Wiki - Lil Me

Pitchfork 76

Wiki, a 22-year-old from the Upper West Side, is best known as the linchpin in Ratking, the trio whose 2014 LP So It Goes is one of the clearest articulations of New York City in the 21st century. Lots of the writing, critical and otherwise, about the group's music has really been about revivalism. Is Ratking bringing the '90s back? Should they bring the '90s back? (How much Avirex do they own?) In reality, both So It Goes and the follow-up EP, 700 Fill, are forward-thinking. The group's ties to Clinton-era New York are ethereal—Wiki's affinity for Cam'ron-esque marriages of crass humor and life advice, Sporting Life's winter-resistant drum programming, Hak's careening narratives. And every piece of Ratking's New York has been picked for a purpose, even if it's dragged through mud and sleet and trampled on by commuters afterward.

The young rapper's solo debut, Lil Me, is an act of decluttering. Where he was once verbose and technical at the expense of his message, here he pares down his writing: "Light Ls, make it glow/ It takes a toll on my health," from the closer "Sun Showers". In some ways, this is Wiki's touring record, but it's not about groupies or friction in a relationship back home. It's pointedly unglamorous, all stale gas station food and cramped van seats. On "Living With My Moms" he raps, "I don't even know/ It's wherever the label tell me to go"; on "Seedy Motherfucker", he tells us about getting booed during his set. Even the victories (clean sound checks, crowds who half-understand the lyrics) seem smaller-than-life. Wiki alludes to graver problems—coke habits, robberies, loaded guns—but lets them linger in the margins.

The out-of-town dates serve primarily as an excuse for Wiki to re-examine his hometown. On the Madlib-produced half of the opener "WikiFlag", Wiki's pining: "It's been a minute since I've been given a New York dap." "3 Stories", one of two songs produced by the Montreal-based DJ Kaytranada, is a detail-obsessed narrative in the classicist vein. "Hit the L", which reassembles the Ratking lineup, could unfurl in a dozen different directions, but it stays fixed in a smoky room, walls closing in. Sporting Life hooks up a turn-of-the-century chipmunk soul loop, yet chops it into two one-second samples, and uses those sparingly.

The song that follows,"Old Blocks New Kids", is Lil Me's thematic center. Reigns at the top are short like leprechauns, and the song (another furnished by Sporting Life) celebrates the turnover. "Oh pops, I know you thought that you could do this/ You ain't stupid, but you old, pops—new kids." That's Wiki's New York: cold, cutthroat, decaying, being reborn. Over and over, stripping away anything that's unnecessary.