”I’m straight New York, what a lot of ya’ll pretending to be!” Thus spat a curly-haired, baby-faced, North Face-clad teen by the name of Wiki back in 2012, his nasally voice sharp and acidic. Two years after “Wikispeaks” appeared on Ratking’s first EP, the trio—featuring poetic philosopher Hak, the MPC-slapping producer Sporting Life, and Wiki minus a few teeth—released their outstanding debut So It Goes and were dubbed the city’s “hip-hop heirs.” Before a proper full-length follow-up ever materialized, the group more or less dissolved with each member pursuing his own projects. But Wiki, born Patrick Morales, has never ceased in his quest to chronicle his New York.

Wiki’s new album No Mountains in Manhattan is a vivid manifestation of the city, at times surreal and too real. After the touring that colored much of his 2015 mixtape Lil Me, Wiki is back in Manhattan shouting out Mario with the bacon egg and cheese, hitting up Chinese joint Noodletown, and getting blunted at friends’ cribs. “I like the 1 train, bagel with lox, crushing the mic/I like the sunset on the Hudson, look at the light,” he spills on the joyous opener “Islander.” No Mountains opens with three of the strongest songs (”Islander,” “Mayor,” and “Pretty Bull”) Wiki has made to date, stories of his “first chapter” and his community. These tracks luxuriate in soul samples and latin rhythms, tones that constantly blast from taxicabs and sidewalk boomboxes. Later on, he’s quick to feature local rappers from ACAB and Slicky Boy to Ghostface Killah, and brings in visiting talent like Earl Sweatshirt, Kaytranada, and DJ Earl to round out the day.

No Mountains in Manhattan would be a great record even if Wiki stuck to this urban bliss, but instead he confronts the city’s shadows to build a complex portrait of himself. While the 23-year-old has never come off as a naively cheerful bloke, his rising fame and professional responsibilities, the addictions and police presence that endanger his community now weigh heavy on him. He often has to snap out of a spiral by reminding himself that he’s no longer spitting in basements: “Alright/Slow down supposed to be the pro type/Tuck in my gold type kid/I ain’t gotta show off shit.” The weight seems to make Wiki decelerate his spitfire pow-pow tempo and savor the thick timbre of each word. The darkest and most dramatic example of this is “Pandora’s Box,” a thinly-veiled meditation on Wiki’s former relationship with rapper Princess Nokia. Over spacey, atmospheric beats provided by Sporting Life and Dadras, he and Vancouver singer Evy Jane recall the intricacies of a relationship that veered into violence as much as it did growth.

But as if emerging from the city’s underbelly, the final moments of No Mountains (particularly the hilariously cheerful “Nutcrackers”) return to the lighter fare. It’s a full-circle that reveals Wiki’s “straight New York” to be one of contrasts: a city that’s vast and small, lonely and overcrowded, hopeless and infinite. No Mountains doesn’t reinvent New York rap, it buries itself in it. Like a passenger on the 2 from Downtown Manhattan to Harlem, Wiki is posted in the corner seat, eyes-wide, cataloguing, getting high, and transforming an earlier visit to a bodega into an existential field study. These are certainly New York images, but Wiki’s attention to detail and personal investment makes it resonate beyond vague concrete jungles. Wiki has called himself Virgil in the past, but on No Mountains in Manhattan he fully assumes the roles of storyteller and leader.