The greatest rap battle of the new decade
The decade has barely begun and rap’s first battle has already left its mark. Featuring rappers from the UK: Stormzy, who we’ve written about here, and legendary grime MC, Wiley. This ‘clash,’ as grime MCs call their battles, was a surprise to many. Stormzy’s latest album is currently number 1 in the UK. Wiley had a crossover hit last year featuring Sean Paul, Steflon Don and Idris Elba. These are not the type of artists fans expect to clash. However, the impact of this clash has been felt across the pond, with radio personalities, Youtubers, and others following the action in North America and the UK.
So how did this clash start? On his new album, Heavy Is The Head, Stormzy has a song that is an homage of Wiley. It quotes many of Wiley’s most famous lines. To most people, it was an invitation from Stormzy, to his fans, to check out the work of an artist he admired.
It’s a great song, but Wiley allegedly took offense to it. Apparently, he felt that some of Stormzy’s musical choices; working with Ed Sheerhan, having gospel songs on his albums, etc., made him not Grime enough to mention his name on wax.
To put him in his place, Wiley released Eeidiyat Skengman (A play on the title of Stormzy’s original Youtube freestyle rap videos).
Stormzy was not obligated to respond, however, he did. What’s important about his response isn’t the content of his ‘dub,’ but the quality of his presentation. In Stormzy’s first clash, not only does he demonstrate a polish musically, but he also spends the extra amount of care with his video.
As if taking a cue, Wiley made a video for his response. However, his shots at Stormzy’s mother would eventually be his downfall.
For all intensive purposes, the clash ended with Stormzy’s dub titled, Still Disappointed. Actually, the clash ended when Wiley brought up Stormzy’s mother. Stormzy and his mother are incredibly close. She’s been in one of his music videos. He’s proud of his mother. In Still Disappointed, Stormzy challenges Wiley’s manhood, and if Wiley is a good son. It’s one of the more personal battle rap songs I can think of.
The instrumental borrows from Kano’s Mic Check 1–2, a call back to a clash in Wiley’s past. The whole presentation is a devastating blow.
Wiley’s response was solid, musically it may be the best of the bunch, however, the clash was done. Stormzy didn’t reply back and Wiley used the extra attention to start releasing new music on his Youtube channel. As this was going on, Wiley’s brother released a response to Stormzy’s claims as well, however, he’s not as talented as his brother, or Stormzy. Few paid attention.
In an interview at Hot 97 in NY, Stormzy said that he still respects Wiley as an artist, but lost a bit of respect for the person Wiley is after their clash. That said, there are a lot of positives that came out of this clash. Because this happened at the beginning of this year, because content creation is a 7 day a week job, because nothing else is going on right now in music, a lot of outlets picked up this clash. Every UK news outlet, Redbull.com, Vice, Pitchfork, and Fact all have pieces on the clash.
To keep up with the battle, kids are learning about Grime, and UK rap. Terms like dub and clash were briefly part of the popular lexicon. People who didn’t know about the UK’s top artist Stormzy, or the legend Wiley, were exposed to them. They were exposed to the sound of classic Grime music, which was the backdrop for many of the dubs. Most importantly, there was no violence. The beef was contained within the artists’ songs. Grime was well served by this clash.
