The Night's Gambit
Studio album by
Ka
ReleasedJuly 13, 2013
StudioThe End
Genre
Length39:03
LabelIron Works
ProducerKa
Ka chronology
Grief Pedigree
(2012)		 The Night's Gambit
(2013)		 Days With Dr. Yen Lo
(2015)

The Night's Gambit is the third solo studio album by American rapper and record producer Kaseem "Ka" Ryan. It was released on July 13, 2013 via Iron Works Records. It was recorded at The End, and produced entirely by Ka himself. The album features sole guest appearance from Roc Marciano.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?79/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
HipHopDX4/5[2]
Pitchfork8.0/10[3]
PopMatters[4]
RapReviews9/10[5]
Rolling Stone[6]
Spin9/10[7]
Tom HullB+((2-star Honorable Mention)(2-star Honorable Mention))[8]

The Night's Gambit was met with generally favorable reviews from critics. At AnyDecentMusic?, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 79 based on six reviews.[1] The aggregator Album of the Year has the critical consensus of the album at a 82 out of 100, based on seven reviews.[9]

Brandon Soderberg of Spin praised the album, saying that it is "the best example yet of Ka's take-it-or-leave-it rap-auteurist style".[7] RapReviews critic Patrick Taylor stated that it is "an excellent album, and one of the best manifestations of grimey New York hip-hop".[5] Nate Patrin of Pitchfork admired that "as a rapper/producer, he [Ka] has that finely-tuned awareness of how a track works from every angle".[3] Rolling Stone reporter Jonah Weiner said, "Over the hypnotic, self-produced drones of his third solo album, Ka is an auteur with a hushed delivery worthy of Nineties stalwarts like Raekwon and Prodigy".[6] Marshall Gu of PopMatters said, "the album's brevity -- clocking just under 40 minutes -- and his penchant for bookending each song with samples are both welcome blessings".[4]

Accolades

Publication List Rank Ref.
Complex The 50 Best Albums of 2013
21
Drowned in Sound Drowned in Sound's Favorite Albums of 2013
11
Fact The 50 Best Albums of 2013
11
NPR Music NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums of 2013
*
Spin Spin's 50 Best Albums of 2013
8
The Needle Drop Top 50 Albums of 2013
9

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kaseem Ryan

No.TitleLength
1."You Know It's About"3:33
2."Our Father"3:13
3."Jungle"3:47
4."Barring the Likeness"3:26
5."Nothing Is"2:41
6."Soap Box" (featuring Roc Marciano)3:37
7."Peace Akhi"4:04
8."Knighthood"3:20
9."30 Pieces of Silver"3:30
10."I'm Ready"3:52
11."Off the Record"4:00
Total length:39:03

Personnel

  • Kaseem "Ka" Ryan – main artist, producer
  • Rahkeim Calief Meyer – featured artist (track 6)
  • Chris Pummill – engineering
  • Christos Tsantilis – mixing & mastering
  • Mark Shaw – design & photography

References

  1. 1 2 "The Night's Gambit by 'Ka' reviews | Any Decent Music". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  2. ↑ Paine, Jake (July 29, 2013). "Ka - The Night's Gambit". HipHopDX. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  3. 1 2 Patrin, Nate (July 31, 2013). "Ka: The Night's Gambit". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  4. 1 2 Gu, Marshall (September 18, 2013). "Ka: The Night's Gambit". PopMatters. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  5. 1 2 Taylor, Patrick (December 17, 2013). "Ka :: Night's Gambit :: Ironworks". www.rapreviews.com. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  6. 1 2 Weiner, Jonah (July 29, 2013). "The Night's Gambit". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  7. 1 2 Soderberg, Brandon (July 26, 2013). "Ka, Rapper-Firefighter-Auteur, May Have Released the Best Hip-Hop Album of 2013 with 'The Night's Gambit'". Spin. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  8. ↑ Hull, Tom (November 30, 2013). "Tom Hull: Rhapsody Streamnotes: 2013-11-30". www.tomhull.com. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  9. ↑ "KA - The Night's Gambit". Album of the Year. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  10. ↑ Diaz, Angel (December 10, 2013). "The 50 Best Albums of 2013". Complex. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  11. ↑ Adams, Sean (December 9, 2013). "Drowned in Sound's Favourite Albums of 2013: Top 20". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on October 12, 2019. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  12. ↑ "The 50 Best Albums of 2013". Fact. December 9, 2013. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  13. ↑ Kelley, Frannie (December 10, 2013). "NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums of 2013". NPR Music. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  14. ↑ W., C. (December 2, 2013). "Ka, The Night's Gambit (Iron Works) SPIN". Spin. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  15. ↑ Fantano, Anthony (December 23, 2013). "Top-50 Albums of 2013". The Needle Drop. YouTube. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
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