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Wiley (musician)

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Wiley
File:WileyKat.JPG
Wiley Kat

Wiley (a.k.a Eskiboy), real name Richard Kylea Cowie (born 19 January 1979) is a British rapper and active producer from Bow, East London.

He has made many releases, solo, and as part of groups, sometimes using aliases. Wiley has created his own musical genre, which he calls "Eski", and which is largely associated with the Grime genre. "Eskimo", from which the genre takes its name, is probably the best known Eski track. Wiley was also a founding member of the Roll Deep crew. They released their debut album "In At The Deep End" in 2005 which has been certified silver (60,000+ sales), with two singles making the UK Top 40. His debut album Treddin' On Thin Ice was released on XL Recordings, however he left XL and is now currently signed to Big Dada Recordings, where he has recently released his third album "Playtime Is Over" on 04/06/2007. The album went into the UK chart at number 71.

Wiley announced his retirement from the microphone on 22 January, 2007. In a statement released to RWDMag.com [1], he said "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." 'Playtime Is Over' will be his final solo release, and he will instead focus on production and setting up a label to bring through younger talent.

Early Work

Wiley first became well known in the East London underground garage scene during the late 1990s, when he was a member of the Pay As You Go Cartel, who had some limited UK chart success. He also co-produced "Nicole's Groove" as Phaze One, and appeared on several tracks by other artists. He made numerous vinyl releases, often driving around London himself selling to record shops. One of these, "Eskimo", was a huge success on the underground scene, reputedly selling in the thousands, where most other artists within the scene could only sell 500-1000 copies of their tracks. He regularly appeared on East London pirate radio stations playing grime tracks, which helped increase his profile. He still does underground events, like Lord Of The Mics , Eskimo Dance, and also does Sidewinder but with his group Roll Deep, which he left Pay As You Go Cartel to create.

He had a relationship with Lady Ny, a UK singer who is involved in the grime scene.

Beefs

He is known to have had lyrical wars with several rival MCs. These include:

  • Durrty Goodz (formerly Doogz)
  • Bashy
  • Lethal Bizzle
  • Neeko
  • Dizzee Rascal
  • More Fire Crew
  • Jo-jo Slippa Dog
  • Fumin
  • Ghetto
  • Scorcher
  • The Movement
  • Maximum Merkage
  • Tu Tuff crew
  • Babycham (of Tu Tuff crew)
  • Nasty Jack
  • Van Damage
  • Shank-U-Sam
  • Sharkey Major
  • Sniper E
  • Devlin
  • Slew Riddim Tingz
  • Gods Gift
  • Crazy Titch
  • Wretch
  • Nasty
  • five o blow
  • Kano
  • MC Platnum
  • Millyboy

In the second half of 2006, Wiley has been involved in a running battle with "The Movement", which is detailed on Logan Sama's [2] "War Report" CD. This CD is free to download. Although The Movement beef has died down.

Retirement

On January 22nd 2007, Wiley announced his retirement from the grime scene. In an exclusive interview with rwd magazine he stated: "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 rar-rar-rar.’ 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 CDs that I’ve done already, but that’s it. I don’t want to do it any more. There’s other people batting anyway; Skepta, Trim, JME and everyone."

Wiley continued: "I’m tired. Can you imagine all the travel, the radio, the shows, studio… it’s never stopped since I was 15. The grime scene doesn’t even deserve me. The way I love it so much, they don’t deserve it. Right now though, I need to go. I’ll still produce, if someone wants beats, but that’s it. In two years' time, I need to have done something else. When I hit 30 I want to be happy, or happier than I am now. I need to get out the game. I’m ready to go. I want to do other stuff. I need to do stuff where I’m not depended on. I don’t want no one to want nothing from me, so I can’t let no one down. So that’s it."

Out Of Retirement

Soon after announcing his retirement, Wiley decided that it wasn't time to retire yet, taking a different view on the comparison to Jay-Z. He now views the 10 year gap between him and Jay-Z as a positive thing, and is now working on several mixtapes, including Tunnel Vision volumes 6-10, £10 An Hour Volume 1, and Umbrella Volume 1 which are all set to be released in 2007.

