The U.K. is currently witnessing a battle that the whole country has been waiting for; between arguably the biggest London artist of current times… and the Godfather of Grime. Stormzy and Wiley, despite on the whole claiming they’re brothers, have been back and forth on Twitter for a number of weeks and it’s finally amounted to what we the fans love; a rap battle. After Stormzy’s recent tracks with Ed Sheeran, The Godfather Wiley had some opinions to share, of course. Wiley doesn’t feel like Ed has ever payed true homage to the Grime scene and just uses it to make hits when he needs to, but this is arguably not the case. One of Ed’s first projects back in January 2011, entitled No. 5 Collaborations Project, was predominantly with Grime Artists, including Wiley himself. Wiley has some strong opinions on the matter but regularly deletes his posts from both Instagram and Twitter, but if you want to keep up to date, give him a follow – you won’t be disappointed. Without further adieu, here’s the musical highlights of the battle so far.
Wiley – Eediyat Skengman
First up was Wiley, with ‘Eediyat Skengman,’ a play on Stormzy’s ‘Wicked Skengman’. The dub is a classic Grime stomper and Wiley delivers like he was back in the booth 10 years ago, spitting with venom. References to Stormzy sounding like Wiley on all of his singles off Stormzy’s album fill the chorus, but at first this seems like a more playful diss to draw Stormzy out… which it did.
Stormzy – Disappointed
Out comes ‘Disappointed’. Stormzy chose Headie One’s ‘Know Better’ instrumental for the diss which many slated him for as this whole spat was about who was keeping true to Grime and honouring the culture, when the instrumental Stormzy picked was a U.K. Drill beat. Finer details aside, this track is hard and came with a video too. The opening bar is the one that people have been losing their minds for on social media, as the story goes that Stormzy ‘G-Checked’ Wiley’s younger brother in front of their Dad, but his Father did nothing about it. Clearly there was no playing from Stormzy in this diss.
Wiley – Eediyat Skengman 2
However, of course Wiley had more up his sleeve. Within 24 hours, ‘Eediyat Skengman 2’ was out with a mimicking video to Stormzy’s original diss. The track still hits hard over a classic, double time Grime beat which Wiley has always been known for destroying on. With much more references to Stormzy’s Mum this time around, including stealing her weave and both her and Stormzy owing Wiley a “Lump Sum” for how much he’s done for them. He even states that he’s done more for Stormzy than his Dad has, but would this be enough to get Stormzy to reply again?
Stormzy – Still Disappointed
Yes it would. Coming on a true Grime beat this time, we received ‘Still Disappointed’ within 24 hours again. This time Stormzy did not hold back anything. After Wiley spoke on Stormzy’s Mum, the reply was simply “Where’s yours?” which is a reference to the fact Wiley moved his Mum to Cyprus, which Stormzy claims is because she wasn’t safe in London due to Wiley’s antics. This is a cold side of Stormzy we don’t see very often and at the very start of the diss he states “One more dub and it’s back to basics” meaning this might be the last from him. No wonder he held nothing back.
Wiley has already announced ‘Eediyat Skengman 3’ but whether Stormzy will reply again will be interesting to see. Either way, all these Disses so far have been of a high caliber and it’s clear to see why these two artists are respected as two of the greats. The U.K. has always loved a Grime clash, but this is the highest profile example for a long time.
