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- Wearing My Rolex (YouTube Video)
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Wiley
Grime – the British blend of stuttering beats, dark basslines and machine-gun raps – has yet to fully take root. Artists such as Dizzee Rascal, Lady Sovereign and Lethal Bizzle have hinted that grime can have crossover appeal with dance, hip-hop and indie fans alike, but it has remained largely underground.
Even the godfather of grime has seen only modest returns pushing the genre that he helped pioneer. Wiley (born Richard Cowie) has released three albums and a ton of mixtapes, flexing his muscles as an MC, producer, remixer and all-around impresario of the East London “eskibeat” sound, as he first dubbed it. As he churned out material, both solo and as a member of the Pay As U Go Cartel and Roll Deep Collective, Wiley cultivated his role as the rapper against whom other grime MCs would test their mettle.
It appears Wiley was following the Jay-Z blueprint: from the mogul’s big-picture view of his place in history, to the clothing lines, to the nurturing of younger talent, right down to the fake retirement (at age 28!). While he paved the road to success, he hadn’t quite broken through on the charts…until now.
On “Wearing My Rolex,” released this week on Asylum/Atlantic Records, Wiley drops a few heavily accented verses over a fidgety electro-house club beat. Catchy and more pop-angled than any grime track so far, “Rolex” shot into the top 5 of the UK charts in late April based on downloads alone.
So, Wiley finally has a crossover hit single on which to hang his hat. Will he retire to a comfortable pension now? Not so much. An underground album-mixtape hybrid titled Grime Wave will see a full release in May, while his fourth album, Race Against Time, is due early next year.
---Joshua Perry
Even the godfather of grime has seen only modest returns pushing the genre that he helped pioneer. Wiley (born Richard Cowie) has released three albums and a ton of mixtapes, flexing his muscles as an MC, producer, remixer and all-around impresario of the East London “eskibeat” sound, as he first dubbed it. As he churned out material, both solo and as a member of the Pay As U Go Cartel and Roll Deep Collective, Wiley cultivated his role as the rapper against whom other grime MCs would test their mettle.
It appears Wiley was following the Jay-Z blueprint: from the mogul’s big-picture view of his place in history, to the clothing lines, to the nurturing of younger talent, right down to the fake retirement (at age 28!). While he paved the road to success, he hadn’t quite broken through on the charts…until now.
On “Wearing My Rolex,” released this week on Asylum/Atlantic Records, Wiley drops a few heavily accented verses over a fidgety electro-house club beat. Catchy and more pop-angled than any grime track so far, “Rolex” shot into the top 5 of the UK charts in late April based on downloads alone.
So, Wiley finally has a crossover hit single on which to hang his hat. Will he retire to a comfortable pension now? Not so much. An underground album-mixtape hybrid titled Grime Wave will see a full release in May, while his fourth album, Race Against Time, is due early next year.
---Joshua Perry
Wiley
Playtime Is Over
Wiley
Grime Wave
Wiley
Treddin' On Thin Ice