Eskibeat Recordings

File:EskibeatRecordingsLogo.jpg
Eskibeat Recordings Logo

Since Wiley has been out of retirement, he has formed an independent record label under the name Eskibeat Recordings. He has said everything before were steps to where he wants to be and will be releasing future mixtapes under the label.

Founders of Eskibeat Recordings: Wiley & Suge.

CEO: Ice Kid.

MCs: Wiley, Little Dee, Chipmunk, Ice Kid & Maveric.

Singers: Natz2Nice & Rachel.

Producers: Wiley, Maniac, Bless Beats, Mr. Slash, Young Dot, TNT, Target & Danny Weed.

DJs: Logan, Cheeky, Ironik & Furious(GPP).

Graphics & Artwork: Hardsy.[3]

Discography

Singles

As Phaze One

  • "Nicole's Groove" - Relentless Records

As Pay As U Go Cartel:

  • "Be Real" - Relentless Records
  • "Anywhere" - Pay As You Go Recordings
  • "Champagne Dance" - Sony Music Entertainment
  • "Champagne Dance" (Remixes) - Sony Music Entertainment
  • "Know We" - Solid City Records
  • "Terrible" (Roll Deep Remix)
  • "Overload" / "Backdrop" / "Know We" - Solid City Records
  • "Thunda"

As Wiley

  • "I Will Not Lose" - Wiley Kat Records - WK001
  • "Snowman" - Wiley Kat Records - WK002
  • "Eskimo" / "Split It Down The Middle" - Wiley Kat Records - WK003
  • "Eskimo" - Wiley Kat Records - WK003 (One sided press)
  • "Avalanche" - Wiley Kat Records - WK005
  • "Snowkat" - Wiley Kat Records - WK006
  • "Eskimo 3" / "Ice Pole" - Wiley Kat Records - WK007
  • "Freeze" - Wiley Kat Records - WK008
  • "Donkey Kick (Eskimo Vocal)" - Wiley Kat Records - EBR001

Wiley and ruff squad-together

  • "Frost Bite" - Wiley Kat Records - WK010
  • "Blizzard" - Wiley Kat Records - WK011
  • "Snowball" / "Tokyo" - Wiley Kat Records - WK012
  • "Braindead Eskimo" / "Shanghai" - Wiley Kat Records - WK013
  • "Gunshot Riddim (Pulse Eskimo) - Wiley Kat Records - WK014
  • "Ice Rink" / "Eskiboy" - Wiley Kat Records - WK015
  • "Igloo" - Wiley Kat Records - WK017
  • "Igloo Remix" - Wiley Kat Records - WK018
  • "Ground Zero" - Wiley Kat Records - WK022
  • "Pies" - Wiley Kat Records - WK023
  • "Firefly EP" - Wiley Kat Records - WK030
  • "Eskimo 2" (Devils Mix) - Wiley Kat Records - SR001
  • "Ice Rink Vocal EP 1" - No Label - IR001
  • "Ice Rink Vocal EP 2" - No Label - IR002
  • "New Era" - Wiley Kat Records - RDR001
  • "wiley & dizzie sidewinder side a (1)
  • "Fire Hydrant" (Remix) - Eskiboy Recordings - EBR 003
  • "number 9 rollers" underground release ft.dizzie
  • "Ice Cream Man" / "Fire Hydrant" - Eskiboy Recordings - EBR 004
  • "Pick Yourself Up" - Aim High Music - AIM 001
  • "Morgue" / "Morgue 2005 Rmx" - Wiley Kat Records - WK
  • "Colder Remix" / "Dragon Stout" - Wiley kat Records - EBR005
  • Wiley / J2K - "They Will Not Like You" - Left Records - VTNT012
  • Wiley / Teebone - "The Way Love Goes" / "Ayo!" / "Break It Down" - Solid City Records - SOLID 014
  • 17 April 2004 "Wot Do U Call It?" - XL Recordings - XLT 179 - #31 UK
  • 21 August 2004 "Pies" #45 UK - XL Recordings
  • 27 February 2006 "Gangsterz" - Adamantium Music

As Roll Deep

Albums / Mixtapes

Albums

With Roll Deep

Mixtapes

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