Playtime Is Over

by

Wiley

Edit

i love the beats/production, and the vocal style/flow, it's modern and energetic unlike the laid-back style of old school hiphop which bores me. i think he could be realer with the lyrics though. like he's supposedly claiming his own "grime" identity but too often resorts to the american gangsta cliche theme of like "i'm tough and street and you're not". and giving himself multiple nicknames, like his artist name is Wiley but he insists on giving himself the second nickname Eskiboy and constantly dropping it in his songs, and it just seems like he's trying to be like Redman and E-40 with their second nicknames Funk Doc and Fortywater.

The controversial history of UK Grime and the Roll Deep collective is about as messy as that of early `90s trip-hop, three groups emerging at the same time (Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky) and all claiming to be first. Though he was there first, Wiley is doomed to be the guy people say "who?" about when someone mentions Grime. He's like Dizzee Rascal." "Ohhhh, okay!" His second strike is his ego. Wiley publicly criticizes Rascal for switching up his steeze then offers duplicitous, Diddy-esque comments such as "If my ear likes it, I know that a hundred million ears are going to like it too/I never stop searching for these sounds." Well he got the first part right on Playtime Is Over, as he musically panders to the Grime purists, plunking out preset synth string stabs, square-wave basslines and blasé drum machine beats, mixing them into an undeviating pattern then hyperactively spitting over it. His lyrics and delivery are interesting because of his decidedly London-centric vernacular and inflection, but the novelty wears off after a few tracks. Those hoping for the next stage in Grime evolution should look elsewhere.