1996–2003: Early years
As a teenager, Wiley featured on pirate radio stations such as Rinse FM and drum and bass stations. In 2000, Wiley went from SS Crew to join The Ladies Hit Squad, a garage crew with his college friends DJ Target and MC Maxwell D. They achieved some success on the UK garage scene and soon decided to combine with rival crew Pay As U Go to become a 'super crew' containing members of Ladies Hit Squad, as well as DJ Slimzee, DJ Geeneus and MCs Major Ace and Plague A Lero from Brown Brothers whom Wiley occasionally deejayed for.[citation needed] God's Gift from Deck Collecters Crew, Flow Dan and Riko Dan joined soon after. In 2002, the collective achieved a top 20 hit with "Champagne Dance". Wiley also received wide recognition in 2000 for his UK garage record "Nicole's Groove" which he produced under the stage name Phaze One.
After Pay As U Go disbanded, Wiley went on to form the Roll Deep entourage, which included Dizzee Rascal and Tinchy Stryder. They moved away from a traditional UK garage sound, and eventually found themselves creating music that would be termed grime.
From 2001 onwards, Wiley began producing instrumental singles on his Wiley Kat Recordings label, including "Eskimo", "Avalanche", "Ice Rink" and "Snowman". These led to a solo record deal with XL Recordings.[citation needed]
2004–2007: Treddin' on Thin Ice, Da 2nd Phaze and Playtime Is Over
In 2004, Wiley released his debut album, Treddin' on Thin Ice on XL.[citation needed] Singles from the album include "Wot Do U Call It?", a record questioning what name should be given to his music, and "Pies".[citation needed] Many reviews, including that by Pitchfork Media, made comparisons between Wiley and his previous labelmate Dizzee Rascal, who had achieved success with Boy in Da Corner the previous year. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian noted the "comically polarised" fanbase Wiley had accrued; "At one extreme, its sonic experimentation has attracted the kind of people who run music blogs... [where] lengthy essays are posted on issues as the differentiation between Humean and Kantian views of motivation in the lyrics of Bonnie Prince Billy. At the other extreme, it is favoured by inner-city teens who appear to communicate entirely in an impenetrable mix of street slang and patois."
During this period, Wiley occasionally referred to his music as "eski", short for "eskibeat" – the name he initially gave to grime. Also, Wiley released mixtapes under the name 'Eskiboy'. He explained his choice of name for his music and the continuing theme in his song and album titles such as Treddin' on Thin Ice, partly because he likes the wintertime, but mainly meaning cold in spirit. Wiley was quoted in conjunction with his cold theme:
"Sometimes I just feel cold hearted. I felt cold at that time, towards my family, towards everyone. That's why I used those names"
Many of Wiley's early vinyl releases, such as 'Eskimo', were released under the alias "Wiley Kat"; this name was derived from a character in the cartoon Thundercats. However, the "Kat" is never officially used by Wiley any more, only being mentioned loosely in some of his songs.
In 2006, Wiley released his second album Da 2nd Phaze, released through Boy Better Know.[citation needed] The album consists of 20 tracks that have been put together by Wiley from the past three years, including exclusive bonus tracks from Gods Gift, Alex Mills and More Fire Crew.[citation needed]
This was followed in by Wiley's third album, Playtime is Over, released in 2007 on Big Dada Records, an album which followed his eskibeat roots. Wiley's eskibeat and solo material is managed by the Perpetuity Music Group.[citation needed] The album was released on the same day as Dizzee Rascal's third album, Maths + English, and includes a track "Letter 2 Dizzee" which calls for the end of his feud with Dizzee Rascal.
2008–2009: Grime Wave, See Clear Now and Race Against Time
In May 2008, Wiley found mainstream chart success with the hit single, "Wearing My Rolex". The instrumentation, such as the slower, house style beat and lack of sub bass, caused some unrest within the grime scene, as Wiley had previously vowed that he would never change his sound to break into the mainstream.[citation needed] In the same month, Wiley released his fourth album, Grime Wave, which was described by The Times as a "very pre-Rolex album. With its roots firmly based in the harsh, bass-heavy rhythms of the scene". This was followed by his fifth studio album, See Clear Now, in October 2008, which included the mainstream hits "Wearing My Rolex", "Cash in My Pocket" and "Summertime". See Clear Now took Wiley in a mainstream direction.[citation needed] Despite its success, Wiley has disowned the album as he was "very angry" with the label Asylum, about the production and also unhappy about his management at the time. Wiley then left the label.
Now on his own label, Wiley went on to release his sixth studio album, Race Against Time. This was released eight months after his previous album in June 2009, on Eskibeat Recordings where he had far more creative control.[citation needed] The album includes the 2009 hit "Too Many Man" featuring Boy Better Know.[citation needed]
2010–2011: Zip Files, iTunes Offload and 100% Publishing
In 2010, Wiley released 11 zip files for free download via his Twitter page, containing over 200 tracks of old and unreleased music, including tracks from the forthcoming album The Elusive.
Wiley was featured on the Mark Ronson song "Record Collection", also featuring Simon Le Bon, from the album of the same name, released first in Ireland on 24 September 2010. The song was included on the soundtrack to FIFA 11.
