Xl / Beggars Us Ada
2004
Treddin' On Thin Ice (Explicit)
About This Album
Dizzee Rascal, the apprentice, turned garage rap on its head with his unorthodox programming, drunken-master cadence, and near-hysterical delivery; Wiley, the master, may serve as the better introduction to what can be a difficult export to understand. Garage rap's aesthetic of less-is-more isn't immediately appealing to a worldwide audience, while the heavily accented rapping and stark, lo-fi digital production owe far more to West Indies dancehall than the blues and funk that anchor hip-hop. (So alien does it sound that grime even inspired an embarrassing campaign among music journalists and bloggers to poetically convey the sound with words, first place here given to Sasha Frere-Jones for a description appearing in The New Yorker: "like arguments between two implacable robot telemarketers.") While an intrinsic part of the grime scene, Wiley is hardly inaccessible. He writes monster hooks which he then drives home with his stuttered programming, his rapping avoids the awkwardness of many British artists, and he shows as much personal flair as does Dizzee Rascal -- a tall order, and one that can't be faked. He also balances his potentially volcanic personality with his role as father figure to his juniors in the scene.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,7,11,14 and 15)

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