Wiley retiring?

nomos

nomos

Administrator
This was already noted by viktorvaughn in "Grime gossip..." but I thought it merited its own thread.

So, what’s up Wiley?

“I’m retiring. I’m serious. I’m tired, really tired. I just want to be normal. I’m 28 and I’m tired. I’ve felt like it for ages but today I woke up and realised I can’t carry on because I’ve got responsibilities that are way beyond the grime scene. I do the grime scene because I’m the godfather and all that bulls*it, but really, in this scene, when you’re at the top, people just want to drag you down and obviously I’d rather walk away than be dragged down. I’d rather walk away than be stabbed or killed. I’d rather be at home playing with my daughter, rather than be in a club wondering if that person is gonna rush me or that one wants to shoot me.

Are you getting threats at the moment?

I’m getting threats now, but it’s never stopped in 10 years. It’s never stopped, ever, ever, ever. I can play you one today ‘I’m coming to you rare-rare-rare.’ It’s never stopped. Cos I’m one of them I don’t care, but today I do care. I’m 28. I want a future. I stayed in grime to see if there's a future, but I can’t see one. Well, I can see one, but not with me. Someone else has to light the torch.What grime music does is make you break your neck. You work in grime and all you do is grime, grime, grime. You won’t even see your mum and dad. It’s a lot. So I retire. Today. 22nd of January I retire. My last album will come out and all the mix CD’s that I’ve done already, but that’s it. I don’t want to do it anymore. There’s other people batting anyway; Skepta, Trim, JME and everyone.
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More at: http://www.rwdmag.com//forum/viewtopic.php?t=129472&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Sad but understandable. I've often thought how exhausting it must be to be Wiley. I wonder how long he'll be 'retired.'
 
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Blackdown

nexKeysound
Wiley says one thing and does another, regularly. part of his charm is that he really really means what he says at any given time, but it changes from moment to moment it would seem. Logan will know far more about this I'm sure...
 
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shudder

Well-known member
Blackdown said:
part of his charm is that he really really means what he says at any given time...
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from the interview, as you say, he does sound sincere. well, if he goes out in a blaze of glory with Playtime, it'll make his comeback in 2009 SO SWEET.
 
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viktorvaughn

Well-known member
He sounds totally sincere in the interview and Logan confirmed it on that RWD thread as being genuine. As Blackdown says though, that doesn't mean its going to be the case!

I could imagine him stopping MCing for a year or something and just making beats..
 
P

petergunn

plywood violin
just when i was gonna ask what happened with him and god's gift in the-greatest-radio-show-ever?

wiley, as usual, is the most compelling prescense in grime.

i have no idea if this will stick.

i tend to doubt it.

whenever creative people retire from their craft at a young age, it tends not to stick...
 
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simon silverdollar

Guest
i'm tempted to think that this is all hype, to build interest in his new album.
 
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viktorvaughn

Well-known member
simon silverdollar said:
i'm tempted to think that this is all hype, to build interest in his new album.
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he has been an a major hype tip recently with all the tunes sending for people etc. and the multiple mix-tapes but i just get the feeling he really means it this time. Like those moments in his tunes where through all the standard bragging chat the ice comes through -

'I feel devilish cold in my body'

'Sometimes at night i get lonely/ i need a wifey to hold me'.

Whatever Wiley does now, to those in the know he will always be a legend!
 
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gumdrops

Well-known member
no ones really taking this seriously are they? how can anyone 'retire' at 28?! whats he gonna do now? get a job in sainsburys?

i think its just a temporary thing, he obv knows how much hype this might generate (a la jay-z) so has announced this just in time for the new album. i doubt it will last. he loves the attention too much.

i wouldnt mind if he just took a step back from MCing for a while though and just produced for other people. he could maybe produce a proper album for roll deep or trim or someone. i doubt he will though.
 
