New York rapper Wiki has not one but two great new albums out this year, 14K Figaro with producer Tony Seltzer and Faith Is A Rock with MIKE and producer The Alchemist, and he joined us on the new episode of the BrooklynVegan Podcast to talk about both of those albums and much more.
Wiki has been on a roll with projects that feature a single producer–2022’s Cold Cuts with Subjxct 5, and 2021’s Half God with Navy Blue and Telephonebooth with NAH–and he gets into all of these albums throughout our discussion, while touching on what he likes about doing a full project with one producer and what he’s looking to do next.
We also asked Wiki about his top five current rappers, and first he replied with five that run in the same circles as him–Papo2oo4, MIKE, Earl Sweatshirt, DJ Lucas, and AKAI SOLO–before adding in a few more friends: Niontay, Navy Blue, Your Old Droog, and Zelooperz. “All the homies bro,” he says. “I put on for the fam, it’s not a coincidence though.”
Upon further thought, he decided to add in a few that he doesn’t frequently work with or know personally: New York veteran Roc Marciano, Detroit’s Boldy James, and Dallas up-and-comer BigXthaPlug. “Boldy you could listen to a million times and you still hear new shit,” he adds.
We also went back in time and talked to Wiki about some of his earliest influences, and his own path to becoming a rapper. “I loved [50 Cent‘s] Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and shit when I was young,” he says, “but the shit that really made me fall in love with it was [The Notorious B.I.G.‘s] Ready To Die and [Wu-Tang Clan‘s] 36 Chambers.”
“Ready To Die, that was my record bro,” he adds, “and that shit still is–I listen to that front to back. Not to sound cliché, but Biggie the truth. That shit was like a movie. And then from there I just dug into anything I could listen to.”
He also names Redman‘s 1996 album Muddy Waters as an early favorite, and adds, “But there’s so much influence because then it’s also Dipset was the era I came in–anything Dipset, Cam’ron was my favorite rapper for hella long. Black on Both Sides [by] Mos Def is one of my biggest influences. I’m like a mix of Mos Def and Cam’ron I think.”
Later on the conversation, he names two New York rap records that he says don’t get enough credit: For All Seasons, the 2000 debut album by Nature (of Nas’ group The Firm), and G. Dep‘s 2001 Bad Boy Records debut Child of the Ghetto.
“I be tellin’ people, I’m like, ‘Bro, you wanna be good at rapping? Listen to Nature,'” Wiki adds. “Listen to Nature and you’ll be good at rapping.”
He also talks about AZ, Shine, Vado, and more. It was a great chat and you can listen to the full podcast episode on Spotify, Apple, Google, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Wiki also just shared the stage with Earl, MIKE, Navy Blue, and others in NYC, and you can check out pics of that show here.
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