The great Brooklyn rapper and producer Ka likes to do things on his own. He makes meditative, monastic rap music that barely ever acknowledges any influence from the outside world. He produces his own albums and often produces his own videos, and he releases his music on his own label. Because he does everything himself, Ka doesn’t have to play industry games. When Ka releases music, there’s usually a window of time where, if you want to hear it, you have to buy it directly from Ka himself. We are currently in that moment.

Last year, Ka released his LP Descendants Of Cain, one of 2020’s best albums. Ka doesn’t usually make his albums too quickly, but without any real advance warning, he’s already come out with a new album, only revealing its existence this afternoon. Ka’s new LP is called A Martyr’s Reward. It’ll presumably end up on streaming services in a week or two, but right now, the only way to get the album is to go to Ka’s website and pay the man $20 for the wav files.

UPDATE: A Martyr’s Reward is out now on streaming services. Listen to the album below.

If you’re not willing to drop $20, then there’s only one track that you can hear right now. Ka has directed his own video for the single “I Notice,” a heavy-hearted rumination with a beat that sounds like an avant-garde film score. The song ends with a sample of Nina Simone talking about the burden of actually saying something. Ka has made a cinematic black-and-white video for the hypnotic track, and you can check that out below.

A Martyr’s Reward is out now, and you can get it here.