Wiley

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Biography

Richard Kylea Cowie (born 19 January 1979), better known by his stage name Wiley is a United Kingdom|British music producer and rapper|MC who was one of the original founders of the Roll Deep Crew. Wiley has been active in the fields of Jungle (music)|Jungle , Drum & Bass and UK Garage music. He is best known for being the creator of Grime (music)|Grime music.

Career

Wiley's earliest recordings date back to 1997, when he featured on pirate radio rapping over Jungle music|Jungle beats. http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=26jo6EA_tkU

Pay As U Go and Roll Deep

In 2000, Wiley joined with "The Hit Squad" UK Garage crew with school friends DJ Target and MC Maxwell D around 2000. They achieved some success on the UKG scene but then decided to combine with rival crew Pay As U Go to become a "super crew" containing the Ladies Hit Squad members plus DJ Slimzee and MC's Major Ace and Plague. God's Gift, Flow Dan and Riko joined soon after. In 2002 the collective achieved a top 40 hit "Champagne Dance"

Soon after, the crew disintegrated due to the power of the individual members who had differing ideas of the direction the crew should take. Wiley went on to form the Roll Deep collective, which included Dizzee Rascal and Tinchy Stryder as MCs. They were making music that was different from UK Garage. For a while there was not even a name for it. The label "grime" was the one that stuck.

From 2001, Wiley produced a slew of instrumental singles on his WileyKat Record label. The most famous ones are the "Eskimo", "Avalanche" and "Ice Rink". This led to his record deal with XL Recordings .

Solo work/ (2004�2007)

In 2004, Wiley released an album, '' Treddin' on Thin Ice on XL Recordings . Singles from the album include, "Wot Do U Call It ? " a record questioning what name should be given to his music and "Pies". Reviews such as in Pitchfork Media made comparisons between Wiley and his previous labelmate Dizzee Rascal , who had achieved success with Boy in Da Corner the previous year. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8775-treddin-on-thin-ice/ Alexis Petridis of The Guardian noted the "comically polarised" fanbase Wiley had accrued; "At one extreme, its sonic experimentation has attracted the kind of people who run music blogs... lengthy essays are posted on issues as the differentiation between Humean and Kantian views of motivation in the lyrics of Bonnie Prince Billy . At the other extreme, it is favoured by inner-city teens who appear to communicate entirely in an impenetrable mix of slang|street slang and patois ." http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2004/apr/23/popandrock.shopping4

During this period, Wiley occasionally referred to his music as "Eski", short for 'Eskibeat' � the name he initially gave to grime. Also, Wiley released mixtapes under the name "Eskiboy". He 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"

Many of Wiley's early vinyl releases, such as Eskimo (grime beat)|'Eskimo' , were released under the alias "Wiley Kat", this name was derived from a character in the cartoon Thundercats . However, the 'Kat' is never officially used by Wiley anymore, only being mentioned loosely in some of his songs.

In 2007, Wiley released Playtime Is Over (Wiley album)|Playtime is Over on Big Dada Records , an album which followed his eskibeat roots. Wiley's Eskibeat and solo material is managed by the Perpetuity Music Group. The album included a track "Letter 2 Dizzee" which was a response song to Dizzee's track " Pussyole (Old Skool) ", which many perceived to be about Wiley. http://thequietus.com/articles/02930-wiley-eskiboy-s-dalliance-with-an-electro-dance-alliance http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/apr/22/features.musicmonthly5

Mainstream success (2008�present)

In May 2008, Wiley found mainstream chart success with the hit single, " Wearing My Rolex ". People saw this as him selling out. In a way it was him selling out, due to the fact that he was seen to not be able to use his heavy grime beats anymore. Kano therefore took the crown of "Lord of the Mic's". The instrumentation (such as the slower, house music|house style beat and lack of sub bass ) caused some unrest within the Grime (music)|Grime scene, as Wiley had previously vowed that he would never selling out|change his origin to break into the mainstream. In the same month, Wiley released an album/mixtape entitled Grime Wave , which was described by The Times as a "very pre-Rolex album. With its roots firmly based in the harsh, bass-heavy rhythms of the scene". http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/cd_reviews/article3976929.ece 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. Despite its success, Wiley has disowned the album as he was "very angry" with the label, Asylum Records|Asylum , about the production and also unhappy about his management at the time. Wiley left the label

Now on his own label, Wiley went on to make another album, Race Against Time (album)|Race Against Time . This was released eight months after his previous album in June 2009, on Eskibeat Recordings where he had much more creative control. The album includes the 2009 hit "Too Many Man", featuring Boy Better Know .

On July 8, 2010, Wiley fired his manager over Twitter and has since released 11 Zip Files for free download on his Twitter page, containing over 200 tracks of old and unreleased music, including the entire forthcoming album 'The Elusive'. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jul/14/wiley-zip-files-free-downloads

From October 2009 to October 2010 Wiley had been in 3 different record deals, firstly with a four-album deal with Island Records which he left in January due to various differences between him and his manager. Then in July 2010 signing with All Around The World which is behind N-Dubz he then left the deal without releasing any music with them due to disagreements on his album The Elusive 2 . As of November Wiley is in talks with another label.

A-List Records (A-List Music LTD)

In February 2010, Wiley announced he would be bringing together a collective of artists to create a supergroup.
A-List consisting of the artists Wiley , J2K, Wrigley, Brazen, Shola Ama , Sadie Ama , Young Kye, Kivanc, Mz Bratt plus others.

The In March 2010 "Midnight Lover" was the first music video to be released by A-List, despite music video, airplay and interest the single was never released.

Influence

Wiley is often cited as the "King of Grime music|Grime " also "Godfather Of Grime". Other Grime artists have cited Wiley as a big influence in their careers. He has been a prolific artist producing several albums and mixtapes for a number of labels. His origins have often been a subject of his work (e.g. "Bow E3").,,,

Wiley's own record labels

Wiley founded Eskibeat Recordings which is an artist development company for artists in the Grime scene. The label was set up around 2004, however its latest release was 2008.

In 2010 Wiley founded A-List Records (A-List Music LTD.) as a new label to bring young talent into the music game.

He also played a big part in helping start a label Launchpad Music Management with 2 teenagers in which he

Discography

;Albums

'' Treddin' On Thin Ice (2004)

Playtime Is Over (Wiley album)|Playtime Is Over (2007)

See Clear Now (2008)

Race Against Time (album)|Race Against Time (2009)

Evolve Or Be Extinct (2011)

100% Publishing (2011)

;Compilations

Da 2nd Phaze (2006)

Grime Wave (2008)

The Eski Sound (2010)

;Downloads

Zip Files 1-11 (2010)

;Instrumentals

Avalanche Music 1: Wiley Instrumentals (2010)

;Mixtapes

Tunnel Vision Vol 1-4 (2006)

Tunnel Vision Vol 5-6 (2007)

Umbrella Vol 1 (2008)

Crew Discography

;Roll Deep

In At The Deep End (2005)

Rules and Regulations (2007)

Return of the Big Money Sound (2008)

Street Anthems (2009)

Winner Stays On (2010)

;A List

A List Album (TBA)

Copyright Citations

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