the Ka thread

General hip-hop discussion.

Moderators: TheBigSleep, stype_ones, Philaflava

Blockhead
I made Daylight, yo!
Posts: 15357
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:10 am
Location: nyc
Contact:

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Blockhead »

drizzle wrote:I'd be curious to hear Block's perspective as a producer here. I feel like Ka's beats have stepped up on this album, but has he actually improved in a technical sense as a producer or is he just picking really awesome samples to use.
I mean, dude finds the illest loops. There's no question. He doesn't do much to them beyond mild chopping and taking a few parts from each song. I think his ear had gotten better with each album. And this new one seems to be following in the steps of what preservation did on Yen lo, which is a good thing cause I think that was his best produced album.
So, on a technical level, he's not really doing much but he's more about an overall sound (like Doom, in a way) than a dude who makes beats. At the end of the day, a good loop will always work, especially with Ka's whole vibe.

drizzle
Awesome Vatican Assassin
Posts: 55482
Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2005 2:55 pm
Location: where people throw ducks at balloons and nothing is as it seems

Re: the Ka thread

Post by drizzle »

thanks, pretty much what I thought but I have 0 tech knowledge of producing and am tone deaf to boot so I'm always second guessing this kind of stuff
http://www.steadybloggin.com - some of these are my thoughts yo

Tired & Broke
Posts: 3720
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2006 2:38 am
Location: Bible Belt Misery
Contact:

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Tired & Broke »

This shit is comedy :lol:
This shit made me respect KA even more

Image
http://nypost.com/2016/08/21/fdny-veter ... as-rapper/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A Brooklyn-based FDNY captain leads a double life as a hip-hop artist whose songs are peppered with the N-word, drugs, violence and anti-cop lyrics.

“F- -k them cops and swats with night vision,” he raps under the stage name Ka in a 2013 song. “I see your traps and your plots to dead us, y’all rolling with Kojaks, n- - -a, I got Berettas.”

In his other life, the gravelly voiced rapper is Kaseem Ryan, 44, a veteran firefighter who commands Engine Co. 235 in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Modal Trigger
Capt. Kaseem Ryan, far right, sitting with FDNY comrades.Photo: Facebook

But Ka, who has rapped with the Wu Tang Clan’s GZA and whose 2013 album, “The Night’s Gambit,” made The Village Voice’s year-end list of best records, has tried to hide that career for years.

“I’m living two lives, man. I’m trying to be who I am in the day and then trying to feed my soul at night with being the artist that I want to be,” Ka said in a 2015 interview, without revealing his FDNY job.

The rapper is on Twitter as @BrownsvilleKa, projecting street cred and an anti-cop image.

In 2012, he tweeted: “Name 5 different slang words we refer to police in hip hop.” Responses included: jakes, pigs, swine, fuzz and them bitches. Ka “liked” them all.

Some NYPD members were disgusted that a fellow first responder could utter such language.

“The biases he portrays through his music are indicative of what he believes or feels,” said Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association.

“As a New York City firefighter, he should be trying to bring people together rather than fracture relationships, especially in communities of color.”

Reached at his firehouse, Ryan hung up the phone.

Modal Trigger

Ka’s lyrics describe ghetto life, a world of guns, dope and despair.

“You named them hustlers, killers, fiends, ex-cons. I called them cousins, aunts, pops, moms,” he raps on 2014’s “To Hull and Back.”

The song “Mr. Officer” bemoans police brutality against black youths. “Why do you wanna see me in a coffin, sir?” he asks.

Ka says he grew up poor, with 17 people crowded into his grandparents’ Brownsville house. His current life is far less gritty.

He made $148,558 as a fire captain last year, while selling rec­ords, CDs and T-shirts on his Web site. He and his wife, Michelle Valdez, chief creative officer for an entertainment firm founded by Pharrell Williams, own a $1.25 million brownstone in Park Slope.

Few fellow FDNYers know Ryan as a rapper. “I had no idea he was doing that on the side,” one said. “He’s really not a bad guy. But he shouldn’t be bad-mouthing cops.”

unclebengi
Posts: 3053
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2009 10:10 pm

Re: the Ka thread

Post by unclebengi »

Wow...Leaves me speechless reading that, obviously he's the man, but the way that is reported is so fuckng strange

Piff Tannen
Posts: 7000
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2004 3:12 am
Location: Mango City
Contact:

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Piff Tannen »

yeah, i mean if you dont spin it that way tho, then it reads as 'rapper has day job and raps at night'

Rhyme 4 Rhyme
Posts: 748
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2010 5:35 pm
Location: NJ

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Rhyme 4 Rhyme »

I bought that paper this morning, but didn't read it. Didn't even realize it was him. That's crazy. I knew he was a fire fighter just through some of his lyrics and shit he's said in interviews, but feel like he's always kind of dodged talking about it. That's crazy. Gotta read the article now.

Just fuckin read the excerpt now, that's really fucked up the Post did that to him.

User avatar
Philaflava
King of The DPB'rs
Posts: 81361
Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2003 12:37 am
Contact:

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Philaflava »

Got me thinking Ka didn't really need my $13 bucks now. Post did him dirt.

