Ka - “Descendants of Cain” [FULL ALBUM] REACTION + WRITTEN REVIEW

Описание: IG & Twitter @chimezieiii

“Descendants of Cain” is Ka’s 7th studio album and follows after his critically acclaimed 2018 album, “Orpheus vs. the Sirens”. And just like that album, Ka has built a theme and aesthetic for this project that he effortlessly sticks to while delivering poetic stories of his upbringing and environment.

Thematically, Ka makes the theme of this album very clear. Given just the title, cover art, and song names we can already boldly assume that this project is directly tied with the Bible, specifically the Old Testament. Ka references countless bible verses, names, laws and places that play perfectly in part with the gritty introspective stories he tells. The balance between referencing pieces of Scripture and showcasing his own life and experiences is incredible. He weaves in between the two almost like he’s creating a piece of clothing using two different fabrics. The attention to detail and the deep references that he pulls is beyond admirable. It’s on the same level as a Kendrick Lamar project. The audiobook snippets from the Bible are also a great touch to fully form the biblical aesthetic that Ka is creating, its also something I’ve noticed that he does in his 2 previous projects.

Lyrically, we can’t talk about the theme of the album without acknowledging that Ka is performing some of the most incredible writing in all of music. The internal rhyme schemes are incredible but what mostly catches my ears are his poetic metaphors and blunt analyses. The way he describes and sets up a scene is direct and yet thought provoking. What I notice most in Ka’s writing, is that all of his lines and verses have a purpose within them. And Ka seemingly outlines that purpose before he even begins to write the verse. Not a single line is out of place or random. It is rare to see a rapper keep multiple bars on topic while still keeping a certain rhyme scheme or quality to the writing but Ka does this with ease for whole verses! Even outside the thematic references, the wordplay that Ka showcases is ridiculous and makes this project even more interesting to listen to because it’s almost guaranteed that every other bar has at least a double entendre in there. The delivery and flow on this project is really the same as the other Ka projects that I have heard but that’s not to say it gets tiring at all. His voice is perfect for his poetic and powerful writing. His years of experience as a writer are immediately recognizable and set him clearly apart from most rappers and other writers.

Sonically, the instrumentals on here also played into the dark biblical theme that Ka had set forth for this album. A lot of the beats were skeletal and minimal and had sort of an eeriness to them which I could easily see be the soundtrack to a lot of sections of the Old Testament. There were even some vocal samples that sounded like they had been used in some old 60-70s biblical movies. Given how minimal the production was, it allowed Ka’s brisk and hoarse voice to shine through and deliver his stories effectively to the listener.

All in all, this was a fantastic album that I will be having on repeat for a WHILE until I can confidently say that I’ve caught all the references and wordplay on this project (but even then there will be more). Thanks for watching and reading!

Favorite tracks (really all of them lol): I Love (Mimi, Moms, Kev), Sins of the Father, Every Now and Then, Patron Saints