Last year, Wiki—the New York underground rap mainstay whose government alias is Patrick Morales—surfaced briefly in the film Marty Supreme. He didn’t stay on screen long, perhaps only delivering one line. Some people describe Wiki’s appearance in Marty Supreme as a “cameo,” but that label assumes that at least a portion of the audience would recognize Wiki by sight or name. That wasn’t the case here. I’ve listened to Wiki’s music for years, yet I barely noticed him when he popped up on screen. He was simply another intriguing New York face among many.
Marty Supreme director Josh Safdie is a New Yorker, and the kinds of films he makes—whether solo or with his brother Benny—are full of distinctive New York personalities. Some of those characters come from the world of underground rap. The Safdies gave Necro two different film roles—perhaps among the most non-Hollywood-friendly minor celebrities ever—in which he delivered strong performances. (I imagine it didn’t unfold exactly like this, but I picture Safdie and Wiki sharing a room at some point, and Safdie immediately recognizing Wiki’s quintessential New York look, whether or not he knew what Wiki did for a living.)
The brief appearance by Wiki in Marty Supreme isn’t remotely central to the movie, but the moment kept circling in my mind as I listened to Wiki’s fresh album, Ancient History. The record tells the story of a young hustler from Lower Manhattan who’s exceptionally adept at a idiosyncratic craft and is convinced that this talent will thrust him into fame and fortune. The world throws chaotic chaos at him, yet, being from New York, that chaos is simply his baseline. He processes it with equanimity and never allows it to dent his confidence. I can’t help but wonder if Wiki relates to that experience at all.
Wiki first attracted a devoted, niche following as a teenager, founding the group Ratking and delivering high-energy, punk-adjacent rap on the street. He was magnetic, instantly recognizable, and his crew exuded a proudly underground swagger that seemed poised to usher in a generation of imitators. Show Me The Body’s members have spoken about seeing themselves reflected in Ratking’s approach. A lot of New York kids probably saw themselves in Ratking. For a moment there, Wiki might have felt like Marty Mauser.
Things didn’t unfold for Marty as he’d hoped, and they didn’t quite unfold for Wiki either. Ratking released a couple of records and then split up. Wiki pursued a solo path but never ascended to mainstream stardom. Critics took notice and the buzz persisted, but it never fully translated into mass popularity. Over the past decade or so, Wiki has released a substantial catalog on his own label, crossing paths and collaborating with artists who have achieved a level of fame—Run The Jewels, Earl Sweatshirt, Denzel Curry—but he largely remains in his own intimate, underground lane. A few years back, Wiki played a show in a small Southern college town near where I live, and perhaps only about 15 people attended. The club was nearly empty. I left before Wiki took the stage, because the scene felt awkward and odd to me personally.
On the opening track “GTFOH” of Ancient History, Wiki sets out his place in the universe in the first couple of lines. As producer Lord Unknown’s hazy, psychedelic beat drifts through the air, Wiki spits, “Some would call him a tragic poet/ Coulda been globally known if only he had more exposure/ Only known by locals/ Tri-state, bi-coastal/ Really only the pot-smokers.” It doesn’t read as pride or regret; it’s more a statement of fact. As the track unfolds, he weighs a few thwarted expectations but comes away with a sense of satisfaction in the fact that he can out-rhyme most people who stand in front of him. It has the feel of a hard-won perspective.
Wiki is merely 32 years old, yet he’s carried a certain degree of fame for almost half his life. It’s easy to feel washed up when you were teased with superstardom but never fully attained it. One reading of Ancient History is that it’s a career-confessional rap record that’s inward-looking, akin to a mid-period De La Soul album. Yet I don’t think that’s what it is. I hear it instead as a true New York character coming to terms with his own fate as a New York character: reflecting on his past, savoring the chaos that forged him, and turning that chaos into music that’s strangely beautiful.
