Wiki - OOFIE [2019]

RATKING is a group that is dear to my heart; when they disbanded, I was devastated. Hak, Wik, and Sport together were something else in the way they were able to channel that raw, wintery New York energy. Since then (roughly 2015) the group members have gone on to do their own things, and by far the most successful has been Wiki, who has released three albums since RATKING broke up. Lil Me was right on the doorstep of the groups end, and still contained a lot of the vibes that their albums had (and remains my personal favorite of Wiki’s). His album No Mountains in Manhattan, released two years ago now, severely underwhelmed me with its unchecked length, poor bear selection, dips into more friendly sounds, and lackluster features. Since then, having knocked an EP with Your Old Droog out of the park and featuring on his latest album It Wasn’t Even Close with a standout verse on S’mores, Wiki has been dropping a steady stream of singles, some promising, some reinforcing the poor ear for beats. The thing about these songs (like Fee Fi Fo Fum, Eggs, and Cheat Code) weren’t necessarily how much I liked them, but how much more personal and reflective the lyrics were. S’mores was a moment where Pat wasn’t as embracing of his image as he normally was, coming across like he was tired of being of the way he was and wishing he could change. This sentiment is the core of OOFIE, Wiki’s latest LP, laying bare many of his worst and undesirable qualities as a person for all to see and, unlike in previous albums where his debaucherous and rugged self was often glorified, seeks to make sense of how he can move forward from this image as a 25 year old before it catches up with him.

So It Goes is one of the best albums this decade, and Wiki makes a hell of an impression on it with his in-your-face blistering persona

Wiki is one of the most unique rappers out there right now, with his high-pitched nasal delivery (which isn’t uncommon) being paired with a stream of conscious and fluid flow. His vocal quality gives him a scummy, gutter image of a New York street rat, and his accent takes it to the next level to the point where you can *hear* the Yankees cap. I’ve never quite heard anyone that raps the way he does: his rhymes are dense, multisyllabic, maybe a little lacking in substance at times, but always impressive in the way he can string words together, and bounce around and play with rhyme schemes almost like he’s spitting off top. In his younger days his aggression would be something that comes out at you like a rabid sewer animal, but on OOFIE he is much more reserved in the way he lays out his tales, much like he was on No Mountains in Manhattan. In addition to taming his confrontational spirit on the mic, he’s also taken a look at the way he has portrayed himself and the way he has lived his life, spending a large chunk of the album ruminating on where his actions have taken him. The partying, no-fucks-given attitude, his romps with women, the crazy tour life, drug/alcohol abuse, and his admittedly strange appearance all create friction in his life. It’s not exactly a positive journey. He reminisces on times when he felt better on Back Then and The Routine, and pines for family and comfort on Promises. He looks for companionship in a sea of loose women on Dame Aqui and Freaks. Grim recounts his numerous failures in detail, and on Downfall and The Act he explains that if he continues down the path he’s going there will be worse consequences. The only real positive point on the album is Way That I Am, where he and Your Old Droog come together to try and convince each other that their shortcomings are simply the way that they are. The track doesn’t come across as genuine however, more of poking fun at the idea of changing, and highlighting the ridiculous things in their lives rather than getting to the core of their issues. Overall, by the end of OOFIE, it’s clear that Wiki is in a sort of rut in his life, and while music has been a source of inspiration before to continue on in his own way, it might not be enough anymore…

His solo debut, Lil Me, diversified his production collaborators, and showcased Wiki as an emcee that was on’t going to get better with age

The people he invited to be on the album with him are specifically picked for what they can bring to a track. His past albums have felt simultaneously like he’s trying to handle too many track solo *and* put on his lesser known dudes, but OOFIE is a better curated experience. Duandita on Promises is beautifully nostalgic, and her voice really cuts through the mix as a more delicate side of Wiki’s mind-state. Lansky Jones also plays heavily into nostalgia for his verse on Back Then, but here it’s more of a melancholy remembrance, with a knowing that things just get worse as time goes on. Princess Nokia on Dame Aqui works well enough, but I don’t feel like she sticks to the topic enough; I still love her voice and delivery however, and I would wish her verse to be longer at the very least. Your Old Droog is his old self on Way That I Am, sounding a lot like something that would have come off one of his own albums as of late. He plays well with Wiki on the topic at hand of the qualities that make up oneself and offers some comical bars in his trademark impeccable wordplay.

