MIKE & Wiki Prove A Worthy Duo On The Alchemist-Produced 'Faith Is A Rock'

After connecting this past November for the snack-sized One More EP, Wiki and MIKE have unleashed a full-length project, Faith Is A Rock, produced entirely by The Alchemist.

Containing three songs from the EP—the collaborative “One More,” and solo tracks “Be Realistic” and “Odd Ways”—this 10-song project admirably delivers what core fans of both MCs had hoped for from a more substantial offering, with Al unsurprisingly in peak form.

A clear standout upon multiple listens is “The Mayor’s A Cop,” a reference to current NYC mayor Eric Adams.

Over the track’s smooth horns, the duo covers a lot of ground, most prominently addressing what Wiki sees as a misappropriated city budget spent on policing (“The blues quadrupled up, the block is hot/shit, this is how they chose to use the guap”)—funds that could better serve those in the city who go without.

MIKE delivers poignant bars about getting through trauma and depression, rapping, “Gettin’ numb, too much gas in my muzzle to guard pride/All these months through that map like I’m puzzled, bizarre rhyme,” later adding, “I stay in touch, trying to tackle these struggles with a scarred mind/All this bludgeon in my memory muscles and archive.”

What feels cathartic about this project is that Wiki and MIKE both adopt relatively past-tense approaches to their struggles; while their respective journeys are likely works in progress, they rhyme from a vantage point that floats above the weeds, so to speak.

From this end, Wiki delivers a remarkably powerful quotable on “One More,” rapping, “There’s always one more thing to do before you let it all go/Get that rope up off your throat/Thought it was lost, came back washed on the shore/Saw in awe, thought it was gone, had it all wrong.”

However, things don’t stay as sunny throughout. On the dreamy, drumless “Stargate,” we hear Wiki lamenting his battle with alcoholism (“Everything was foggy for years/Pour the backwash out the glass, saw it all clear”).

Elsewhere, on the solo track “Odd Ways,” MIKE feels especially dreary, describing a single tear shed while getting drunk and seeing his late mother’s face in the sky.

The album also carries a sense of humble acceptance and simultaneous resentment concerning their positions in the game; both artists are elite in underground circles but have yet to truly break through. A deep dive into MIKE presents an understandable case for why, though Wiki remains a more frustrating example of industry politics.

Whether it’s chastising journalists on “Bledsoe,” or discussing leeches feeding on his well-being on “Be Realistic,” Wiki makes it clear that he can’t be stopped, despite critics, streaming stats or other somewhat subjective measures of success (“Be realistic, we’re getting older/See the statistics, must be fuckin’ over”).

While Wiki, MIKE, and the Alchemist do their thing, the final product doesn’t offer many exceptional, over-the-top moments—doing little to push either MC outside their comfort zones or fanbases. For listeners who have had their fill of drumless beats, “Scribble Jam,” as an example, could be an arduous listen, especially given the depth of the rhymes.

It’s a project for seasoned ears. However, this collaboration is evidence that both artists continue to improve with each subsequent release–not to mention proof that Alchemist is absolutely unstoppable.

In a world where more and more of us navigate darker voids, overcoming struggles in solitude, Faith Is A Rock offers some insightful affirmations worthy of multiple revolutions.