T

Tyro

The Kandy Tangerine Man
simon silverdollar said:
i'm tempted to think that this is all hype, to build interest in his new album.
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I really hope thats the case.He seemed to be building towards something with all the mixtapes,but there were so many of them that it could have been working against the album.On the other hand it sounds like he means it.Maybe he just woke up on monday in a bad mood!
 
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dwaggin

stone by day
I think this is just the Wiley we love.

He is guaranteed to start recording again. I had a package of his records arrive from Independance Records arrive today. He's a figure in the scene, I don't think his retirement will stick. (I hope.)
 
T

tox

Factory Girl
Any thoughts on the new Tunnel Vision?

There are some of the best tracks of the series on there to my mind. Sister Sister and Paranoid Remix are two that stand out for me, as well as the more obvious ones like Sorry Sorry...
 
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simon silverdollar

Guest
i've just done an interview with wiley, and he did sound very serious about retiring. he was saying how lonely and isolated he feels, being older than everyone else in the scene, now his mates he started the scene with have left. he was also talking about how he can't deal with facing his daughter just after he's been clashing other MCs: i think he feels a real sense of responsibility to get out now, to protect himself.

i'll transcribe the interview soon as i can...
 
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28 Gun Nice Boy

Well-known member
I used to think Dizzee Rascal was way out there on his own as a grime MC; what's interesting when listening to the Pay As You Go track included on Tunnel Vision 1 is just how much better his delivery and the structure of his verse are than everyone else's, including Wiley's. In the last couple of years though..well, I reckon Wiley has caught up. In that time he's seems to have been on a one man mission to bring grime music back up. Apart from the improvement to his technique in that time, what has made him so compelling is the feeling that he's on the edge and it's that sense of tension which helps make him so exciting to listen to. It's depressing then that grime's two greatest artists have both felt forced out of the scene by that same thing, i.e. fatigue over having to worry about their own personal safety. I don't see why Wiley can't follow Dizzee's lead and forge a career (that includes MCing) outside of the grime scene but will his creativity levels remain as high without the stimulus of that scene? But then maybe the scene is more dependent on Wiley than the other way round...
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
28 Gun Nice Boy said:
I used to think Dizzee Rascal was way out there on his own as a grime MC; what's interesting when listening to the Pay As You Go track included on Tunnel Vision 1 is just how much better his delivery and the structure of his verse are than everyone else's, including Wiley's. In the last couple of years though..
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I think it's astounding the leaps that UK grime MCing has taken over the past couple of years, the steps from Roll deep Creeper 1 to 2 to Rules and regulations are just crazy, and obviosuly Ruff Sqwad as a crew as killing it...I'd totally agree that Dizzee stood out a mile and maybe doesn't so much now, what i'd really like to see is Dizzee coming back into it now on a mixtape and radio level, and starting to interact a bit again on the frontline ratehr than behind the scenes, it'd be really interesting to hear. I wonder why he hasn't - obviously busy, but one wonders what his deal was like and what he's allowed and not allowed to do.
 
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gumdrops

Well-known member
28 Gun Nice Boy said:
I used to think Dizzee Rascal was way out there on his own as a grime MC; what's interesting when listening to the Pay As You Go track included on Tunnel Vision 1 is just how much better his delivery and the structure of his verse are than everyone else's, including Wiley's. In the last couple of years though..well, I reckon Wiley has caught up.
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i actually think the opposite
listen to those old radio sessions with dizzee
they sound perfect together
wileys bars are energetic, catchy (both in terms of phrasing and flow) and he sounds pretty carefree, like hes not really trying
nowadays he seems to be trying too hard to sound fierce or hard or 'hungry'
it seems a bit contrived
i think hes losing interest in MCing
compare his recent verses even to something like two for or old lines like the ones on know we
they might sound simple but thats what makes them so good IMO
better than being over wordy
i wonder what the album is gonna be like, i cant imagine it being that amazing sadly, as hes not really much of a songwriter, more of a verse by verse man
 
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