Wiki and Your Old Droog (and Edan) from "Help" video

Your Old Droog & Wiki playing $3 BK show with Jay IDK & Nasty Nigel (BV Presents)

May 25, 2017

Wiki and Your Old Droog (and Edan) from "Help" video

The next BrooklynVegan-curated Red Bull Sound Select show in Brooklyn happens at Knitting Factory on Wednesday, June 21. Co-headlining this one are New York rappers Your Old Droog and Wiki, who will be playing a collaborative set in addition to individual solo sets. They’ll be backed by DJ Edan (who produced and features on the Droog/Wiki collab “Help”). Opening is another New York rapper, Nasty Nigel (of World’s Fair and Children of the Night), who appeared on one of Wiki’s breakout singles, “Livin’ With My Moms,” and Maryland rapper Jay IDK, who’s fresh off touring with TDE’s Isaiah Rashad and playing Miami’s stacked rap fest Rolling Loud. Sticky Dojah is your DJ for the evening.

Like most RBSS shows, admission is $3 with RSVP or $10 at the door without. Even with RSVP, admission is first come, first served. See you there!

Your Old Droog first picked up buzz for his 2014 EP that sounded so much like Nas that people actually suspected it was secretly Nas. If it seemed at first like Droog was one of those guys who aimed to revive the music their idols helped create, Droog tore that notion himself on this year’s Packs. “I’m sick of these sycophants who wanna make their idols proud, I want my hero to hear me and shit his pants,” he raps on “Rapman.” If he sounds like Nas, he does it in the way Action Bronson sounds like Ghostface. His delivery may echo a classic MC, but his very loud personality is entirely his own. He’s part of the current wave of New York rappers that pay tribute to their city’s history, but also follow their own path. Packs is littered with references to New York’s past, with its interpolation of “Sound of Da Police,” shoutouts to the rappers of yesteryear, and comedic skits (voiced by Anthony Jeselnik) that don’t tend to show up on rap records so much anymore. It also tells the personal stories that only Droog can tell, and it features two other leaders of New York’s new wave, Heems and Wiki, plus psych-rap master Edan and current experimental rap king Danny Brown. It takes more than a Nas soundalike to compete with a team like that, and Droog’s bars rarely fail to deliver.

Before Wiki appeared on Packs, the former Ratking member put out a collaborative EP with Droog this year called What Happened To Fire?. Over production from some of the best of the best (Black Milk, Statik Selektah, AraabMUZIK, Illmind, and more), Wiki and Droog proved themselves as a duo to be reckoned with on this EP, and it’s why we’re very excited to have them playing this Brooklyn show together. If you listen to one song on What Happened To Fire?, let it be the Statik Selektah-produced “Vigilantes.” Wiki and Droog leave you hanging on to every word.

Wiki left his first major mark as a solo artist with 2015’s Lil Me, and he’s continued to stay active. In addition to What Happened To Fire?, 2017 has seen him team up with Antwon and Lil Ugly Mane as Secret Circle and drop the excellent solo single “Icarus.” He just gets better and better and we can’t wait to see where he goes next.

See you on June 21st. RSVP HERE. Flyer and more below.