#woeful studies

[beatsforbrothels]

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Ka - Reap

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[therappundit]

Brownsville Ka

The store for Ka.

I didn't wake up expecting 20 new Ka songs today, did you?  😲😲😲😲

The legendary scribe known as Ka - as promised - as emerged from his Brooklyn laboratory to bless us with new music in 2022.  This time, in the form of a DOUBLE FREAKIN’ ALBUM!!?!

If you’re a fan you should already know what to do: go directly to his website and purchase Languish Arts and Woeful Studies to kick off the weekend.  

https://brownsvilleka.com/

[analogousanalogannals]

KA - Woeful Studies

Explore songs, recommendations, and other album details for Woeful Studies by KA. Compare different versions and buy them all on Discogs.

This album is Ka going at the indoctrination camps based around U.S. propaganda that keep (specifically) afro-centric males in a state of running in place on the hamster wheel of capitalism to attain monetary gain for comfort that is nigh impossible to achieve. "We Not Innocent" has a hook that features a features a play on words about the pursuit of denominations that turns men into demons filled with hurt as espoused on the follow up track, "We Hurting" that psychologists would have a field day with - as Ka remixes the axiom "hurt people, hurt people" for a hook that followed with "I'm Tired" can cause a plethora of tear-welling. "Reap" is a pie in the sky plea - though Ka at this point is already at a point of no return when it comes to any theory of justice. That joint has a kinship to Jadakiss' "Why?". "Counted Out" is a realistic underdog anthem, where the win isn't guaranteed like the ending of "Rocky". "Eat" is a well-deserved reward - like the ending of "Rocky II". "The Block" is why I figured Fat Joe and Biggie moved to Jersey, "Building" sounds like the rat race that the U.S. perpetuates and the grand finale of "My Only Home" is the anarchist anthem I believe any Pan-African empathizer would love to play when they finally get the funds to depart from this European country us FBAs know as our point of origin.

The inserts of schoolchildren being taught "Black Is Beautiful" through hymns are intersped with Black Panther interviews that could be cross-referenced in Bobby Hutton memoirs, but all these moments of striving are crushed by the cold reality of Ka's words - that of a sage at peace in a land inherently at war against him because of the skin he was born in.

C.V.R. The Bard 30th/Nov.2k24

[bluriflesso]

IT’S HARD TO KNOW JAH WHEN ALL U KNOW IS JIHAD.

[reckonslepoisson]

Languish Arts / Woeful Studies, Ka (2022)

Ka returns to a barer sound for both of these releases, but his lyricism remains as lush and conceptual as ever. One can still get lost in his lines, be floored by them; though it’s likely the case that, if you don’t really care for Ka’s lyricism, there isn’t much else to these releases. Woeful Studies is, in my opinion, the slightly more rewarding of the two.

Pick(s): ‘Forgive Me’, ‘Reap’

[wyattvsmusic]

Ka - Languish Arts / Woeful Studies ALBUM REVIEWS

Ka’s music always takes precious time to digest and fully appreciate as his lyrics often go over my head on the first listen. His coded bars may not always be understood if you’re not paying close enough attention. I think Ka is one of the only artists I listen to that when they drop an album, I like to just sit and listen with undivided attention so I can catch every lyric. When he dropped his 8th studio album, A Martyr’s Reward last year, it seemed like a departure from his previous couple of albums which all followed some sort of theme/narrative that parallel Ka’s life and upbringing, whether that be biblical stories, ancient Greek myths, or the code of a samurai. A Martyr’s Reward still sounded exactly like a Ka album but it even more stripped back and personal than usual, which is a lot for Ka as his standard sound is often slow and drumless and he draws from real life experiences in his lyrics. He looked back on his life and career instead of rapping about what he has witnessed. At this point in his career, it seems like Ka is trying to pass his wisdom on to his listeners through his life experiences and that is exactly what his two new albums do. Languish Arts and Woeful Studies were released simultaneously and they both show Ka using his knowledge to school the next generation of black youth about the cycle of poverty and crime that impoverished neighborhoods are often subject to. He also raps about learning about one’s roots and embracing them as he raps on Still Holding, “if you produce, learn your roots / stop naming our babies Toby.” As always, Ka’s writing is incredible and he’ll often slip in a bar that will go right over your head and will catch up to you after a few listens. Ka’s clever wordplay also never fails to impress. He opens up Woeful Studies by rapping “we ain’t innocent, we into dollars.” In terms of production, both albums sound like classic Ka with very minimal drums and slow loops while Ka has plenty of room to rap so the listener catches onto every single word. One beat that really stuck out to me was Unindulged with Chuck Strangers as that song had drums and was a little faster than usual. It’s still a slow beat but fast for Ka (think the same tempo as Iron Age). I loved the way Ka was flowing on it, bringing things back to the Grief Pedigree days. I feel like on every Ka album, there is always at least one instrumental where I am so amazed by how Ka found a pocket in a drumless loop to rap. A song like Touche is a perfect example of that as the instrumental is literally one vocal sound looped and it makes me wonder how Ka picks his beats. If I heard the instrumental before, I would not have pictured how a rapper could flow over it but Ka makes it seem effortless. As for the fact that these are two separate albums that sound very similar and cover similar topics, I am still not exactly sure what differentiates them and why they were not condensed into one album. I feel like the songs on either album could belong on the other one and not sound out of place. Both Languish Arts and Woeful Studies have short runtimes which make both albums replayable and show that Ka is one of the most consistent rappers and easily one of hip hop’s greatest wordsmiths in the history of the genre. 

Fav Tracks:

Languish Arts — Forgive Me, If Not True, Unindulged, Still Holding, Family Color

Woeful Studies — We Not Innocent, We Hurting, Reap, My Only Home