Ka is a Drumless De Niro???? "Languish Arts" review

[@Terrapin47-s8y]

the drums get taken out to fit the mood of the song and also so you hear the words clearly especially when its someone like KA. The words are powerful, you don't want them surrounded by drums, and the songs are not exciting songs, and on some level, percussion instruments are inherently exciting. Something hitting something means action, which is exciting. KA doesn't want that. Hip-hop started as an exciting, fun, high energy thing, but then it evolved to accommodate other emotions which took away/go against some elements at its origins.

[@will_cashgrow2294]

Facts...and...when it comes to KA, we didn't come for the instrumentals. We come for the lyrics/pure poetry

[@dadorage1695]

Drumless makes it so that Ka is liked for who he is, a grim, melancholic poet. People say they like lyricism but when you give them exactly that, they complain about the lack of drums because they only like lyricism only if it's palatable, popular or sugar coated with hard drums that don't even fit the content. There is no way Ka can ever be boring if you care about what people are saying.

[@will_cashgrow2294]

@@dadorage1695 your 1,000,000 percent correct 👏

[@markushakala2113]

​@w..nin.m 40:57 minglnill_cashgrow2294

[@liddellsmohawk4284]

Thanks for the reviews, here's some to get that woeful studies review. And WAV files are HIGH QUALITY music files. Play them in a media player, do not "rip" them to KZbin and destroy sound quality. This is simple stuff a hip hop head will have had to learn over time, it's been digital since limewire days. FLAC and WAV are top notch.

[@seancascone]

i recommend musicbee as a media player for windows, super easy to set up and extremely customizable!!!!

[@ericseni4875]

“Old uncle”- “nuance” (new aunts). Cmon now. What a guy.

[@Chipelin]

Look, it's late where I am and I'm being hyperbolic, but the fact that you don't get more views is some sort of a crime!

[@professorskye]

I’d like more views, but I never thought I’d get as many as I do. My audience may not be the biggest, but they are super awesome and highly intellectually engaged. Not bad!😀

[@Chipelin]

@@professorskye of course! I guess what I actually wanted to say is that I love your channel and honestly think that this is what reviews should, or not to be prescriptive, what I would like reviews to be. A deep dive, a conversation. Didn't mean to imply you should chase views. Your channel is great as is!

[@adrians4211]

Also with the line "I believe they call him father, cause you're supposed to get past that" there's a double entendre with " father " could also be referring to a priest at a church, and the way he says "past that" also sounds like "pastor", which is a priest in charge of a Christian church. I'm not sure exactly what this could mean, but one possible interpretation is that people in poverty have to get past religion and believing it is their only source of salvation

[@ethanperry7822]

The albums are now on streaming, would love to hear your analysis and thoughts about the other side, your dive into billy woods work has made me enjoy his recent albums so much more, and I’ve heard great things about Ka

[@evilwax73]

Thanks for reviewing this. Both albums are a master-class in their own right, and Ka’s pen game is unparalleled. I really hope you review Woeful Studies as well. As far as the process of converting the wav files, you should be able to find a tool online that will convert to a more user-friendly format like m4a or mp3.

[@dadorage1695]

Woeful studies is a lot more palatable, it's the perfect album to actually recommend to someone, the rapping is faster on some songs like Rap, the production is more accessible like We Hurting and there are some of his best songs like Eat in my opinion.

[@Wajimacallit]

Money may have (sort of) killed sampling but not drums per se. The drumless thing doesn't have anything to do with the Biz Markie case and its fallout, which you seemed to imply (forgive me if I'm wrong). That incident and the De La Soul debacle DID reduce the use of sampling a little, but that was a long time ago and it bounced back through producers either taking the potential cost into consideration or finding increasingly obscure samples they might get away with without licensing. Since the late 80s, drum breaks were often chopped into individual hits and are a bit harder to spot and sue over when compared with loops of melodies and riffs - the sampling of which is ALL OVER drumless hip-hop. If you look at the credits in 90s rap albums when people had to start paying for and crediting samples, you rarely see a credit for the drums, because artists could get away with drums, especially if they're broken down into individual hits. Now, oddly, when they do use drums, the Griselda team often have full 1-2 bar break loops, something that hadn't been prevalent for a while. I think the trend for no drums just took off after a few isolated experiments struck a chord with other artists. I don't think it has a financial or political motivation. While it's ironic that the "realest" underground people are eschewing a seemingly essential foundational component, they are still sampling A LOT. With Ka specfically, he said in his Red Bull Academy interview that he was just tired of "fighting" with drums. It suits his vocal style to not have them. And he's still using huge, long samples of music. With the Wu-Tang "Hollow Bones" example you said someone mentioned: yes, it does have drums but they're buried somewhat. The drums have been filtered down from the main loop - this might have been done by sampling only the right channel of the Syl Johnson song, where the drums are less prominent. This IS an early example of what I think of as the "drumless" style: it's what a lot of people are doing. They're taking musical loops and not ADDING any drums on top, but the samples sometimes have drums relatively low in the mix.

