Ratking Playlist
- Text by Osia Katsidou
- Photography by John Francis Peters
“The earth is fucked, the city is gone,” raps Wiki on ‘Protein’, the ninth track on Ratking’s debut album So It Goes.
The powerful line of the nineteen-year-old prodigy is a nihilistic ovation to the urban experience. It is also a sentence that signifies how hip hop is less about the clichés of life in the city and more about its semantics. Just as much as New York is more than just the birthplace of hip hop, it is a breeding ground for transformative subcultures that revolt against a one-fits-all identity.
With a sound that is so distinctively East Coast yet so internationally inspired, rappers Wiki and Hak and producer Sporting Life capture the unique dynamics of NYC – the ultimate concrete jungle that made Ratking who they are, a gifted rap crew whose sound innovates a genre and manages to salute the past while creating the future.
If you’re a Ratking virgin, pop your cherry with this blessed b-roll.
Ratking x Skepta at Just Jam
Ratking ‘So Sick Stories’ ft. King Krule
Wiki Freestyles at Boiler Room
For the full Ratking interview check Huck 44, out now.