The music on Ancient History really is strikingly beautiful. Wiki leans heavily on collaborators from his past, which indicates he’s comfortable and grounded in that circle. The productions tend to be hazy, floaty, and suffused with reverb-heavy soul samples. Navy Blue, who produced a few tracks without rapping, leans into a prismatic R&B reverie on the introspective “IHNY” and a warped, spaghetti-western heroism on the back-and-forth with Your Old Droog, “All In The Lining.” The beat on “Old Gods” by Tony Seltzer and Carlos Truly makes headphones feel like they’re slathered in lotion. On “7 Deadly Sins,” Nick Hakim crafts a frost-bitten, half-jazz groove that sounds like an undiscovered ’70s sample source even though it’s all original.
On “Something New,” Wiki and Brooklyn newcomer Salimata flirt with one another, delivering slyly athletic, conversational verses, while MIKE—peforming under his dj blackpower alias— overlays the track with a persistent organ hum, giving that feeling of the sped-up drums from a certain early-2000s hipster classic (I won’t name it to avoid any potential lawsuits). It’s one of the album’s strengths: a male-female rendezvous duet that isn’t groundbreaking in structure, but it feels fresh in its offhand charm and conversational ease.
With such beats anchoring him, Wiki digs deep into the vaults of his memory, reflecting on how New York has evolved through the years and how its history has shaped him. The single “Park” is exactly what it says: a tribute to the city’s parks, big and small, where you can feel as if you’re in a utopian natural habitat—despite the reality that you might be paying exorbitant rent to live with several roommates in a shoebox. Much of the track involves Wiki reciting the names of parks he enjoys, which may only register for listeners who have spent time in those places. Yet the stray imagery (my favorite being “badminton with the Buddhist monks”) evokes a surreal experience you’d only encounter wandering New York City with no plans for the rest of your day.
That’s how Ancient History operates. Wiki spends a lot of time lost in thought, but he articulates it out loud, in rhymed couplets, so listeners can eavesdrop on his internal monologue. On the track “Right Away,” he riffs on a few early Jay-Z references and then sketches his own version of Jay’s Rain Man mode: “I ain’t write this song, I just got on the mic one day/ When I light this bong, feel like I’m not my age.” (Is it odd for a 32-year-old to light a bong? It doesn’t feel odd to me at all. It feels perfectly normal for anyone who’s just trying to get through the day.) Sometimes Wiki’s interior monologue circles back to heartbreak: “A female I had feelings for peeled off/ So now, I don’t feel at all.” Sometimes it grows political: “Had to capitalize, fuck capitalism/ Rationalize being better off last in line/ The simple thought had me pacified.” And at times, as on “Had Your Fun,” he simply rides a wave of inspiration and lets syllables bounce around the room.
Ancient History opens gently and grows from there, finding its momentum around the halfway point with the track “Bloom.” That beat comes from Wiki’s reclusive old compatriot Lil Ugly Mane, who hasn’t been as active in underground rap of late. Ugly Mane’s “Bloom” begins as a beautiful old-school indie-rap flavor—vinyl crackle, breakbeat, a loop of astral piano chords—but the track keeps evolving, layering in cosmic chimes and disorienting DJ scratches. The Queens-based artist duendita whispers beatifically about the endless struggle to find a place to live and a softer life, while Wiki contemplates the same subject in his own way. It’s simply a breathtaking song. The first time I heard it, Ancient History immediately jumped to a new level. Before that moment, the album felt like another strong release from a consistently reliable artist; after that moment, I felt like I was hearing something genuinely special. I haven’t lost that impression since.
Ancient History concludes with its title track, another knockout. This time, the production is a floating, sample-driven symphony crafted by the Alchemist, another longtime Wiki ally. It’s so smooth and spacious that Wiki can sound almost philosophical even when he’s dropping one-liners: “Your breath stink like shit, need Listerine/ Keep talkin’, I ain’t listening.” It’s a soft, inviting dream that ends with a woman’s voice singing sweetly and wordlessly over the outro. I don’t know that I would have noticed that voice if not for the credit that popped out in the album notes: “additional vocals by Lourdes Leon.” Huh.
