Ratking
Wiki93 (XL Recordings)
Reviewed by Chase Hoffberger, Fri., March 15, 2013
Ratking
Wiki93 (XL Recordings)Ratking bands together four Manhattan teenagers, but the group's debut EP gears directly toward group kingpin Wiki. Produced by Gotham grime addict Sporting Life, Wiki93 flaunts seven tracks rapped almost entirely by the nasal 18-year-old, all rooted in the juvenile delinquency of graffiti, excessive blunts, Cam'ron's Diplomats, and city mischief. There's an inherent darkness here that suggests it was conceived somewhere in the middle of an interstation subway stretch, like he wrote verses face-forward between a hobo and an elder he'd slap across the face should he think she was onto him. You can hear the train tracks ("Retired Sports") and feel the bumps and sudden, often violent, turns ("Comic"). "Hennessy's the only thing that's friendly to me," the teenager raps on "Wikispeaks," the first song to break last summer. "Straight New York, where a lot of y'all pretending to be." Reality rarely paints a "Pretty Picture." (8:45pm, Scoot Inn; 12mid, Friends; Fri., 11pm, Empire Control Room)
