Artist Spotlight: Wiley
Wiley is the best artist in grime. Simple as that. Some might argue there are better MCs, but Wiley writes beats, rhymes and tears apart slots on London's pirate radio shows. That he does all of those things with enough skill and confidence to declare himself his own genre (Eskimo, after one of his early scene hits) says all you need to know.
For those happily oblivious to the fine points of sub-genres, grime is the latest development in the UK's constantly mutating MC club culture. It's frantic rhyming over aggressive beats from the manors of East London. It kicks off from UK garage (or 2-step) raves, mixes in dancehall's soundsystem culture, and shows the kids' love of US hip-hop too.
Probably the most famous grime MC so far is the ridiculously
charismatic Dizzee Rascal [ed. note: coming to Amie Street
soon!]. Both Wiley and Dizzee kicked off their careers in the
same crew, Roll Deep. While Dizzee has since run with his success
into more straightforward hip-hop territory, Wiley has tried to
stick with the grime scene as closely as he's been able, a topic he
lays out on the clearly-titled
Letter 2 Dizzee
as well as when
repping his London postcode on
Bow E3
.
Those of you in the States can also check out one of Wiley's
biggest singles,
Wot Do U Call It?
. Here he charges off on more
meta topics, this time addressing all the different names people
have put on what he's doing. Garage, urban, 2-step, 8-bar...
whatever!
Featured Tracks:
50/50
Baby Girl
Featured Tracks:
The Game
Pies

