Wiki displays indomitable spirit coming from one of the best cities in the world and translating that experience in a way that’s raw, endearing, and undeniably deft.
Release date: June 12, 2026 | Wikset Enterprise | Instagram | Stream/Purchase
New York City is so up right now, motherfuckers. Between the election of zealous democratic socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani who is considerably flawed yet still making big moves to positively affect the lives of millions of constituents under his jurisdiction, and the New York Knicks winning their first NBA championship in several decades, the energy is unlike pretty much any other I’ve seen in my life. In fact, I’m a little jealous. I’ve never been to NYC, but thanks to cultural osmosis and my love of hip-hop which cannot ever be untethered from the Big Apple, I know enough to get by as far as some of its idiosyncrasies and touchstones.
This is all what makes rapper Wiki‘s new album come at such a unique and perfect time. I’ve been a fan of this dude since the “Puerto Rican Judo” days, when his old experimental group Ratking dropped their only album So It Goes in 2014. I’ve loved the phrase ‘so it goes‘ ever since I read Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut in high school. It’s a precursor to another of my favorite and more current phrases, ‘it is what it is‘, or the now immortalized Earl Sweatshirt lyric, ‘I’m not okay, but I’m gonna be all right‘, both perfectly encapsulate my general view on strife and hardship in my own life. With Ancient History, Wiki seeks to make much of the bad times just that with the swirling, meditative nature of his music, but also pay homage as appropriate.
Between agile personal stories told with Wiki‘s trademark lisp and the often lovely, always evocative production, we see a lot of him as an artist and person, but NYC is personified as well. If you’re a head like me, you’ve heard plenty of music about New York or wherever a rapper reps. Tech N9ne puts on hard for Kansas City, you can never forget that Ludacris is from the ATL, Royce da 5’9″ and Danny Brown always made their Detroit roots apparent, and NYC dudes will always tell you that they’re from there because there’s a special pride to that. Here though, it’s deeper than that.
Wiki takes the time to really convey the life he’s lived within the city, even if it’s not a unique or causal experience predicated by said location and yet, it’s always authentic because it’s just where he’s from. “Bourbon” is a very vulnerable reflection on days spent as a hopeless alcoholic, finding any excuse to run to the bottle and pour or perhaps just feeling its magnetic pull like Mjolnir feels Thor. Breaking that sort of cycle is so fucking hard and with Wiki acknowledging a history of addiction in his family, the weight of that burden just feels so heavy on top of smooth saxophone samples and the chilled-out beat that evokes cloudy days of struggle.
“Old Gods” reads like an extended metaphor showing love to the OGs (get it?) in communities and how worlds change so fast and often, leaving behind those who don’t get with the times and kowtow to newer ways. Tony Seltzer and Carlos Truly provide the production for this lowkey heater with front-and-center guitars and keyboards. Wiki, even as a dude a little younger than me, unambiguously states the importance of the elders and their knowledge that should be passed onto the next generation for preservation and/or to give kids living tough lives head starts. Without guidance, their survival is dubious.
“IHNY” contends with all the change one sees in a city they were born and lived in all their life. I can’t even imagine what that scale looks like over the decades in a place like NYC, but Wiki goes through it all from the 1970s where punk and hip-hop manifested rebellion and escapism to the post-9/11 world in which it currently writhes while in chains. It goes really well with “Bloom” which features duendita and laments the gentrification and heightened cost of living that comes from it. The chorus of ‘I love you New York/I hate you New York‘ of the former song becomes fully realized. You can hear the clopping of horse hooves faintly in the background of the intro and outro of the song which is a great segue into the next song I’m talking about.
The sunnier side of Ancient History in turn captures the aspects of New York City that feels so endearing and idealistic. I love the song “Park” which is the illest song about chilling in a park all damn day. Wiki brings the appeal of connecting with any nature and life you can find in the city to the forefront, making reference to Rucker Park which is a world-famous streetball court, copping some weed, or simply finding the tranquility and welcoming spirit of parks uptown where you don’t need to make a certain amount of money or hold any elevated status to enjoy them. It is, as Wiki implies, an equalizer among men and the oases of city life.
I’m not picky with my New York City stunting – I love Beastie Boys after all – but it hits so much more when it’s beyond references to the MTA, bodegas, NYPD, or Biggie. Wiki really captured the feeling of living and growing in NYC. He picked beats that had the soul of the city in them without being overly obvious or pandering. It’s all pretty nuanced and delightful, but still has a keen edge and grit to it that Wiki‘s known for wielding with finesse like a damn sword. This is the sister album to the stellar Heno. and Oddisee one that I reviewed a bit ago in that it’s lethally slick, not shirking a deeper message in favor of lyrics that reheat the same nachos we’ve been eating, however gleefully, for decades. But don’t get me wrong, you also get the sense that Wiki knows he’s that dude, and that’s because he is.
I was really happy to reconnect with Wiki here. Despite being a long-time fan, I haven’t listened to every single project of his released in recent years so this was like talking to an old friend again, seeing their growth, and sharing your own in reflection. Ancient History doesn’t dismiss the monumental annals of time that seem to pass and sour faster and faster each year; rather it acknowledges and takes the value from the past into whatever little future we’re able to forge for ourselves and those around us. It still brings that ‘so it goes‘ energy forth, giving breath to our whispered personal mantras that hold our sanity together with the frayed unity of old chewed gum and paper clips, so we can keep our eyes level seeking out the next reprieve from the fuckshit around us. NYC is up and it’s literally thanks to people like Wiki stomping on the concrete of his city limits.
Artist photo by Alice Plati
