Bleep

Third solo album Half God is yet another step forward for Wiki, an artist nimbly ingesting the past of rap music — as well as subtle legions of other styles — to create a staggering body of work beamed in directly from the art form’s future. While Ratking, the group NYC rapper Wiki co-founded at 17 years old, continues to inspire the next generation of left-of-centre rhyme practitioners, the solo output of the man himself represents a new apex predator in underground hip hop.

The album sees Wiki offer the most comprehensive portrait of his complex character to date. All sides are accounted for, warts and all; the bloody-minded, deadly serious hubris and classic hip hop braggadocio of ‘Wik Tha God’, the humbly candid urban origin story of ‘Roof’, the strangely touching thug-in-love song of ‘Never Fall Off’. Visionary young producer and rapper Navy Blue plays the part of Half God’s atmospherics director, his style offering a masterclass in twisting and turning soul samples in new and unexpected ways, always blunted and horizontal but never slouching — not unlike the cerebral verses of Earl Sweatshirt, one of the LP’s many stellar guest spots.

Half God feels a watershed moment for Wiki; as a songwriter, performer and future underground legend.