REVIEW: Ka, Descendants of Cain

Ka, Descendants of Cain (Iron Works)

If you were as disappointed by Jay Electronica’s debut album as most of the world was when it dropped in March (just in time for the apocalypse), maybe Ka’s newest will help feed your hunger for lo-fi, heady rap introspection that the former’s heavily Hov-assisted bomb left in the wake of its vast, empty nothingness. The comparison may seem unfair, especially since Ka has had the benefit of actually putting albums out in the last decade instead of, you know, just talking about them. Many seemed to expect the second coming of Elec’s earliest stream-of-thought YouTube efforts. The superiority of Ka’s resonance over ghostly drums and sparse samples here is anything but void, which can’t be said for the former, disappointingly enough. Whereas both rappers are in their late 40s, Ka fully brings to life his own take on what mature hip hop can offer the listener — in this case, substance and style without pomp and ego. Cain kills with sheer ability. 8/10 Trial Track: “Solitude of Enoch”

For more about Ka, please visit his website.

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