Listen To The New WIKI Track “Cheat Code”

Patrick “Wiki” Morales, first made waves as the most recognizable member of the New York City‘s Ratking, which formed in 2011 and released their sole full length, So It Goes, back in 2014.  The trio followed up with a digital-only release via BitTorrent, the following year, before effectively disbanding in 2016 — at the time, it was just stated that fellow vocalist, Hak, left the group, but… it’s pretty much over, indefinitely.  By that point, Morales had already released the solo mixtape, Lil Me [2015], which featured beats by an impressive roster of producers from Harry Fraud, Kaytranada, and Lee Bannon, to Madlib, and frequent Danny Brown DJ/producer, Skywlkr, alongside Ratking bandmate, Sporting Life.  Whatever the future held for the members of Ratking, there was no question that Wiki was going to be just fine.

It looked as if the next thing in the cards for Morales might be a full-length by a completely different project, the transcontinental indie supergroup, Secret Circle.  Rounded out by Antwon (San Jose), and Richmond underground cult rap legend, Lil Ugly Mane, the trio managed to drop a few impressive singles, as well as a 7-inch that featured Queens rapper, Despot, on a track called, “Satellite.”  They even managed to do a show or two, but eventually broke up in May of last year, after it came out that Antwon had several credible sexual assault accusations levied against him, resulting in Wiki and LUM disassociating with him without hesitation, once the rumors were confirmed.  Feeling violated by the misplaced trust in his friend, Lil Ugly Mane stated the following surrounding the events: “Secret Circle is a wrap. The shows are cancelled. The album will never come out. The songs we made don’t mean shit anymore.”

Fortunately, even something like this fucked up and left-field never kept Morales‘s from remaining active for too long.  In fact, even before the drama, while we were still impatiently awaiting that Secret Circle release — which will now, never see the light of day — the Puerto Rican and Irish rapper was still making his own moves, independently.  Perhaps, he learned from his previous experiences to never rely too much on group projects, if you want to keep producing your art and pushing forward in this industry.  In June of 2017, Wiki randomly dropped a song and video for a track called “Pretty Bull“,” more or less, out of the blue.  At the time, there was no indication that the song was intended to become part of anything larger, beyond a disconnected single.  “Pretty Bull” would eventually appear on his real deal official debut solo album, No Mountains In Manhattan, that August.  The critically acclaimed effort included features by Your Old Droog and Ghostface Killah, with Sporting Life and Kaytranada returning to produce a single track each.  The inclusion of Ghostface was a huge milestone for Morales, who is a massive Wu-Tang fan, but No Mountains was also an incredible accomplishment for him as an artist, in general, as he carried the majority of the project on his back, with minimal accompaniment, beyond that.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt6bWgBlCEg/

Today, WIki shares a new song called “Cheat Code,” following a recent instagram post of a rotating avatar that looks like it came from a Sega Dreamcast, simply captioned with the word “THURSDAY” flanked on each side by videogame controller emojis.  “Cheat Code” is the third standalone track to arrive, after 2018 ended with the one-offs “Elixir” (ft. Obongjayar & JJ) and “In the Park” (ft. Gloss Gang).  The new song premiered on BBC’s Radio 1 and, considering the way that his previous album rolled out, this may all be pointing to a brand new project, if not a full on LP, being in the works.