Last spotted on the popular-culture radar rapping on '2 Far', from Dizzee Rascal’s 'Boy in Da Corner', Wiley is widely held to be a progenitor of the sound of that album and over the last few years has released innumerable singles in ostentatiously numerable runs. In other words, you ain’t going to find them.
Which is where XL come in. Having presumably taken note of the praise (and airtime) heaped upon Dizzee in 2003, the label is to put out Wiley’s LP 'Treadin’ on Thin Ice' on April the 26th, following a single, 'Wot Do U Call It?', on April the 5th.
The releases mark the transition of “eski” from pirate radio to popular consciousness. To watch the video for Wot Do You Call It?, click here.
Wily XL Sign Wiley.
second reaction: what the chuff is 'eski'? Eskimo rap? Innuit hip hop? Or is this some kind of street speak that i've missed out on due to my ageing years?
Wily XL Sign Wiley.
Re: Wily XL Sign Wiley.
Wily XL Sign Wiley.
Cheerio,
Ian
Re: Wily XL Sign Wiley.
"Eski" is the current title-of-choice for the hiphop\jungle\2-step\synth tracks making [literal] rumbling noises on London pirate radio. Though no-one really seems certain what to call it; just check the title of the forthcoming Wiley single. One answer: call it what you want; it's going to be all over Radio 1 in a few months. I hope.
Re: Wily XL Sign Wiley.
I'd love to see the NME describe 'eski' and make it their own - betcha half the pirate radio stations in London will be beating a path to Kings Reach to register their disgust if they do. Possibly.
Re: Wily XL Sign Wiley.
haha, nme & grime/eski, god, i almost shudder at the thought of the toss they'll come out with with the usual air of superiority/knowledgeability (ha) on this one...
They still don't have a fucking clue I bet - how utterly token was the appearance of the Wiley track in their Turn On's ((or whatever it's called now...since when did they halve its size too? too hard to find good music now?! twats)) chart at the and of '02/start of this year anyway - after not giving anyone from the scene a shread of unprompted coverage before then!! Jaysis...I mean how many tracks has Wiley (alone) already had out guys?! Wiley's Iigloo" rythm was being played out over the place the past year (raves/pirates/leftfield weirdy rephlex nites, even! And I don't live anywhere near enough to the capital to be out there regularly, too..)
.......yet they'd rather masturbate over Jet / Strokes etc than do their job and report on the New Music........until of course they get the latest XL press release and have to catch up a bit - see Dizzee last year too: a year after the original buzz over "I Luv U" & with a full release now scheduled, and they were doing hysterically crass features on "Geezer Garage!!!!!!" (ie Garage-y Things done by White People What Don't Have Guns/Big Scary Crews Of Mates and so won't frighten the new-rock-'revolution' indie kids readership innit), eeking any further copy they could from a tenuous Streets link, and *still* without half a clue. Oh & incidentally that's the Streets who had Roll Deep support him at Brixton that winter. Dizzee supported Jay-Z at Wembley himself v shortly after too i think. This is what you learn when you get round to sopping relying on NME, kids...
I think NME coverage of the whole grime/eski/etc scene is probably the last thing the scene cares for, and NME are so far up their own pop-regurgitating-itself rectum of approved guitar classics that it'll miss out entirely as they seem so repelled by anything superb that even nudges the boundaries or dares to toy with something new today (regardless of genre). It's taken a press release from XL to get them to take just this much fucking notice. Bleh./
Wily XL Sign Wiley.
Oh lord...I'll try not to go off on one here but:
* you make XL's signing of Wiley seem as the latest breaking news - maybe, if you'd put it in yr news section at the end of last year........I don't suppose you reported them signing Roll Deep (Wiley's own crew, Dizzee was in them, some at the site will have maybe heard of them) back before Dizzee hit paydirt (so, er, i think they had their ear to the ground prior to Dizzee's success & signing him; I spose you can save that new story til their debut comes out later this year though.)