Grim is the lowest point on the record emotionally, with Wiki, Denzel Curry, and Lil Ugly Mane trying to understand how to make it through life. While Wiki is disillusioned with the promise of tomorrow, he sees it as a twisted motivation to engage in some of his more sultry behaviors. Denzel is committed to hard-headed stubbornness to stick with this life, but admits openly he contemplates what it’s like if he wasn’t here. Ugly, with one of the best verses of the record, is brutal in the complete lack of regard he has for his life; he sees everything in his life as a failure, from his career to his health, highlighting that the money and opportunities he has aren’t even close to being motivators anymore, becoming like “bloopers” that his mistakes will be played at his funeral. The instrumental is even evocative of the dejectedness the three feel, with a sort of mid-2000’s guitar lick slowly plucking on relentlessly, the only break is the beginning and end with warm piano chords, like they’re saying the best parts of life are the beginning and the end while the rest is simply hellish struggle. Grim is an unflinchingly honest look at mental health, suicide, and what drives people forward and motivates them to even get up in the morning, let alone make good decisions. It really lays bear the crux of OOFIE and the struggles that Wiki has been facing in his unorthodox career.

Alright, the real question here is this: where was Eggs? I thought the single was fantastic, and to not see it on the album was perplexing

The beats are a little more of a mixed bag; while RATKING under Sporting Life had some modern hip-hop underlay, nowadays Wiki goes for more of a boldfaced trap influence. Pesto, 4 Clove Act, The Routine, and Same Aqui contain those trap hi-hats and sub-bass, but diversify themselves through some token production techniques. Pesto is liberal with the distorted synths and hollow keyboards, Dame Aqui accentuates the subject matter with cute flowery synths in the background, and 4 Clove Club has dog sounds. The Routine is a track that sticks out like a sore thumb to me, being a bit too Soundcloud-esque for my tastes, sounding like something MadeinTYO or Famous Dex would use as opposed to an established Backpacker. The rest of the album is more in line with what I would expect from Wiki. The intro is low-fi and murky, with it’s lethargic synth notes and submerged, ghostly vocal samples; it works perfectly in setting the tone for a darker, self-reflecting experience, a lot like Downward Spiral on Danny Brown’s Atrocity Exhibition. Freaks is an eclectic mix of frantic horn samples, spurts of piano, deep sub-bass, sitars, and a splash of trap flavor; it’s one of my favorite instrumentals here, and surprised me that it wasn’t produced by Tony Seltzer seeing as it sound a lot like something he would put out (rather it was Alex Epton, frequent Wiki collaborator). Vidal (Interlude) and The Act are two of the shortest but most interesting instrumentals on OOFIE; the latter is a low-fi disjointed samplefest, with odd unsynchronized drums and ambient sounds drowned in the background (sounds a lot like it heard PILOT from Tyler, the Creator’s CHERRY BOMB), while the former is a dark, primal drum/bass track with what sounds like African drums played in a dry and empty soundscape. Both of these sound like they could have fit well on Your Old Droog’s project It Wasn’t Even Close from earlier this year.

After getting through OOFIE, there is an sense hat I wish I could help Wiki with the problems he goes through, because it really seems like years in a uncaring industry has ground him down to a place where he doesn’t even care where he goes next. I’m concerned for the man, and I hope that, since he released this album on his own independent label, he’s looking to start over, settle down, and turn over a new leaf in his crazy life in the years since RATKING broke up. I may not be getting this right at all, but I feel like OOFIE is a character, an embodiment of his past up till this point, that Wiki hopes to leave behind while the real person, Wiki, Patrick Morales, takes in all of the good that can come from a promising future in underground hip-hop.

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