Ka, the beloved Brooklyn underground rapper, producer, and firefighter born Kaseem Ryan, has died. In a statement posted to his Instagram account, his family revealed that he passed away unexpectedly in New York on Saturday. No cause of death has been disclosed. Ka was 52.
“Born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Ka lived a life of service—to his city, to his community, and to his music,” the statement continued. “As a 20-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department, he put his life on the line to protect his fellow citizens. Ka rose to the rank of FDNY captain and was a first responder on September 11, 2001 during the attacks on the World Trade Center. He leaves an extraordinary legacy as a recording artist, including eleven remarkable self-released solo albums. Ka is survived by his wife, mother and sister. We kindly ask the privacy of Ka’s family and loved ones be respected as they grieve this incalculable loss.”
Known for his thoughtful, carefully constructed lyricism, minimalist beats, and consistently DIY approach, Ka began his career in the 1990s as a member of the underground hip-hop group Natural Elements along with L Swift, Howie Smalls, Mr. Voodoo, the InTIMidator, and G-Blass. Believing he was less skilled than his groupmates, he left the group and teamed up with rapper Kev to form Nightbreed, releasing the 12″ ‘2 Roads Out the Ghetto’ in 1998.
Ka became a firefighter in 1999, eventually working his way up to captain. The rapper discussed his occupation in a 2013 interview with Complex, saying, “I have a full time job and I work all the time. I try to keep that kinda low. I just have a job. It ain’t my calling or nothing. It’s just my job. But I love my job because it gives me the freedom to do the art. I feel like if I didn’t have a job, that’s when I would have to compromise myself a little bit more.”
Ten years after the Nightbreed single, Ka released his first solo album, Iron Works, and appeared on the GZA song ‘Firehouse’. Between 2008 and today, Ka self-released nine albums, often strongly conceptual in nature and incisively tackling subjects such as religion, philosophy, and history. 2016’s Honor Killed the Samurai paralleled New York’s street culture with feudal Japan, while 2018’s Orpheus vs. the Sirens saw him collaborating with producer Animoss and adopting the pseudonym Hermit and the Recluse to examine stories from his youth through the lens of Greek mythology. His work became more biblically focused in the 2020s, including 2020’s Descendants of Cain, 2021’s A Martyr’s Reward, and 2022’s Languish Arts and Woeful Studies. His final album, The Thief Next to Jesus, came out in August.
In a 2015 interview with Passion of the Weiss, Ka was asked about one of the final lines in Days With Dr. Yen Lo, his collaboration with Preservation based on the film The Manchurian Candidate: “Now destiny is one death for me, not a thousand.” He explained, “Have you ever heard the phrase ‘a coward dies a thousand deaths’? You’re so scared to do something that you die in that fear. I have no fear of the things that a lot of people are afraid of. I lived that live. The things that people are scared of because they may get hurt or even die, I don’t have those issues. That’s what that line meant for me. When I die, it will be the first and only time that I die. Although I never like to tell people exactly what to think of my music. This piece of art we’re looking at right now, I don’t have instructions for people how to look at it. You get from it what you get.”