[@WaxGroove]

Every line Ka Spits is a quotable this man waste no bars makes music for the thinking man

[@Tomorrowomari]

My mind is still stuck on that Ketosis line....amazing review. Also Kasim means "the divider/distributor of goods"...not just divide

[@gotjuice9]

When you're favorite street poet is also firefighter paramedic

[@manutrovao9530]

this album is decent for a Ka project, but the other album is one of his best, and maybe the best of this whole year. hope you get to review it

[@jmeslau]

On Full Cobra he's saying he's got the hood on his back like he's carrying the hood with him on his journey

[@addadd8784]

Thank you very much for taking the time and effort once again to try delve deep into this man's work.

[@franciscovincent7035]

Professor! You really, really, really need to check out Death’s Dynamic Shroud’s new album

[@samson4366]

I second that recommendation. Also, I suggest that you listen the new ninth Alex G album God Save the Animals which is eclectic, cryptic Indie Folk Rock that evokes memories of my listening experience to Sufjan Stevens’s records. Also, Ka’s full name is Kaseem Ryan.

[@liddellsmohawk4284]

The hood on my back is also a multi ententre ..in that he's repping his hood wherever he goes (dudes known as Brownsville Ka, cmon now) and it remains on his back, like a cobra's "hood"...

[@thobanikhanyile1994]

Also when doing back reps or sets at the gym it's called a cobra workout

[@thevinyltruffle]

Not sure why he doesn’t have a Bandcamp. He can make the same amount on releases and reach a larger audience.

[@pim2paul]

great album and great review. ka is on another level, a very special artist and i hope you review the other one as well. thanks as always.

[@matwroski7720]

Great lecture ! Ka is different! Love from Poland.

[@saidakil7033]

the name qasim means means sharer or the one the one who shares thing according to an arabic name dictionary I found, the word 'muqasam' which does sound alot like qasim means devided I think they are both derivatives to of the same word. love you reviews professor good job.

[@liddellsmohawk4284]

Almost every media player can play WAV files. ITunes will play WAV files. You just need to play it with the proper player. Cmon professor. It's no effort.

[@tito_da_og]

Great review. Appreciate you reviewing ka music

[@ethanlammar5554]

Hey, had you as my French Professor, so I have to ask you to review the song Achilles, Come Down by Gang of Youths. It's got these sick French refrains that if I was a better student I might know what it's saying.

[@landonsweetman7542]

Thanks so much for reviewing! Was looking forward to this, hope it hits 5k so you review the second review

[@nowrld]

Been waiting for someone to do a breakdown of this kind of depth with KA. Some much to deconstruct with his content.

[@khalidsharif2447]

Kaasim/Qaasim means 'one who distributes' The first known bearer of the name was the son of Prophet Muhammad.He was the eldest of his sons with Khadija . He died in 601 CE (before the start of his father's prophethood in 609), after his third birthday. After his birth, Muhammad got his famous Kunya (Teknonymy) Abu al-Qasim, which means father of Qasim.

[@SamMcKinley]

Eventually Ka usually puts the albums on Apple. I bought two from his website and then they appeared on Apple. I also have cds from older works.

[@levitate.]

Thank you for reviewing an album of KA 🙏

[@rawleaf217]

I have a MacBook Air. I just downloaded the album and created a playlist in my iTunes. It plays wav files now. It doesn’t have to mp3 like in the past

[@r.e8018]

Great review

[@BuddhaNature]

The first DJ’s extending the breaks were Pete DJ Jones and Grand Wizard Theodore. Herc just did it with Funk strictly without any Disco at all, and his parties were in a neutral area so they were more popular due to accessibility.

[@WaxGroove]

Roc Marciano is the reason for drumless beats being this the forefront these days

[@ahmedabualmoaty5429]

The name qasim comes from the word qasm (meaning to divide) but the usage of the word is in a more of a sharing meaning (taqsim meaning to portion or to share) its a niche name but a really nice and endearing one.

