The Night's Gambit
A hip-hop veteran hailing from Brooklyn\'s Brownsville neighborhood, KA got his start in the early \'90s with underground favorites Natural Elements. In recent years he\'s made a major comeback, releasing several high-quality, self-produced albums that have won him props from such disparate sources as Okayplayer, NPR, *Rolling Stone*, and Pitchfork. Rocking a distinctly raspy, almost-whispered flow, he lays down an advanced assortment of autobiographical rhymes that address his appreciation for true hip-hop (\"Off the Record\"), nightly shenanigans in the city (\"Knighthood\"), and the inevitabilities of middle age (\"Our Father\"). As with last year\'s excellent *Grief Pedigree*, the beats here are extremely understated and minimal: just sparse drums sprinkled with darkly atmospheric loops to set the mood. Roc Marciano lends a hand on \"Soap Box,\" but other than that it\'s all KA, delivering a low-key avalanche of storytelling verses that also touch on chess, religion, and the sometimes grim realities of BK.
The Brooklyn-based MC comes into his own on his third album. It's hard to separate the stark tone of Ka's voice and narrative from the equally stark mood music he embeds it in. As a rapper/producer, he has that finely-tuned awareness of how a track works from every angle.
Ever since Goodie Mob's Soul Food, there's been a steady decline in the subject of spirituality within hip-hop.