Ka: The Descendants Of Cain | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

Ka is the quintessential New York MC. A fire captain by day, his spoken word poetry is innately nocturnal. Wisdom delivered and derived from the street corner, mumbled flows muffling the significance of what's held within. The forty-seven-year-old Brownswood rapper, real name Kaseem Ryan, writes what he's lived, through an allegoric lens. Ka's soft-spoken strings of quotable couplets compared the ghetto's grey morality to that of a Japanese warrior on Honor Killed The Samurai, and drew parallels of his plights to Greek mythos with Orpheus vs the Sirens. The latter project sought production from frequent collaborator Preservation while the former was self-produced, both leaned on samples to match Ka's tales from the cinematic to the austere.

For his seventh full-length Kaseem takes his pen to the Bible, the OG of allegories, examining sins and legacy on Descendants of Cain. My aforementioned favourite Ka LPs have been peppered with lyrical references to the subject matter through constant metaphor and punchline, but not so much here. Christianity is more of a moral mindset for Ka to write in, stemming from the title itself, Descendants of Cain, a phrase already loaded with allusions to the history of African-American oppression. Don't expect any Kanye-esque preaching of values, if there is a God then Ka has questions for him.

Now there's a reason I'm skirting around specifics, and it's also the main critique many have of Ryan as an MC. Having reviewed Ka's past few projects, almost nothing would change about my aesthetic description of his music. The beats might have trended away from boom-bap to match the somber tone Ka clearly feels comfortable with, but it's all broadly the same at surface level. Given that, my question then turns to theme, and whether this new avenue of inspiration is enough to recommend Cain over Kaseem's numerous other quality projects.

All that aside, the answer is a fairly confident yes. Ka's abstracted points of reference make for an understated listen that unfolds gradually through thematic suggestion. Sins of the Father sees Ka, along with Descendent's sole feature Roc Marciano, begging for society's acquittal as they're "still payin' for the sins of my father". Elsewhere, he takes time on P.R.A.Y to recount past hardships and beg the lord "may we Please Receive Any Yield". I've never heard 'christian rap' done like this and, pardon the pun but, it's true testament to Ryan's writing talent that he's still able to reframe experiences with this much depth.

With each release, Ka seems to further eschew the sound of traditional hip-hop while wholly embodying its ethos. He's your favourite rapper's favourite rapper, and an underground legend at this point. If predictability is an Achilles heel, at least his albums are all easy to recommend. Pick the theme which intrigues you most and pull up a lyric sheet, there's plenty to mull over.

- Boddhi Farmer.
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