Born 19 January 1979, Richard Kylea Cowie, better known by his stage name Wiley, is a British music producer and MC. Wiley emerged from the London music scene experimenting in Jungle, Drum & Bass and UK Garage music. He is best known for being the creator of Grime music.
I first heard of Wiley as an MC back in 2001 but Wiley's earliest recordings date back to 1997, when he featured on pirate radio rapping over Jungle beats. In 2000, Wiley joined The Hit Squad, a UK Garage (UKG) crew, with school friends DJ Target and Maxwell D around the year 2000, they managed to achieve some success on the UKG scene. The Hit Squad later combined with rival crew Pay As U Go to become a "super crew" which included members DJ Slimzee and MCs Major Ace, Plague, God's Gift, Flow Dan and Riko. In 2001, the Pay As U Go Cartel released the legendary song Know We and in 2002 the collective achieved a UK Top 40 hit Champagne Dance. Both songs are shown here below.
Soon after, the crew disintegrated and Wiley went on to form the collective Roll Deep, which included Dizzee Rascal and Tinchy Stryder as MCs. Roll Deep at the time were making music that was different from UKG and for a while no name was given to this style of music. The label "Grime" emerged later and this was the name that eventually stuck.
From 2001, Wiley produced instrumental singles on his WileyKat Record label. The most famous ones are Eskimo, Avalanche and Ice Rink and you can listen to these below. This led to his record deal with XL Recordings.
While Wiley's fan base was growing, simultaneously, others began to blame Wiley's new sound attaching a stigma to it. UKG club nights were increasingly being shut down and Police along with Councils banned UKG in London clubs due to its association with violence. Garage ravers became annoyed as the underground London music scene began to evolve and artists such as Wiley and this new sound was to blame.
In 2004, Wiley released the album, Treddin' On Thin Ice, on XL Recordings. One single that stood out from the album was Wot Do U Call It?, a track that highlights the controversy surrounding Wiley's sound and questions what name should be given to his music. Another big track of this album is Pies on which Wiley spits about his hunger to take over the UK underground scene and "how they don't like him in Garage". This album allowed Wiley to gain a stronghold with his new sound within the underground scene.
During this period, Wiley occasionally referred to his music as "Eski", short for 'Eskibeat' – the name he initially gave to Grime. Wiley explained his choice of name for his music and the continuing theme in his song and album titles such as Treddin' On Thin Ice, partly because he likes the wintertime, but mainly meaning cold in spirit. Wiley was quoted in conjunction with his "cold" theme:
"Sometimes I just feel cold hearted. I felt cold at that time, towards my family, towards everyone. That's why I used those names".
People began to take notice of this new style of music and I remember other producers trying to emulate the Eski sound. The Eski sound was increasingly favoured and became the new foundations for MC's or young British rappers to develop their lyrics and experiment lyrically communicating more than their UKG predecessors.
In 2005, Wiley worked with his crew Roll Deep to produce a mainstream album, In At The Deep End. As well as containing the singles The Avenue and Shake A Leg, the album featured Roll Deep's grime classics When I'm Ere, Poltergeist Relay and Heat Up.
In 2006, Wiley released his second album, Da 2nd Phaze. It didn't chart like Treddin' On Thin Ice had done and featured many other Grime artists such as JME, Brazen and Jammer who have gone on to be very well known in the underground Grime scene. In 2007, Wiley then released Playtime is Over on Big Dada Records, an album which followed his Eskibeat roots. The album included a track called Letter 2 Dizzee which was a response to Dizzee Rascal's track Pussyole (Old Skool) from the Maths and English album, which many perceived to be about Wiley.
In May 2008, Wiley found mainstream chart success again with the hit single, Wearing My Rolex, which reached number 2 in the UK Top 40. It was the third time Wiley had charted in the top 40. Some may argue that Wiley was 'selling out' with Wearing My Rolex as it featured a slower, house style beat and lack of sub bass. This caused some unrest within the Grime scene, as Wiley had previously vowed that he would never change his origin to break into the mainstream. In the same month, Wiley released an album entitled Grime Wave, which saw Wiley vere back to his musical roots with harsh, bass-heavy rhythms of the scene. This album was followed by See Clear Now, in October 2008 which included the mainstream hits Wearing My Rolex, Cash In My Pocket and Summertime. This album took Wiley in a mainstream direction helping to achieve presence within the British music scene.
Now on his own label Eskibeat Recordings, in June 2009 Wiley went on to make another album, Race Against Time on which he seemed to have much more creative control. The album includes the 2009 hit and club banger Too Many Man, featuring Boy Better Know and Zipp it Up featuring Giggs the British BET Nominee.
In 2010 Wiley released a compilation of some of his great instrumentals, entitled Avalanche Music 1, on his own label. He also released the singles Take That and Never Be Your Woman, the latter featuring Emeli Sande charting 20th and 8th in the UK Top 40 respectively. Since the release of this compilation Wiley has gone on to release more music. 2009 to 2010 saw Wiley signed to 3 different record deals. Firstly, a four-album deal with Island Records which he left and All Around The World who are behind N-Dubz - he left the deal without releasing any music. Maybe it's fair to say that Wiley is better left alone as his own master.
In 2010 Wiley founded A-List Records (A-List Music LTD.) as a new label to bring young talent into the music game. Within this label Wiley has brought together artists such as, J2K, Wrigley, Brazen, Shola Ama, Sadie Ama, Young Kye, Kivanc, Mz Bratt and others. In 2011, Wiley released the album Off-Load Volume 1 which containes many songs that featured Wiley's crew A-List as well as the track Yo Riley. Wiley then went on to release the single, Bright Lights, featuring Giggs and Juelz Santana. This is itself is a massive musical achievement.
Wiley's highly anticipated album 100% Publishing is to be released on Monday 20th June 2011 on the record label Big Dada, with which Wiley released his third album, Playtime Is Over. Personally I can't wait to buy this album.
Wiley is often cited as the "King of Grime" and the "Godfather Of Grime". Other Grime artists have referred to Wiley as a big influence in their careers. He has been a prolific artist producing several albums and mixtapes for a number of labels. He is well respected and represents London, especially Bow E3, to the fullest through his music. With his roots firmly embedded within the British music soil Wiley is definitely here to stay!
You can buy 100% publishing from Monday 20th June.
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