That’s New York, right? You end up moving in strange social circles, especially if you carry the right energy and a memorable face. Sometimes you might even find Madonna’s daughter singing on your indie rap record—that’s the real Marty Supreme energy. As the Knicks chase a Finals run and the city’s local pride glows like a beacon, Trump’s circus aside, I find myself flooded with affection for a place I once called home. On Ancient History, Wiki speaks to both the frustrating and the transcendent aspects of his hometown, offering a human face to all of it. The New York of today may not be the same as the one he grew up in, but it still produces remarkable art. Here’s an example.
Anicent History is out 6/12 on Wikset Enterprise.
Other albums of note out this week:
Olivia Rodrigo’s you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love
YHWH Nailgun’s Magazine
Horse Lords’ Demand To Be Taken To Heaven Alive!
CFCF’s L.U.V.
BIG|BRAVE’s in grief or in hope
Tim Barry’s Clear Blocks Ahead
Sister Gemini’s Screaming Crying Laughing Sighing
Jessie Reyez’s A Little Vengeance
Anysia Kym & Tony Seltzer’s Purity (Flips)
Bebe Rexha’s DIRTY BLONDE
Khemmis’ Invocation Of The Dreamer
Jim Jones’ The Landlord
Goose’s Big Modern!
Yes’ Aurora
Embrace’s Avalanche
Midland’s Stages
Blxst’s Labor Of Love
Jesse Welles’ Masks Off
Stitched Up Heart’s Medusa
Pussy Riot’s CYKA
Johnny Orlando’s Songs For Young Lovers
Big D And The Kids Table’ The Good Ole American Saturday Night
You-On’s New Side
Mon Laferte’s Femme Fatale Vol. 2
Meltt’s Pathways
Funkwrench Blues’ THIS IS THE ONE! (raison d’être)
Soft Curse’s Liminal Ritual
Ok Goodnight’s stop/go
Lake Dorn’s Black American Princess
Kalia Vandever’s Mana
Joshua Crumbly’s how i feel sometimes
Anthony Rother’s Anthony Rother Presents DATAPUNK 20+ YRS
Concepción Huerta’s No Queda Nada, Todo Resuena
Picastro’s Double On Time
Terror/Cactus’ Colapso
Jenny Gillespie Mason’s In The Safety Of Light
Light Once Lost’s What Doesn’t Steal You EP
FIRES IN THE DISTANCE’s Circadian Promise
Ibrahim Maalouf’s Trumpets Of Michel-Ange Vol. 2
The Army, The Navy’s Fake Brave Life
Paycheque’s Paycheque
Sports Boyfriend’s Slice Of Life
Myles Smith’s My Mess, My Heart, My Life.
Debit’s Potpourri
Samantha Fish’s Paper Doll Live
Breakfield’s Breakfield
Tarja’s Frisson Noir
Parent Teacher’s Tricks For Meds
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe’s Manifestations In The Shadow Of An Uncertain Land
Brenn!’s AMATEUR AT BEST
La Sécurité’s Bingo!
Sequoia’s So Long
The Bobby Lees’ New Self
Berndt / Schmidt’s Cloud Machines
Alex Amen’s Sun Of Amen
Rachel Bolan’s Gargoyle Of The Garden State
Alev Lenz & Jas Shaw’s 4 In A Cycle Of Thirds (Jas Shaw Versions)
Vitamin String Quartet’s VSQ Performs SZA
Various artists’ The Description Of A New World
Various artists’ The Gray House [Original Soundtrack From The Amazon Series]
Kaleo’s A/B (10th Anniversary Edition)
2BYG’s The Yearbook (Extended Version)
Theatre’s Incarnat EP
Fly Anakin’s (The) Forever Dream’s Night Shift EP
Spacey Jane’s Exit Wounds EP
Yumi Jun’s A Fading Diary EP
Hutch’s On The Edge Of The Earth EP
Kit Major’s Miss Ego EP
Surusinghe’s Cutting Thread EP
Leenalchi’s Here Comes That Crow EP
Orange Doors’ Corn Planet EP
