‘F- -k them cops’: New York fire captain targeted for singing ‘anti-police’ rap lyrics
A rapper whose lyrics are were deemed to be anti-police has been ‘outed’ by the New York Post for living a double life: being a rapper and a New York fire captain.
FDNY Captain Kaseem Ryan, 44, whose rap name is Ka, is a veteran firefighter in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
“F- -k them cops and swats with night vision,” he once rapped. “I see your traps and your plots to dead us, y’all rolling with Kojaks, n- – -a, I got Berettas.”
–Black firefighter’s neighbor and colleague charged with burning his house down
In another song called “Mr. Officer,” Ryan raps about police brutality.
“Took a vow to protect and serve her- all you do now is disrespect and murder. Â I ask you not to hurt my kids. Â This is where you work, this is where I live.”
Ryan says the song was inspired by his personal experiences with law enforcement in New York City.
“They don’t treat us right in the hood,” he said in an interview with Out Da Box TV. Â “Some of them are good dudes, they want to do good. Â But a lot of them, everything they go on is a bad situation, so they start seeing people as bad people.”
Ryan explained his decision to work as a firefighter and an artist in a 2015 interview.
“I’m living two lives, man,” said Ryan. Â “I’m trying to be who I am in the day and then trying to feed my soul at night with being the artist that I want to be.”
–Fight breaks out between New York police and firefighters at charity football game
Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, criticized Ryan’s artistic work.
“The biases he portrays through his music are indicative of what he believes or feels,” Mullins said. “As a New York City firefighter, he should be trying to bring people together rather than fracture relationships, especially in communities of color.”
Many have come to Ryan’s defense in light of the New York Post’s story, saying the article was an attack and had racist undertones.
Adding my voice the chorus of disdain for the shockingly overt racism of @NYPost's "story" on @BrownsvilleKa. Call racism what it is.
— Jayson Greene (@Jayson_Greene) August 22, 2016
https://twitter.com/jodyrosen/status/767706322884321285
Ryan provided no response to the article or the backlash, but after it was published he tweeted out: “With love comes hate…can’t have one without the other. Be prepared for both.”
–Tuskegee Airman who was FDNY firefighter dies at age 95
With love comes hate…can't have one without the other. Be prepared for both.
— Ka (@BrownsvilleKa) August 21, 2016