DLG
Posts: 12482
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:27 am

Re: the Ka thread

Post by DLG »

http://image.prntscr.com/image/aa3028c1 ... 3c6869.png" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ardamus
O.G. Status
Posts: 33235
Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 2:53 pm
Contact:

Re: the Ka thread

Post by ardamus »

yeah Susan Edelman did him dirty in that article. fuck her and the NY Post for that.
"tim dog! i hope he's scamming bitches in heaven.." - EichTurner

DJCommunist
Posts: 1470
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:23 pm

Re: the Ka thread

Post by DJCommunist »

Awful journalism. El-p nailed it

sleazy_j
Posts: 2721
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2006 1:55 am

Re: the Ka thread

Post by sleazy_j »

drizzle wrote: am tone deaf to boot
probably not.

http://www.singingwood.com/tone-deaf/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ardamus wrote:yeah Susan Edelman did him dirty in that article. fuck her and the NY Post for that.
it seems this lady has a thing for rescue workers. she tried "exposing" racist tweets from an EMT worker back in 2013.

http://www.poynter.org/2013/n-y-post-re ... mt/208811/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Brougham33
Posts: 9571
Joined: Sat Mar 20, 2004 12:06 pm

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Brougham33 »

Disgusting article. Hopefully know blowback for him, but this is what he said 3 years ago in an interview about his job situation:

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/ka-will-not-give-up-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You know, a job is a job. That’s what I do to eat. I don’t make music that I can afford to eat off. That’s what it is. I have to work to do music that I love. If the two ever meet, the two meet. But I’ll be retiring, I’m fortunate enough that I can retire soon and I can continue to do the music. Maybe the two will never meet. My job will end some day, but the music will not.

Cryptic One
Posts: 1364
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:53 am
Location: Brooklyn

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Cryptic One »

article is fucking ridiculous on every level... what a shitty human being to write such garbage
He made $148,558 as a fire captain last year, while selling rec­ords, CDs and T-shirts on his Web site. He and his wife, Michelle Valdez, chief creative officer for an entertainment firm founded by Pharrell Williams, own a $1.25 million brownstone in Park Slope.

Lies... no such thing as a $1.25 million brownstone in Park Slope in 2016... you'd be VERY lucky to get a 2 bedroom co-op for 1.25 mil

User avatar
CarlosDelgothoes
Posts: 852
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2015 1:29 am

Re: the Ka thread

Post by CarlosDelgothoes »

best pub he's had in years.

drizzle
Awesome Vatican Assassin
Posts: 55482
Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2005 2:55 pm
Location: where people throw ducks at balloons and nothing is as it seems

Re: the Ka thread

Post by drizzle »

CarlosDelgothoes wrote:best pub he's had in years.
yes something that could potentially loose you a job you had for decades as well as the pension that goes with it is great publicity. the fact that his music was routinely favorably covered by the same outlets now defending him was all peanuts compared to getting his name smeared by a race-baiting tabloid.
http://www.steadybloggin.com - some of these are my thoughts yo

User avatar
CarlosDelgothoes
Posts: 852
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2015 1:29 am

Re: the Ka thread

Post by CarlosDelgothoes »

drizzle wrote: yes something that could potentially loose you a job you had for decades as well as the pension that goes with it is great publicity.
hi there, I'm a union.
drizzle wrote: the fact that his music was routinely favorably covered by the same outlets now defending him was all peanuts compared to getting his name smeared by a race-baiting tabloid.
pg 67 review by dat wigga Chaz Kangas versus front cover underneath Johnny Depp

User avatar
Kobe Bryant's Lazy Eye
Posts: 144
Joined: Mon May 09, 2011 10:42 pm
Location: Louisville, KY

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Kobe Bryant's Lazy Eye »

CarlosDelgothoes wrote:
drizzle wrote: yes something that could potentially loose you a job you had for decades as well as the pension that goes with it is great publicity.
hi there, I'm a union.
drizzle wrote: the fact that his music was routinely favorably covered by the same outlets now defending him was all peanuts compared to getting his name smeared by a race-baiting tabloid.
pg 67 review by dat wigga Chaz Kangas versus front cover underneath Johnny Depp

colin kaepernick is currently in a union

Spartan
Posts: 12800
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2004 9:29 am
Location: The Slaughtered Lamb
Contact:

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Spartan »

Enjoying the new album. Not as good as the Dr. Yen Lo one, though.

User avatar
EMCEE DARTH MALEK
Posts: 9714
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:51 am

Re: the Ka thread

Post by EMCEE DARTH MALEK »

In reddit hiphopheads people are calling ka the GOAT
1. Nas
2. Drake

that's pretty much it fam.

drizzle
Awesome Vatican Assassin
Posts: 55482
Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2005 2:55 pm
Location: where people throw ducks at balloons and nothing is as it seems

Re: the Ka thread

Post by drizzle »

EMCEE DARTH MALEK wrote:In reddit hiphopheads people are calling ka the GOAT
Image
http://www.steadybloggin.com - some of these are my thoughts yo

Blockhead
I made Daylight, yo!
Posts: 15357
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:10 am
Location: nyc
Contact:

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Blockhead »

I was talking to a friend about that the other day. He was like "can you think of another artist who's had a four album run like KA?"
Obviously, personal taste is gonna dictate how ridiculous you think that claim is but , regardless, his last 4 albums have all been pretty fantastic.
I didn't really agree with his GOAT status cause it's a different era, a relatively short time period and his sound , as original and great as it is, is pretty one dimensional. But his consistency is pretty undeniable.

sleazy_j
Posts: 2721
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2006 1:55 am

Re: the Ka thread

Post by sleazy_j »

EMCEE DARTH MALEK wrote:In reddit hiphopheads people are calling kaNYE the GOAT
yeah, they're a bit much.

