"Today, New York-bred emcees Wiki & Your Old Droog are sharing a new collaborative EP. What Happened to Fire? is a 5-track joint effort that demonstrates a chemistry between Wiki & Droog that could only come from both artists growing up in New York City; narrated by found samples of Kool Keith, the focus of the EP for Wiki & Droog was having fun while putting down the best bars possible," read a press release I received late last week from Nick X Dierl at Orienteer (formerly Liberal Arts and Life or Death PR). What Happened to Fire? EP was recorded in tandem with an art installation under the same name, which ran at Romero Gallery in late 2016. " What Happened to Fire? was recorded at Wiki's Chinatown apartment as the installation was being formulated and displayed and the art that accompanies the EP contains imagery from the gallery." Your Old Droog was compared to Nas early on in his career and was even believed to be some sort of new-found alias Nasty Nas may have been launching around the time of his 2014 Your Old Droog EP-LP. Since his last two EP's KINISON and The Nicest, Your Old Droog has released nearly an entire album's-worth of non-album loosies produced by Jonwayne, RTNC, Marco Polo, Alchemist, Oh No, Black Milk, and a number of freestyles over Kanye, Seinfeld, and DJ Hart beats.


Although, I've never listened to RATKING before What Happened to Fire? EP, Wiki does sound a lot like yet another New York Golden Age Hip-Hop legend: A Tribe Called Quest founder Q-Tip. What Happened to Fire? EP evokes the same Beastie Boys-reminiscent 2 MC's & 1 DJ vibe as fellow New Yorkers Homeboy Sandman and Portland transplant Aesop Rock's critically-acclaimed Lice and Lice 2: Still Buggin' EP's. Your Old Droog & Wiki managed to recruit an impressive who's-who of Alt. Hip-Hop producers and beat-makers including Black Milk, RTNC (with assistance from Droog himself), araabMUZIK & !llmind, Statik Selektah, and new-comer Tony Seltzer. Your Old Droog & Wiki first appeared together on a "Complex City Cypher" last March along with A$AP Ferg and GRAMMY-nominated Jazz musician Christian Scott. Your Old Droog is currently gearing up to unleash his long-awaited Your Old Droog EP-LP follow-up PACKS this upcoming March 10th, which will feature Heems, Danny Brown, Edan, Chris Crack, and comedian Anthony Jeselnik. Wiki will additionally appear within Droog's PACKS and rumor has it, he's currently working on his proper album-length follow-up to his 2015 debut mixtape, Lil Me. W hat Happened to Fire? EP is currently available for streaming and FREE download from RATKING's " NYC Music Collective" Letter Racer.