Wiki, known off stage as Patrick Morales, came to Seattle and brought all of the tenacity of a true artist and student of hip-hop in celebration of his second official album, Oofie. Wiki’s rise in the hip-hop world began in 2012 when Ratking, a 3 piece hip-hop collective from Harlem, New York formed. With Wiki as the frontman, the group went on to earn a high reputation with their critically acclaimed album, So It Goes (2014), featuring artists like King Krule, Princess Nokia and Remy Banks. Ratking gained a cult fanbase with their strange production and unique perspective on storytelling within east coast hip-hop. With Ratking fizzling out in 2016 after the departure of MC Hak, Patrick Morales went on as solo artist, Wiki.
Since then, he has proven to be a contender as one of New York’s most worthy and resilient artists for his willingness to flex and stretch how we define classic east coast hip-hop. Since releasing his past 2 projects, No Mountains in Manhattan (2017) and Oofie (2019), Wiki has toured around the world; but this was his first time in Seattle.
A humble but dedicated crowd filled the room. The Vera Project was Wiki’s stomping grounds for the night as he delivered every bar through the bad cold he announced he was recovering from. The setlist featured a fairly even split of songs from each album, with little break between performances. A couple of my favorite moments from the night were when he performed the Madlib produced track, “Eggs” and the dark but hard-hitting track, “Grim” featuring Denzel Curry and Lil Ugly Mane, both from Oofie.
Overall, Wiki’s presence was full, his expression was honest, and his bars were cold. I came out of it feeling like I caught a glimpse of the real deal. A great representative of New York hip hop for his gritty and fearless approach to producing, rapping and artistry as a whole. I highly recommend seeing Wiki if he’s ever in your city. Or at least give him a listen!
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By: Jonathan Pendleton | Exclusively for @Music, Why Not!
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