User avatar
Versive
Posts: 5102
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 7:01 pm
Location: Long Island
Contact:

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Versive »

Blockhead wrote:I was talking to a friend about that the other day. He was like "can you think of another artist who's had a four album run like KA?"
Obviously, personal taste is gonna dictate how ridiculous you think that claim is but , regardless, his last 4 albums have all been pretty fantastic.
I didn't really agree with his GOAT status cause it's a different era, a relatively short time period and his sound , as original and great as it is, is pretty one dimensional. But his consistency is pretty undeniable.
Doom is the only other artist I can think of who's released so many high-quality projects over such a short period. I'd consider his run better for a number of reasons, but yea, the point stands.

User avatar
Philaflava
King of The DPB'rs
Posts: 81361
Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2003 12:37 am
Contact:

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Philaflava »

Your boy Spekt is having a nice run tho too. Marci had it if you factor in Marcberg + Ice Cream Man + Reloaded, but 4 is hard to top.

ardamus
O.G. Status
Posts: 33235
Joined: Sat Feb 01, 2003 2:53 pm
Contact:

Re: the Ka thread

Post by ardamus »

Any update on KA's job situation? Hope he didn't catch an L over this.
"tim dog! i hope he's scamming bitches in heaven.." - EichTurner

User avatar
EMCEE DARTH MALEK
Posts: 9714
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:51 am

Re: the Ka thread

Post by EMCEE DARTH MALEK »

Not yet, but it's gonna be pretty tense at the annual police vs fire dept rugby game.
1. Nas
2. Drake

that's pretty much it fam.

User avatar
Versive
Posts: 5102
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 7:01 pm
Location: Long Island
Contact:

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Versive »

Philaflava wrote:Your boy Spekt is having a nice run tho too. Marci had it if you factor in Marcberg + Ice Cream Man + Reloaded, but 4 is hard to top.
Yeah, I was going to say Marciano too. But I don't know that Pimpire and Marci Beaucoup will be perceived as borderline classics in the way that all the DOOM and Ka projects from their respective runs are. Then again, I'd probably take Pimpire over Night's Gambit.

Spekt is in his own lane really. Shit drops sporadically years after being announced; there's a classic EP that he purposely took down from the Internet with no intention of re-posting; his latest is one of the best albums of the year, but on the day of its release he also dropped an unmixed collaboration with a DOOM associate who sounds drunk on every track. It's a different discussion altogether.

Rhyme 4 Rhyme
Posts: 748
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2010 5:35 pm
Location: NJ

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Rhyme 4 Rhyme »

Blockhead wrote:I was talking to a friend about that the other day. He was like "can you think of another artist who's had a four album run like KA?"
Obviously, personal taste is gonna dictate how ridiculous you think that claim is but , regardless, his last 4 albums have all been pretty fantastic.
I didn't really agree with his GOAT status cause it's a different era, a relatively short time period and his sound , as original and great as it is, is pretty one dimensional. But his consistency is pretty undeniable.
Like him a lot and appreciate all four of these albums, but disagree. Ghost and Doom's run come to mind first.
Versive wrote:Yeah, I was going to say Marciano too. But I don't know that Pimpire and Marci Beaucoup will be perceived as borderline classics in the way that all the DOOM and Ka projects from their respective runs are. Then again, I'd probably take Pimpire over Night's Gambit.

Spekt is in his own lane really. Shit drops sporadically years after being announced; there's a classic EP that he purposely took down from the Internet with no intention of re-posting; his latest is one of the best albums of the year, but on the day of its release he also dropped an unmixed collaboration with a DOOM associate who sounds drunk on every track. It's a different discussion altogether.
I'm not sure I'd call any of Ka's classics. Closest I'd say is Grief Pedigree, but I don't know if I'd consider that a classic. Great album though.

User avatar
EMCEE DARTH MALEK
Posts: 9714
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:51 am

Re: the Ka thread

Post by EMCEE DARTH MALEK »

Ka is just a shitty version of roc marci
1. Nas
2. Drake

that's pretty much it fam.

Blockhead
I made Daylight, yo!
Posts: 15357
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:10 am
Location: nyc
Contact:

Re: the Ka thread

Post by Blockhead »

EMCEE DARTH MALEK wrote:Ka is just a shitty version of roc marci
Other than the both having similar taste in beats (AKA not fans of drums) and neither of them yell when they rap, they literally rap nothing alike. You just think Ka is boring and that's okay but you point is total horse shit.

Post Reply