* "In other words, you ain’t going to find them. "
well not covered on here for sure, unless they pop up on the "DIS popular-culture radar" (meanwhile Miss Black America have a gig, or are scratching their arse, or something, in the news). Hunt down a few (predominantly london) music shops on the and yr there though. Didn't take me two minutes. Just got to get on the case - limited editions sell out quick if there's demand, & not just in the East London garage scene or summat. Mind you, there fucking better be the original 'igloo' instrumental on the single as this pissed off bunny never got one last year ;)
* "The releases mark the transition of “eski” from pirate radio to popular consciousness."
true wiley's at the helm of it but More Fire's "oi" and Dizzee's "i luv u" (to name two) have both thumped into the charts enough to warrant the marking of it onto the public (moreso) at large. Not to mention good portions of 'boy in da corner'.
but fuck.....this can only be a good thing, now if someone would just give "Lord of the Decks" a proper fucking pressing/distro so the whole country could hear it and wtf's going on. Here's a heads up peeps - Plastic Man's doing stuff with Rephlex too. It just gets better & better. Seriously.
Re: Wily XL Sign Wiley.
- You're right about the singles - I was just trying to be encouraging. Wiley is a well-regarded guy: go listen to Wily's new single! Of course, you already have. And that's super.
- My point about the releases marking the "transition..." was essentially intended to point out that eski\grime has made a considerable number of dents on the "popular culture radar" [or whatever it was I chose to call it] now, rather than a handful. Of course, there's a line that has to be crossed to constitute 'considerable' and you're welcome to interpret it as lying in a different place to me.
- XL are a good label and I didn't mean to disparage them; it's just quite apparent that Wiley is getting "the push" now (and you know as well as I that most of the tracks on the record have been floating around for an age, not that it matters enormously), because - to a great degree - of those records you mentioned, and now is the right time for that push to occur. Because the radio and the NME and DiS and the kitchen sink (variously, for better of worse) and mot importantly _people_ have been embracing grime, even if people like me are apparently a bit slow on the uptake.
- As for you last point; I agree with that totally! And I'm looking forward to whatever Rephlex do with Plastic Man. I presume that they have a record lined up; right now it's just the shows, right?
All I hope is that one or two people found the article even vaguely informative - that's all it was meant to be. If I come across as a patronising, uninformed and arrogant fuck in the process - I don't mean to. And at the very least it provoked an informed response which more people might find more useful.
Re: Wily XL Sign Wiley.
No, sorry, you definitely didn't really, i think my arseyness above just came from a day of patience-snapping hours wrestling this computer and maybe how the article came across at that point ;) The nme's far more deserving of my bile on this matter & has proper wound me up, and i've just been waiting for something to bite on..(but that's a separate reply below..).
Plus yr reply was totally more than worth adding to the whole debate here and the sort of thing (intelligent + informative debate! yow!) these boards cry out & need far more of more often - as opposed to the upset-Oberst-fan-level of diddums Raz's accusations and abuse [btw, that's "no" and "no" respectively, for yr interest......i'll come back and post something ruder and shoutier for you in reply once i've sorted all the work here and my computer-hate's been cranked up sufficiently again ;) And if i can be fucked.]
plus - at the end of the day - this whole scene oozing into the, erm, 'overground' [i guess?!] is only, only, a good thing. a fucking GREAT thing, actually. Especially at a time when the majority of 'new guitar music' (for want of a better catch-all word) is so painfully, painfully retrogressive: i see Jet are following up their 'cover' of "Lust For Life" by ripping off Free's "All Right Now" (oh jesus) now.........just 1 example.....
so, sorry for leaping in - i can see we're on the same side here on this matter :) The most important thing is it's getting wider attention now, and just looking at the replies here (well all bar one) it's already having the desired exciting effect the further it creeps out. and thats what matters most. bring it on :)
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or are you just a dick?
