RIP, KASEEM RYAN

Hip-Hop Auteur Passes On

The world lost an inspirational hip-hop preacher/teacher last week. I only discovered the Brooklyn-based minimalistic rapper Ka in 2022 via two brilliant albums, both released in the same year, Languish Arts—10 songs and 28 minutes of pure sonic, sparse brilliance—and the equally compelling Woeful Studies—10 songs and 26 minutes. He released nine albums starting in 2011, with his dynamic debut, Iron Works. While my lack of interest in hip-hop pretty much stopped in the '90s, except for the occasional album or track from Snoop, Kendrick, Chance the Rapper, Tyler, the Creator, Kanye, Madlib, or Jay-Z would grab my attention and make a playlist or best-of compilation. But the first time I heard KA, I knew he was someone to be reckoned with. He jumped to the top of my "must-listen" lists. Born Kaseem Ryan in Brownsville, he was a rapper, producer, and firefighter who truly gave back to his community. His music is a history lesson of the black experience and struggles in America, as relevant and distinctive as a wordsmith as Chuck D (Public Enemy) and Gil Scott Heron before him.

"My music is for those who miss early '90s hip-hop when pain and struggle were the dominant themes". Ka

As referenced above, he released two exceptional albums in 2022. His songs are short bursts of brilliance with jazz, spoken word soundbites, and avant-garde minimalism. Sometimes, it's just the cadence of his world-weary voice holding down the beat with upright bass, piano, flute, Ebow sample, or harp. It's all about the space that lets his words float, sting, and sink in. While I gravitated to the undeniable Languish Arts and his haunting track "Ascension" (video above), his other album from that year, Woeful Studies, is equally worthwhile. Check out the blues-infused "We Hurting" from that album. 

Moreover, last month, he released the "gospel"-inspired The Thief Next to Jesus. It was already gaining critical acclaim and social media buzz before his death, no doubt fueled by fourteen-tone poems focusing on the church's hypocrisy and the sway it still holds over many black Americans. (I suspect it will make many critics' "Best of 2024" lists.)

RIP, Kaseem Ryan. Though you unexpectedly passed on at age 58, your legacy shall endure.