In Nostalgia Ultra, we take a glimpse back at the popular culture we grew up with, and grieve for. Music, film, TV, and all realms of the creative feature. Today we take a look at Wiley and remember some of the bars we used to spit along to at the back of the bus.
A deep one, deep son, came from a deep slum – Wiley, the undisputed Godfather of grime and the Eski sound, released “On A Level” last month and we ashamedly slept on it. After catching the Skepta-directed video (albeit a little later than we would’ve liked) it got us thinking of just how sick Wiley is. He’s been a constant presence in the uniquely-British grime scene and has a catalogue of bangers and anthems that we want to celebrate. Peep these and reminisce with us!
Wot U Call It?
This one got rinsed when we had it on our old school USB mp3 players, long before the days of the iPod.
Morgue
One of the grittiest grime beats and definitely one of our favourites
Westwood Freestyle
People used to question if Wiley really was the King of grime – so he went on Westwood and answered them. Standard.
Grim (Wiley, JME, Ears)
Wiley is joined by other Grime stalwarts JME and Ears on this absolute classic.
Nightbus Dubplate
If you want to talk about lyrics and flow, look no further than Nightbus Dubplate. ‘The Movement’ was beefing Wiley for a while before he hit them back with this ridiculous track. Wiley sent for all of them (Scorcher, Wretch32 and others) and slewed them. Remorseless, rapid, fast and flowing – this Wiley track is so on point and it captures the ruthlessness and intensity that grime was all about back in the day.
On A Level
The music video that got us thinking about this ‘golden era’. Tracks like heatwave (Wiley) and those joints Dizzee did with Calvin Harris are definitely a departure from the genre we grew up listening to. That’s not to knock them, they might not be our cup of tea but they are big tracks. With this one though, you really get the old-school grime feeling (especially when that morgue beat creeps in at the start) – and thats sick.
THE6BY6 