Wily XL Sign Wiley.
read your local newspaper (the edp is very good for local events.), or look for the hidden praises for up-coming bands in broadsheets.
you bash the nme way to much :p, i mean its probably quite hard for them. because they have to give an opinion if something is good or bad. and opinions have people who agree and people who disagree. the moment anyone who slates the nme can make a more successful music magazine, then they can have a go at it.
i mean personally i dont read the nme, but i wouldn't think any differently of someone who reads it every week. and if you dont like it then no one forces you to read it, or even buy it. and if you dont buy it or read it then how can you possibly know that its a pile of crap.
also they cant take notice of every single artist who is up and coming and do articles on them. firstly because it wouldnt be fair on the bands who weren't mentioned (who might be equally as good) and also because it probably end up being bad press for the band who is mentioned (people will use it against them, ''oh its just another nme overhype, they are a crap band really..blah blah'' which may be unfair''
although perhaps in the nme there could be a couple of pages dedicated to reviewing the latest ep releases. but again if they say a band is the 'next big thing' in the long run it may work against the band.
anyway ive typed far to much. i just think its unfair constantly slating the nme.
Re: Wily XL Sign Wiley.
I like the idealism of "well if you think nme is bad why don't you start up a better mag" - but that completely misses the state of play and huge logistics of doing so currently. I assume you've noticed the semi-constant going-to-the-wall of various mags at the moment (from old names to recent attempts: like Vox, Select & MM at the end of the90s, to most of the dance mags and Bang and X-Ray in the past 3 years - and that's just a v brief synopsis - looked at the main news story up on the right there?). Everett True & Steve Gullick were very vocal in the difficulties of making Careless Talk feasible throughout its existance, merely from the trouble that had getting the mag into any big record stores - and as for WH Smiths or newsagents, yr having a fucking laugh. unless yr happy to throw lots of £££££ at them like they ask ( i believe). And their mag shifts more than a lot of the specialist/niche titles on SMiths' shelves.
There's much more to this than that too.. (ADVertising, for one, & a mighty crucial one at that)
Were there still a weekly alternative on its own level (i'm thinking MM not K! here), then maybe (maybe) I could happily let NME live in its current state - for it'd mean competition, rivalry, a weekly alternative, and it'd have to watch its back for its own audience. It'd raise the bar, in the writing as much as the coverage......assuming we erase from our memories the deathbed-period magazine MM, which seems too much to be NME's current benchmark.
As it stands, there's nothing to give it a run for its money - in turn, making it even more self-aggrandising and arrogant and self-assured in its copy and comments; and the press/media respond in kind by turning to that dweeb McNicholls (sp?) for some Voice Of The Kids quote on some 'major' pop 'issue' of the day to fill a fatuous few minutes' report at the end of the news (Dr Fox was busy, or it was too guitar-y for him). They believe too much in their own press now, and their current position (and lest we forget, their now 50-year-plus brand, which certainly carries more weight than most of their current journalism) encourages the media to pander to & see them as 'The Voice' (of music/'the kids') - so in turn encouraging NME's collective/brand ego which oozes through the paper from the top down.....you think the Strokes wouldve had half the impact (and knock-on near-press-wide apporval) had NME not gone (seriously, unquestioningly) overboard on em from the word go?
The whole local paper thing - i know where yr coming from - but i've put on gigs, helped local bands, helped run a (local) label, etc etc etzzz in past years, sometimes even in spite of the (lack of) info said local paper provides, so that idea's not exactly news to me (or anything other than common sense). Ditto the broadsheets (Stewart LEe, Maddy Costa, old MM hands like Price & Parkes are just a few fine writers that come to mind) tho theres some right old balls too (still have never had much time for Petridis since Select, and he's Grauniad music correspondant now..?!). But the existance of these negates any fair crits of nme? Means that it's fine to continue how it is, absolving it of any faults? oh come on..
No i sure don't buy NME. But there seem to be copies that turn up around our house irregularly (we were even sent 2 or 3 freebies, lucky us), and I've even taken the bait and opened them up and read them. After all, i'd be a real prick if I were to sound off on something and not have a fucking bit of knowledge on its current state, you agree? And primarily, i pick it up out of hope - hope built on knowing how good it often was about ten years ago (+no i'm not that old), even just the start of this decade, hope they'll perhaps be covering the tonnes of great music under mine and your very noses (not to mention theirs..?), and maybe even reflect it with some fucking cracking writing.
