Artist Spotlight: Wiley

February 13th, 2008
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 Play Button Letter 2 Dizzee Explicit as well as when repping his London postcode on Play Button Bow E3 Explicit .

Those of you in the States can also check out one of Wiley's biggest singles, Play Button 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:
Play Button 50/50 Explicit
Play Button Baby Girl Explicit


Free Download



Featured Tracks:
Play Button The Game
Play Button Pies


Buy MP3 Album


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