Thirty Three Jones | Desktop Site
Wiki - Wikispeaks
During a recent scan through twitter (@33jones, tell a friend!), I saw that Uncommon Records founder Nasa offered up a recommendation of an emcee I had never heard of, Wiki. It's not too often you see a record label owner give props to an artist that's not on his own label, so I had to check it out and I came away quite impressed after seeing the above video.
Hailing from the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Wiki seems to currently be drawing the sort of shallow comparisons to Eminem that virtually every white emcee garners when they're first discovered. Yet his unorthodox delivery and lyricism mixed with that unique brand of swagger and slang that is found among NYC kids reminds me much more of a young Cage circa 1988. Regardless, I found his EP 1993 to be quite enjoyable and coming so soon on the heels of Joey Badass and Capital Steez's Survival Tactics, it has me excited about the future of NY rap for the first time in several years.
There are a couple of hiccups on 1993 that could prevent Wiki from achieving success outside of his current underground following, however. His nonchalant appropriation of the "N-word," consistently prefixed by "Guinea," seems likely to be a point of contention for more than just one ethnic group. And the bizarre 20 minute audio clip of an interview with Christine Choy that ends the album - either an inside joke that flew over my head or an incredibly cynical approach to stretching the length of the project from a 20 minute EP to a 40 minute album - may have some customers wondering what they just spent their $5 on. Nevertheless the six songs that are on the EP are about as faithful to the spirit of 1993's era of New York hip hop - without ever pandering to nostalgia - as you're likely to find in this day and age. And that, in and of itself, is worth a few bucks.
Here's one other song off of 1993:
Wiki - Retired Sports (left-click to stream)
You can purchase Wiki's 1993 over on his bandcamp page. For even more from Wiki and his Letter Racer crew, check out his website.
4/11/2012 6:30:00 AM posted by Fresh