So I can stick it in some context, and it sure hasn't been wonderful and quibble-free in all that time too (you could well argue MM was the better of the 2). But have you yet seen a Strokes doubter (or indeed, disliker) been given a piece/review of them to do in NME, right since their first one? A properly critical one, that is even *negative* (and not couched in some '...but it's still good' cop-out pay-off, the closest i've sure seen sofar)? It wasn't unknown, back in the 90s, at all.
Oh hang on - you dont read NME. Which begs the question, if I may paraphrase yr own words.......If you don't read it or buy it, how can you possibly know it's NOT a pile of crap? Or that anything i have written here is wrong? and that i'm being beastly and mean and ott in my (and others') reasoned "NME-bashings"?
mmm???
Never mind...
PS - this is just off the top of my head, it's only half of what i've to say about nme, if that. seriously...
PPS now this is properly Far Too Much. ho hum. back to work x
Re: Wily XL Sign Wiley.
thats what i mean, its so hard to do. that having a go at the people who do it well isn't very fair. granted they maybe are seen as the benchmark, and they don't have any proper competition.
was it really that good ten years ago? i don't think it was that different back then to how it is now. (they create and destroy scenes, punk,grunge (seattle scene),new wave,britpop,new york scene,new rock revolution,madchester.) if its shit then its always been shit, its just at some point yours (and mine) definiton of shit changed. its a bit like wrestling, everyone who has sky has a period of watching it all the time, knowing all the names, but then at some point you realise that its crap, now do you think it just suddenly got crap? i would say no, its just that what you perceive as good or crap has changed. i suppose you (in the general sense) don't like to admit that what you once liked was actually crap all along. i like to think that when i read the nme it was actually worth reading, but ive looked back at copies a year or so old and its actually exaclty the same as it is now. repetitive stories which run for weeks, reasonble album reviews and a few 2-3 page interviews (although they gave it the 'all new look', which didn't change it that much) it was a boring read then and its a boring read now (rarely did it tell me about anything worthwhile)
ok i used to read it reguarly but me/my mum/sister started to get bored of reading the same story more or less every week ( jack white beats up bloke see inside,the strokes hang out at studio,the coral get stoned,the libertines secret gigs), and we wern't really interested in any of the interviews or reviews that were coming up. i guess it just felt repetitive (same stories different bands)
the majority of the album reviews aren't to bad, although the second strokes album one was a pile of pish (it claimed it was completely different to the first.) oh and also the andrew wk review was lame.
for every 15 or soo spot on reviews theres probably two or three not so good ones. its jsut that no one on here types 'the nme gave a spot on review for <insert band>'
its always 'the nme review of <insert band> was shit and its over rated'
im not saying its good or worth buying im just saying that its wrong to say that its utterly worthless and a crap read (that would be an opinion not a fact). i imagine its probable most up and coming bands dream to get on the front page of the nme. simply because it shows you've made it and the nme is a great marketing tool.
you are completely right on the strokes front, i don't think they would have been half as well known if the nme hadn't gone overboard, but they still would have been a good band.
im not saying the nme is good but i think the music industry would be a hell of alot worse in this country if the nme was to stop being printed. And its unfair to criticise a music magazine written and produced by people who (im assuming) love music.
there has been some critical reviews in the nme recently (but thats only for proper shit albums) such as damon alburns (sp? outve blur) solo ablum and john squires solo album. oh and some of suedes stuff and the athlete album, thats just some i can think off the top of my head.
when they do say an albums good they tend not to be negative (although im sure brmc second album review had some criticism in it?)
i do actually think that you can find alot in papers, but its often hidden and really short pieces. (such as the boxer rebbellion and eeblee were both advertised in my local paper. all be it a 30 word piece, neither of whom get a mention in the nme, and there was a review of snow patrol in there)
anyway will be interesting to see how long this post :].
Re: Wily XL Sign Wiley.
I can't wait for the Wylie album - does it have Problems, Ice Rink or Ground Zero on it, anyone?
Wily XL Sign Wiley.
I'd like to see her naked in a pop video, even if she can't sing.