Wiki’s Ancient History digs up new life in New York’s underground hip-hop scene with a constantly moving and mutating world of sound.
For Wiki, New York City isn’t simply a backdrop. It’s a language, a rhythm, a source of friction and inspiration that’s shaped his sound from the beginning. On Ancient History, his first solo album since 2019’s Oofie, the life-long MC turns that energy into a sprawling, producer-driven portrait of where he’s been and where he’s headed next.
The album brings Wiki together with an eclectic cast of guests, including the Alchemist, Navy Blue, Dom Maker of Mount Kimbie, dj blackpower of MIKE’s orbit, Nick Hakim, Laron, and more. Fellow New Yorkers Your Old Droog, duendita, and SALIMATA also make appearances, adding more dimensions to a record that’s clearly rooted in the city but refuses to be boxed in by its traditions.
Ancient History arrives after a varied and prolific stretch of collaborations for Wiki. Since Oofie, he’s linked with Tony Seltzer for 14k Figaro, joined MIKE and the Alchemist for Faith Is A Rock, teamed with Navy Blue on Half God, worked with NAH on Telephone Booth, and connected with Subjxct5 for Cold Cuts. In December 2025, he also celebrated the 10th anniversary of Lil Me, the influential debut that helped establish him.
That history hangs over Ancient History, but the album isn't content to simply live off the past. Wiki has spent more than a decade evolving alongside New York’s constantly mutating hip-hop scene, and the new record sounds like another experiment, one that looks to keep the scene changing and growing. His writing remains rooted in the city’s street-level detail and eccentric characters, while the production opens doors into stranger, more out of the box territory.
Wiki first became a fixture of the New York scene at just 17, when he co-founded Ratking. The group’s abrasive, boundary-pushing sound captured a generation of young New Yorkers who viewed hip-hop less as a set of rules than a way to tear those rules up. More than a decade later, Wiki continues to carry that spirit forward, making music for the outsiders, oddballs, misfits and nocturnal creatures inhabiting the city’s cultural underbelly.