Raised in the lower class neighborhood of Brownsville in Brooklyn, New York, East Coast rapper Kaseem Ryan (aka Ka) got his start during the golden age of rap, in the group Natural Elements. When that project fizzled out, he formed the underground hip-hop duo Nightbreed with fellow rapper Kev, before moving into a bold solo career. Over the 2010s and 2020s, the rapper became renowned for his conceptual, sparse take on the genre, producing complex, layered albums like The Night's Gambit, Honor Killed the Samurai, and Descendants of Cain.