band Metal Clergy, Roc Marciano called Ka The “big brother” and his “guardian angel”. He was summoned by the Alchemist “a living prophet.” Fans posted photos of him with him at his pop-ups and mentioned how approachable and friendly he was.
His art resonated with people because they felt the effort he put in and the pain he held inside. Sure, he was a captain for the FDNY, but he grew up in Brownsville during the crack era and seemed to work with survivor's remorse in his music. “I wanted them to know that what I'm giving you is personal,” he said in the same Out Da Box interview. “This is blood I am giving you. I'm not spitting that, that's blood. I needed them to know, to appreciate, that if you don't hear a lot from me, it's because I'm pulling a lot from me and I'm actually putting a lot of energy into giving you these songs. So I just want you to appreciate it.”
And we did.
An artist like Ka wasn't defined by numbers or trophies — he was defined by art, by culture, by people. In an interview with Passion of Weisshe talked about two lives and what he wanted his legacy to be. “I live two lives, man. I try to be who I am during the day and then I try to feed my soul at night by being the artist I want to be,” he told the report. “I want to respect the culture and give back what it gave me. The reason I'm alive right now is because of hip-hop.
He continued about the music that saved his life: “It made me want to be a smarter person. It made me want to read so I would write better rhymes. It was so important to me. It gave me a boost. I wanted to be the best MC ever. Hip hop doesn't have a museum like that yet, but if we do, I want to be a wing. I wanna be my own f-king room, the Ka room here. “When he did it, it wasn't very light, but yeah, we went back and checked it out, that was incredible” — that's what I want. Van Gogh, disrespected, cut off his ear and later committed suicide. This man was not known until years after his death – he had to know what he was while he was alive.'
Ka leaves this life behind as one of the best rappers of his time and an even better person. It is our duty now to continue to tell his story and bring people to his music so that it may live on forever.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/ka-obituary-dead-1235803235/
