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.
Latest on Huck
Meet the trans-led hairdressers providing London with gender-affirming trims
Open Out — Since being founded in 2011, the Hoxton salon has become a crucial space the city’s LGBTQ+ community. Hannah Bentley caught up with co-founder Greygory Vass to hear about its growth, breaking down barbering binaries, and the recent Supreme Court ruling.
Written by: Hannah Bentley
Gazan amputees secure Para-Cycling World Championships qualification
Gaza Sunbirds — Alaa al-Dali and Mohamed Asfour earned Palestine’s first-ever top-20 finish at the Para-Cycling World Cup in Belgium over the weekend.
Written by: Isaac Muk
New documentary revisits the radical history of UK free rave culture
Free Party: A Folk History — Directed by Aaron Trinder, it features first-hand stories from key crews including DiY, Spiral Tribe, Bedlam and Circus Warp, with public streaming available from May 30.
Written by: Isaac Muk
Rahim Fortune’s dreamlike vision of the Black American South
Reflections — In the Texas native’s debut solo show, he weaves familial history and documentary photography to challenge the region’s visual tropes.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Why Katy Perry’s space flight was one giant flop for mankind
Galactic girlbossing — In a widely-panned, 11-minute trip to the edge of the earth’s atmosphere, the ‘Women’s World’ singer joined an all-female space crew in an expensive vanity advert for Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. Newsletter columnist Emma Garland explains its apocalypse indicating signs.
Written by: Emma Garland
Katie Goh: “I want people to engage with the politics of oranges”
Foreign Fruit — In her new book, the Edinburgh-based writer traces her personal history through the citrus fruit’s global spread, from a village in China to Californian groves. Angela Hui caught up with her to find out more.
Written by: Katie Goh
