Wiley (rapper)

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Wiley

Wiley (born January 19, 1979 in London ; real name Richard Kylea Cowie ), also known as Eskiboy , is a British rapper and music producer. Besides Dizzee Rascal, he is one of the main representatives of British grime .

Career

Cowie's parents are from Trinidad and he grew up in Bow, east London. In the late 1990s he joined the garage music and was a member of the Pay As U Go Cartel, which also had a chart success with the Champagne Dance .

In 2002 he founded the Roll Deep Crew with other musicians from East London, including Dizzee Rascal . While the crew tends towards the pop direction, Wiley and Dizzee Rascal, who set up on his own before the first album was released, are going solo in the new direction of grime . The club hit Wot Do U Call It? by Wiley from 2004 is one of the most famous grime pieces and, like the album Treddin 'on Thin Ice, also a commercial chart success .

An early play called Eskimo also becomes Wiley's middle name Eskiboy . In 2005/2006 he also released six mixtapes on his own label Eskibeat within a very short time . He also calls his grime style Eski.

After the second album Da 2nd Phaze 2006 had remained relatively ineffective, Wiley announced his departure as a musician with the 2007 album Playtime Is Over . Since he is the most important producer in the field of grime, he wanted to work more in the background in the future. However, he returned to the microphone only a few months later and this time released the single Wearing My Rolex with the major label Warner behind him . It was his biggest success up to then and only the world hit 4 Minutes by Madonna and Justin Timberlake prevented a number 1 placement in Great Britain. As a result, he had several more chart hits, only Never Be Your Woman together with Emeli Sandé made it into the top 10 again. In August 2011, Wiley made the jump to the top of the chart: The song Heatwave , on which he from the Singer Ms D was supported, went straight to number 1 .

Wiley (2013)

This was followed by other top 10 singles such as Can You Hear Me (Ayayaya) , Animal and Reload and, The Ascent, his most successful album, which reached number 26 in the UK charts. In 2013, however, he also made a lot of negative headlines when he first parted ways with his Warner Music label , then canceled his performance at the Glastonbury Festival at short notice due to insufficient payment and shortly afterwards ranted about the local population because of boos at a performance in Cumbria . After that it was quiet about Wiley, he was no longer represented in the single charts and his next album Snakes & Ladders reached number 69 in the charts at the end of 2014.

Discography

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK
2004 Treddin 'on Thin Ice UK45 (2 weeks)
UK
2007 Playtime is over UK71 (1 week)
UK
2011 100 percent publishing UK76 (1 week)
UK
2012 Evolve or Be Extinct UK86 (2 weeks)
UK
2013 The Ascent UK26 (5 weeks)
UK
2014 Snakes & Ladders UK69 (1 week)
UK
2017 Godfather UK9 (5 weeks)
UK
2018 Godfather II UK58 (1 week)
UK

More albums

  • 2006: Da 2nd Phaze
  • 2008: Grime Wave ("Street Album")
  • 2008: See Clear Now
  • 2009: Race Against Time
  • 2010: The Elusive

Mixtapes (as Eskiboy)

  • 2005/06: Tunnel Vision Vol. 1-6
  • 2008: Umbrella Vol. 1

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK
2004 Wot Do U Call It UK31 (4 weeks)
UK
Pies UK45 (2 weeks)
UK
2008 Wearing My Rolex UK2
platinum
platinum

(22 weeks)UK
Summertime UK45 (2 weeks)
UK
Cash in My Pocket UK18 (10 weeks)
UK
2010 Take that UK20 (7 weeks)
UK
feat. Chew Fu
2012 Heat wave UK1
platinum
platinum

(19 weeks)UK
feat. Ms D
Can You Hear Me (Ayayaya) UK3
gold
gold

(19 weeks)UK
feat. Skepta , Jme & Ms D
2013 Reload UK9
silver
silver

(8 weeks)UK
feat. Chip & Ms D
Lights on UK9 (7 weeks)
UK
feat. Angel & Tinchy Stryder
2019 Boasty UK11
platinum
platinum

(27 weeks)UK
My One UK41
silver
silver

(11 weeks)UK
feat. Tory Lanez , Kranium & Dappy

Guest Posts

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK
2010 Never be your woman UK8 (9 weeks)
UK
Naughty Boy pres. Wiley feat. Emeli Sandé
2011 Now or Never UK14 (4 weeks)
UK
Jodie Connor feat. Wiley
2013 Animal UK6 (5 weeks)
UK
Conor Maynard feat. Wiley
They Got It Wrong UK74 (1 week)
UK
Lethal Bizzle feat. Wiley
2016 Corn on the curb UK73 (1 week)
UK
Skepta feat. Wiley & Chip

Further guest contributions

  • 2014: You Know the Words
  • 2014: On a level
  • 2016: 3 wheel-ups (UK:silversilver)
  • 2019: Flex Pon You (Zdot Remix) ( Ricky Dietz feat. Wiley)

swell

  1. ↑ a b oljo.de
  2. ↑ Wiley says he's walking out on Warner because he 'don't need em anymore' , Sean Michaels, The Guardian, April 5, 2013
  3. ↑ 'Glastonbury ain't paying me enough to leave my comfort zone': Rapper Wiley pulls out of weekend appearance at festival as he vows NEVER to play there again , Daily Mail Online, June 29, 2013
  4. ↑ Wiley attacks Cumbrians as 'inbred pagans' after being booed off stage at CockRock festival , Daisy Wyatt, The Independent, July 25, 2013
  5. ↑ a b c Wiley in the UK charts
  6. ↑ a b c Music Sales Awards: UK

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wiley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cowie, Richard Kylea (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British rapper and music producer
DATE OF BIRTH 19th January 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH London , England