Who is Mimi Valdes? Everything to know about Ka's wife as the iconic Brooklyn rapper dies aged 52

Brooklyn-based rapper Kaseem Ryan, a.k.a. Ka, has passed away at the age of 52. The unfortunate news was confirmed in a statement shared on his Instagram profile, which explained that he "died unexpectedly" in NYC on Saturday, October 12, 2024, adding:

"Born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, (he) lived a life of service — to his city, to his community, and to his music."

Hailing from Brownsville, Brooklyn, Ryan emerged in the underground rap scene in the mid-1990s with the hip-hop group Natural Elements. He soon left the group to form a duo with his friend Kev called Nightbreed.

By 2000, he paused his music career to join the New York City Fire Department and was part of the team that responded to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. He rose through the ranks to become Fire Captain, a position he held until his death.

Kaseem later returned to music, a move he credited to his wife, Mimi Valdés, in a 2016 interview with The Fader. Valdés is a music executive from New York with over 20 years of experience, focusing on R&B and hip-hop.

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Ka and Mimi Valdés got together the same year he quit rapping

Mimi Valdés shared a tribute post on Instagram in honor of her husband, Ka, writing:

"My king, my hero, my best friend. You will always be my everything because love like ours lasts forever. Rest my beautiful husband, see you on the other side."

Valdés was a journalism student from New York with an interest in the then-emerging hip-hop cultural movement. In the early 1990s, she began working as an editorial assistant at Vibe, a magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones.

Valdés worked to bring hip-hop artists to the mainstream, focusing on emerging musicians and albums and critiquing their work and trends. According to her interview with Pop Sugar in 2023, Valdés revealed she was known as the "hip-hop girl." The Puerto Rican and Cuban American quickly climbed the editorial ladder, becoming the editor-in-chief in 2003, the second woman to take the help at Vibe.

Taking to Pop Sugar about working with Vibe, she remarked:

"It was a beautiful experience. I'm so grateful because it totally started me on my path to tell these stories and have the opportunity to make sure that these artists were given the proper journalism attention, and to hopefully attract a wider audience to the music and the culture."

Throughout her career at Vibe, Mimi Valdés has featured then-upcoming artists like 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, and Kanye West. She also started Vibe Vixen, a sister magazine catering to women readers. Its cover features included artists like Tracee Ellis Ross, Rihanna, and Kelly Rowland.

Per Ka's profile by The Fader in 2016, the rapper first met Mimi Valdés at a radio station. His then-group Natural Elements was doing a freestyle session on Stretch and Bobbito's show when Valdés was escorting guests up to the booth. However, they did not get together until the musician quit rapping.

Per the publication, the firefighter and rapper explained it was his wife who encouraged him to return to music. She told him it wasn't about getting a record deal but finding joy in making music. Quoting Ka, the publication wrote:

"She obviously knows music. She was the first one to put Lil Wayne on the cover; this woman knows hip-hop. So for her to say: ‘Yo, no, you good,’ it was like, ‘Word? Don’t just say that because you like me.’ It made me feel good, a real writer telling me as an artist that I’m of worth. It was the first time I heard that."

Per the article, the pair has since built a life together, owning a home and raising the rapper's baby cousin Shania and his godchildren Ashley, Tyrone, and Chase. He also released a song in 2020 dedicated to the important people in his life, including Mimi-I Love (Mimi, Moms, Kev).

Mimi left Vibe in 2006 and is currently the Chief Creative Officer for i am OTHER, her company with Pharrell Williams. She is also credited with producing several films and shows, all championing diversity and inclusivity like Hidden Figures, Dope, Harlem, and Roxanne Roxanne.

According to an August 2023 article by Variety, she partnered with Nina Yang Bongiovi to launch Fly Green Socks, a media company focused on producing hip-hop narratives in film.

In 2008, Ka released his debut solo album, Iron Works, and has continued to thrive since then. He has worked on critically acclaimed albums like Honor Killed the Samurai, A Martyr's Reward, and The Night's Gambit, all while maintaining his firefighting career. In a 2015 interview with Passion of the Weiss, he explained:

"I’m living two lives, man. 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."

The rapper is known for his conceptual albums with quiet rapping and strong lyrics.

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Ka's cause of death remains unclear. He is survived by his wife, mother, and sister.