Wiki

A little under a decade ago, So it Goes — the 2014 debut album by upstart Harlem hip-hop collective Ratking — opened with a young Wiki grousing about the uncertainties of (1) graduating high school, and (2) launching his music into a universe of unsuspecting ears. Though he’s evolved considerably since then, his work often falls along similar vindictive, me-against-infinity contours: as New York City has metamorphosed around him, he’s taken stock of his own rebirths, navigating a lifelong territory the way one might navigate a sentient maze. He represents the extension of an age-old New York hip-hop tradition — gritty, autobiographical poetry; a voice ripped from the bodega; a proclivity for ugly truths —but remains as wide-eyed as he was a decade ago, constantly in search of new codes to weigh against old ones. His taste for radical storytelling has implications beyond just New York hip-hop: on top of collaborating with Skepta, Ghostface Killah and Earl Sweatshirt, he’s also had a hand in a number of fashion endeavors, including Tommy Hilfiger X Patta and Warrior Shanghai. After leaving XL Recordings, he founded his own imprint, Wikset Enterprise, through which he’s released solo records and ambitious joint projects — most recently with the likes of MIKE and the Alchemist. He’s in equal parts artist and sociologist,\ ingesting his universe and reporting his findings in compelling new ways.