[@kinofisher7210]

Over 2k views now you gotta honor your word professor

[@BE-bk1tb]

Earliest drumless beat I can think of is Masta Ace - Brooklyn Battles. Agree Wu-Tang planted the seed for drumless beats, but Roc Marciano birthed it, developed it, and made it a “thing” and what it is today.

[@jonathanbarnes7641]

Cobra 🐍 is coming from Cobra from G.I. Joe. But Zartan is the Cobra character that wore hoodies with the Cobra 🐍 Insignia on his back always.

[@pliuy123]

Just wanted to mention to newer viewers of this review. Both new albums are available on Spotify now.

[@PatrickJCWhalen]

Jay Electronica's Eternal Sunshine is a notable moment in drumless hip hop

[@peschi79]

Thank you so much

[@TH3DARKSTARSKAT3RS]

some people such myself define it as not having scheduled drummining for atleast a verse, for example intl players would fall into this unique drumless catogory since it has drums but not for around half of it allowing for all the uniterupted benifit to rapper.

[@jonathanbarnes7641]

Ka is the life force or spiritual double of the person. The royal Ka symbolized a pharaoh's right to rule, a universal force that passed from one pharaoh to the next.

[@ahmedabualmoaty5429]

5000views prayer 🤧🙏

[@aiden359]

There are much easier ways to convert WAV files to other audio formats.

[@liddellsmohawk4284]

Don't even need to convert them. Many media players will play a WAV file just fine as is

[@chriscrowley3904]

This is the only album this year that can compete with Aethiopes and Mr Morale.

[@brudamo9203]

A lot of Soul Assassin ie Dj Muggs work is minimal /no drums

[@yezzir8929]

He's carrying the hood on his back is how I interpret it

[@robf1557]

Thank you Professor

[@SamMcKinley]

No the neighbor”hood” is on the weight of his back. Like the hood of a cobra

[@Soursop7810]

KA is my spirit animal

[@billwang3720]

Wow I thought hood on my back full cobra meant something else thanks

[@mrlevinielsen]

“Just do it it’s in your own mind” that’s a no from me, Skye

[@bowling4clarity817]

Ka having the hood on his back is saying he's the champion of his community. A cobra's flared appearance is due to his hood .

[@bowling4clarity817]

I may not be a good man but got good in tensions .

[@jamesstrong3516]

That is dope - didn't think of it like that

[@jamesstrong3516]

also - got good attention

[@cmdn2334]

you should review the new alex g album!!

[@4leyOriginal]

14:10 19:48

[@billwang3720]

Mixing something old with something new is a big part of hip hop so yes part of it is dying

[@billwang3720]

2000 more views

[@liddellsmohawk4284]

I'm STILL bugging that you ripped WAV files you BOUGHT to KZbin..... to REVIEW a KA ALBUM. That's like buying a HQ photo, then taking a picture of it with your phone, then printing that phone picture out to study the detail. You need to have a student show you what's up with playing digital music outside of Tidal/DSPs

[@dadorage1695]

He said he bought the album and he received wav files, he paid for the damn project lol

[@liddellsmohawk4284]

@@dadorage1695 yes....but he didn't know how to play them, so he put them in a movie file, ripped that to youtube and listened that way. You believe that's the best way to listen to the project? He could have just added the files to iTunes. WAV files are high quality. A rip to KZbin isnt

[@bboybeatle]

Just get VLC player next time. It plays any file

[@bigz1179]

No one made no drums their sound for a whole project until J Dilla’s Donuts

[@EnchantEmerson]

Madlib

[@bigz1179]

@@EnchantEmerson Which project?

[@_wonge]

there's drums all over Donuts. maybe not always programmed drums but there's plenty of drums in the samples he chose

[@mrlevinielsen]

@@bigz1179 a ton of his beat tapes. They’re more drum-less than Donuts. Can I get a source of how exactly Dilla’s Donuts impacted drum-less albums? I ask that as an enjoyer of that album. Every track that comes to mind off that thing has drums.

[@savehiggsxo]

[@professorskye]

Wow, thanks!

[@SamMcKinley]

I don’t know if it is good or scary that you even know who KA is. Most hip hop fans have no clue of who he is is. KA is more popular than he even believes.

[@noahyager7599]

if you're looking for other great, clean hip hop albums check out oddisee! :)