A Martyr's Reward

The 49-year-old Brownsville rapper cuts a mythic figure: Raised on the mean streets of ’70s Brooklyn, he now splits his time between being a NYC fire captain and crafting dense rap allegories that touch on Greek mythology and the code of the samurai. But on *A Martyr’s Reward*, Ka strips down everything—the mythology, the production—to tell his own story, unembellished, over hauntingly minimalist (and mostly self-produced) beats. But it isn’t just his story; it’s the story of surviving being Black in America—or, in the cases of too many of his friends, not surviving. And on “I Need All That,” he demands retribution: “I want back everything they took/My culture, my music, my look.”

One of rap’s most inventive stylists surfaces from his memories to reflect on himself and his vocation, transforming his latest record into a searing, soulful gem in his catalog.

Brooklyn rapper Ka proves he's holding an immense power on A Martyr's Reward

Though he remains on the fringes of hip-hop, Brownsville, Brooklyn's Ka has never felt more relevant.