On 4 March 2011, Wiley released Offload Volume 01 on iTunes. It did not get a physical release and it was partially slated by fans for containing some tracks which had already been released for free on the zip files. The album contained many songs that featured Wiley's crew A-List as well as the track "Yo Riley". On 6 March 2011, Wiley released a song called "Bright Lights", which features Giggs and Juelz Santana. On 9 March 2011, Wiley released an instrumental album entitled Run the Riddim Selecta. Offload Volume 01, "Bright Lights" and Run the Riddim Selecta were all released on Launchpad Records. Wiley's seventh studio album, 100% Publishing, was released on 20 June 2011 on the record label Big Dada, and charted in the UK Albums Chart at number 76.
On 8 July 2011, Wiley released an independent EP for digital download titled Chill Out Zone. Singles from the EP, "Seduction" and "If I Could" were released in May 2011.
On 25 July 2011, Wiley released the radio edit of "Link Up" on iTunes, which is the first single from his eighth studio album, Evolve or Be Extinct, which was released on 19 January 2012. "Link Up" is produced by Nana Rogues and the official "Link Up" single was released in September 2011.
2012–2013: Evolve or Be Extinct and The Ascent
In January 2012, he released his eighth studio album, Evolve or Be Extinct, on his 33rd birthday.[citation needed] It peaked at number 86 on the UK Albums Chart.[citation needed] A separate promo song, "Hottie", was released on Valentine's Day, featuring Roll Deep member Manga.[citation needed] Wiley began releasing grime freestyles over grime beats and releasing them for free via Twitter.[citation needed] This collection was released chronologically with the names "Step 1", "Step 2" and furthermore.[citation needed] After "Step 10", all of the freestyles were compiled and released as a mixtape titled It's All Fun and Games Till, Vol.1. Alongside working on his "Step" freestyles, various other promo songs were released. This continuous releasing of music saw him receive the attention from major recording label Warner Music Group. Wiley carried on with his "Step" freestyles, releasing Vol. 2 of It's All Fun and Games Till.[citation needed]
In June 2012, Wiley released his summer single "Heatwave", featuring Ms D and produced by Rymez to British radio, with the music video released at the end of June via YouTube.[citation needed] The song quickly received over 2 million hits. On 5 August 2012, "Heatwave" peaked at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, making this Wiley's first solo number 1, selling 114,000 copies.[citation needed] Shortly after, Wiley confirmed in an interview on the Official Chart Show that he will be releasing a further two singles and a new album in the coming months. His next single, announced in late August, titled "Can You Hear Me" featuring Skepta, JME and Ms D, was released in October 2012. The song was renamed to "Can You Hear Me (Ayayaya)" and premiered on 24 August on DJ Target's BBC Radio 1Xtra show.
Wiley then announced on Twitter that the third single off his next album, Hands in the Air, will feature Chip, Ice-Kid and Tulisa for release on 13 September 2012.[citation needed] The song originally featured Emeli Sandé. However, Wiley then tweeted that his next single would feature Rita Ora instead of Tulisa. On 27 September, the name of the album was confirmed to be The Ascent. The tracklist for the album was revealed on 11 October via Instagram, displaying 16 tracks. Also on 11 October, Wiley announced he no longer intended to perform at universities and student unions, citing professional concerns and stating that he "had better things to do". Despite this, Wiley played a club night at SUSU, the University of Southampton Students' Union, on 25 January 2013 as part of the Ministry of Sound Raveout tour. Afterwards, Wiley took to Twitter to express his disappointment with the event, stating, "A proper crowd would [have] loved it tbh and tbf".
On 4 April 2013, Wiley said that he was leaving his record label Warner following a dispute about The Ascent.[citation needed] Admitting he was unhappy with their choice of next single from the record, he tweeted: "My label are doing 'Lights On' next but I do not like that so you will not see me in the video."
On 11 October 2013, over 2,000 Wiley fans signed a petition, which was presented to Tower Hamlets' mayor Lutfur Rahman, requesting that a monument to the artist be erected in Bow.
On 19 October 2013, Wiley was awarded "Best Male" at the MOBO Awards' 18th Anniversary.
2014–2015: Snakes & Ladders
Wiley began recording his tenth studio album, Snakes & Ladders, in 2013. The first single from the album, "Flyin", was released in August 2013, and towards the end of that year he leaked a track list for the album. However, he later confirmed his intention in February 2014 to scrap the record and start again as he was unhappy with it, saying it "needs to be epic or there's no point". The first single from the newly recorded album, ""On A Level", was released on 25 September 2014 by Big Dada.[citation needed] Wiley was later featured on Ay Yeah So What, and in 2015 released the non-album single ""Chasing the Art"".
2016–Present: Godfather series and Boasty Gang album
In March 2016, Wiley announced that he would be releasing his eleventh studio album, Godfather, and that the album would include 16 songs, 3 of which were to be released as singles.[citation needed] The album was released on 13 January 2017. The album entered at number 9 on the UK Albums Chart, becoming Wiley's highest-charting album of his career.[citation needed] On 16 February 2017, Wiley won an "Outstanding Contribution to Music" award by NME for Godfather.[citation needed]
In late 2017, Wiley announced his next album, Godfather II. The first single, "I Call the Shots" featuring Jme, was released on 3 November 2017, alongside the album's pre-order and track listing. The album was released on 27 April 2018.
In January 2019, Wiley released "Boasty" featuring Idris Elba, Stefflon Don, and Sean Paul. The song was one of the biggest dancehall releases of the year.
Wiley announced Godfather III would be released on 2 November. After delays, the album was finally released on streaming services on 5 June 2020.
On 22 June 2020, Wiley released his 14th studio album, Boasty Gang – The Album. The album features a solo version of his hit single, "Boasty".