Ratking
Biography
In the sprawling concrete maze of New York City's underground hip-hop scene, few acts have captured the raw, unfiltered essence of urban decay quite like Ratking. This experimental trio emerged from the shadows of the Big Apple's alternative rap underground in the early 2010s, wielding a sound so abrasively authentic it felt like being slapped awake by the city itself.
Formed in 2011, Ratking consisted of rapper Wiki (Patrick Morales), producer Sporting Life (Sebastian Morales), and rapper Hak (Hayden Stewart). The group's genesis reads like a classic New York story – young artists grinding in cramped apartments, sampling everything from industrial noise to obscure jazz records, creating something entirely new from the detritus of musical history. Their name, a reference to the tangled mass of rodents found in sewers, perfectly encapsulated their aesthetic: urban, uncomfortable, and impossible to ignore.
Ratking's sound defied easy categorization, blending experimental hip-hop with elements of noise, punk, and avant-garde electronic music. Wiki's rapid-fire delivery, often described as "stream-of-consciousness rapping," painted vivid pictures of New York street life with an almost journalistic precision. Meanwhile, Sporting Life's production work was nothing short of revolutionary – constructing beats from field recordings, manipulating samples beyond recognition, and creating sonic landscapes that felt simultaneously claustrophobic and expansive.
The group's breakthrough came with their 2014 debut album "So It Goes," released on the influential XL Recordings. The record was a love letter to New York City written in graffiti and delivered through a broken megaphone. Tracks like "Snow Beach" and "Canal" became underground anthems, with Wiki's breathless narratives weaving through Sporting Life's deliberately disorienting production. The album's title, borrowed from Kurt Vonnegut, hinted at the group's literary ambitions and their fatalistic view of urban existence.
Critics were immediately divided – some hailed Ratking as the future of hip-hop, while others dismissed their approach as pretentious noise. Rolling Stone called them "the most important rap group you've never heard of," while Pitchfork praised their "commitment to chaos." The controversy only fueled their reputation as hip-hop's most uncompromising experimentalists.
Their live performances were legendary affairs – Wiki would pace the stage like a caged animal, spitting verses with manic intensity while Sporting Life manipulated sounds in real-time, creating a different experience at every show. These concerts felt less like traditional hip-hop performances and more like art installations, complete with projected visuals of urban decay and industrial landscapes.
The group's influence extended far beyond their modest commercial success. They became figureheads for a new wave of experimental hip-hop that prioritized artistic integrity over mainstream appeal. Young producers began incorporating their cut-and-paste aesthetic, while rappers studied Wiki's unconventional flow patterns. Their approach to sampling – treating source material as raw clay to be molded rather than simply looped – influenced a generation of beatmakers.
Ratking's cultural impact was perhaps most significant in how they represented New York City during a period of rapid gentrification. Their music served as a sonic documentary of a changing metropolis, capturing the tension between old and new, authentic and artificial. They gave voice to the city's displaced youth, those caught between disappearing neighborhoods and encroaching development.
The group's trajectory took an unexpected turn in 2015 when they announced an indefinite hiatus. Wiki pursued a successful solo career, releasing critically acclaimed albums that maintained Ratking's experimental edge while exploring more personal themes. Sporting Life continued pushing boundaries as a producer and solo artist, while Hak stepped back from the spotlight.
Despite their brief existence, Ratking's legacy continues to reverberate through hip-hop's underground corridors. Their influence can be heard in artists like JPEGMAFIA, Death Grips, and countless SoundCloud experimentalists who treat genre boundaries as suggestions rather than rules. They proved that hip-hop could be simultaneously intellectual and visceral, accessible and challenging.
Today, "So It Goes" is regarded as a cult classic, a time capsule of New York's creative underground during the Obama era. Ratking may have been too strange for the mainstream, but they were exactly what hip-hop needed – a reminder that the genre's greatest strength lies not in its commercial appeal, but in its ability to transform urban reality into art. In the end, they were the rats in hip-hop's basement, gnawing at the foundations and reminding
